Position Analysis of BBC

By

[Name of student]

[Presented to]

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[Date]
The Strategic Position

In today’s competitive world where at one at one end consumers have numerous

choices, the same number of choices are not available to the corporations. They must

strive hard to stay above the thin line of success on a consistent basis. No matter how big

and how antiquated, becoming history does not take long. Change has become the only

constant part of business and must be embraced and integrated into the strategic

framework of the organization.

The current business era is characterized by ever changing business dynamics and

a substantial influence of technological developments. The Management concepts

developed by Frederick Taylor (Scientific Management) and others belonging to his era

have given way to newer methodologies and newer ways of doing things. It is different

from the notion of reinventing the wheel as it is more of the kind of improving the

efficiency of wheel. The rise of corporations has spurred industrial and financial growth,

at the same time inducting the cut-throat competitiveness in businesses. Informed

decision making seems to be the key to constant success and strategy is what

differentiates the leaders from the followers.

Consider a specific function of strategy i.e. strategic positioning which defines the

impact of both external and internal environment, effects and anticipated benefit of core

competencies and resources and the expectations of internal and external stakeholders on

shaping the strategy of an organization. Thus strategic position provides a comprehensive

view of where the organization stands in the perspective of the above mentioned factors.
Many problems arise as a repercussion of the “Problem of no problem” and this dilemma

can create imbalances within the organization that few realize until it is too late.

Strategic position is defined by its four functions. A description of those functions

is given below:

Environment

It is the complex periphery in which any organization functions. It is composed of

several dependent and independent factors all having some degree of impact over the

position of the organization. Changes in the environment may turn out in both forms i.e.

the opportunities and the threats. Both of these aspects present areas to capitalize upon

and safeguard against respectively.

The essential idea of Strengths and Weaknesses analysis is to compare both and to

identify the core competencies of the organization. Core competencies refer to those

activities and processes that the organization performs better in relation to its competitors

and in relation to organization’s other capabilities. It provides a competitive advantage to

the organization which is the key to success of the company in the long term.

For BBC, like any other broadcast house, the recent developments in the world

like the incident of 9/11 and the global war against terror in Iraq and Afghanistan have

brought major changes in the style of reporting and broadcasting as well as in the mindset

of audience. The focus has now shifted greatly towards the presence of correspondents at

every street corner in order to cover every single piece of news as the level of

competition has reached to new heights. With NBC and CNN as its prime rivals globally
and ITV and Sky network in UK and the likes of Al-Jazeerah and Chinese and Japanese

stations popping up at the rate of bubbles in soda water, the competition had never been

as tough as it is now. The concept of ‘Breaking News” and “News Just In” have ensured

that the reporters and cameraperson remain on their toes always ready to capture the

slightest of issues which have the slightest of hints to become the flavor of the month in

grapevine circles.

Internally, BBC was rocked in 2004 by the resignation of Director General Greg

Dyke and the death of a Government Scientist. The death of the scientist was related to

news reporting by BBC and caused shockwaves throughout the organization. Although,

BBC is not directly controlled by the Government it still had to take necessary actions to

control the situation. However, a part of Strategic Management is that you use your

opportunities to overcome the threats and BBC emerged out of this issue unscathed and

more potent than before.

Another significant aspect of news reporting is the presence of the Internet,

whereby information is shared quickly and reaches a wider audience. The next generation

is keen to visit web based News Resources instead of traditional news shows. Despite the

fact that BBC has a dedicated website, the monopoly over breaking information has

declined significantly. Furthermore, today’s news might become yesterday’s gossip in a

matter of hours. This technology issue has diluted the potential of News providers to be

opinion makers and the Internet has distributed this right to a broader public. The role of

online blogs is also noteworthy as a popular discussion form where views on current

issues are easily and very frequently exchanged.

 Not only the field for news channels has become suffocatingly populated, but also

the areas of educational and entertainment broadcast have seen a boom never witnessed

before. The changing moods of popular hip-hop culture had made sure that people leave

aside all the formerly adored trends and embrace newer ones significantly different and

iconoclastic in nature. This change in public preferences has put the broadcasting entities

into a situation of double jeopardy where they have become increasingly paranoid and

unsure of the steps they are about to take. Whether the focus should be more on soaps or

on reality shows, whether people still like rock music or the country Jazz is again in

vogue are few of the predictions producers are willing to pay for. But in recent times we

have seen research done after spending thousands of dollars yielding nothing, the

phenomenon has pushed the broadcasting networks on their back foot. The increasing

stress on hoisting the TRPs of the channel or network has been the focus of all the efforts

of a broadcast house lately.

The challenge for houses like BBC is even greater, as the pioneers in many of the

currently accepted practices all around the globe not only common audience but also the

peer houses look towards BBC and the likes as a model. This has given them a status of

trend setters not the followers.

The major switch from analogue to digital television is an important and integral

part of digital transition. Along with the advent of technologies such as digital radio,

high-definition television (HDTV), digital satellite, pod-casting, mobile platforms and

most notably on-demand delivery over internet of the futuristic nature that can really

change the traditional relationship of the media with their audiences and at the same time
may create opportunities for building public value and image/reputation capital in newer

ways.

The general election campaigns provide yet another opportunity for news and

production houses like BBC to demonstrate their significance, reliability and impartiality

to their audiences through political coverage in an innovative and authoritative way. For

instance, in last elections for the first time ever on British television, all three main party

leaders appeared on the same program, Question Time. This was viewed by nearly 4

million audiences on television and online for more than 35,000 times. The feedback was

astonishing. 3/4 of the program’s audience felt that it helped them in understanding the

policies of the parties better than before and more than a quarter of the audience said that

the program had an impact on their decision of whether or how to vote in the coming

elections. BBC, in order to show its commitment to serious and purposeful journalism in

prime time, used Jeremy Paxman to interview the three main party leaders on BBC One,

whereas John Humphrys has done the honors on Today program. Whereas, Radio one

was doing the same service to bring the frenzy of elections to the younger segments of

audiences.

Throughout the course of the campaign, BBC used interactive and digital media

extensively but purposefully. The website made for the occasion was visited by more

than 500,000 unique visitors each day. Another of the offers was an online issues guide

which was intended to help the audience to compare policies of the three major parties on

20 of the main issues. In order to define the complex dynamics of elections, to the

younger population segment of their audience, some innovative 3D graphics were used

on the polling day. And the next day the BBC website recorded an all times record of
more than 50 million impressions. The BBC’s success in engaging young audience is

proved by the fact that approximately three million audience aged under 35 watched

some of the election night coverage, and the majority of young adults thought that the

BBC was best for enabling them to understand what the different political parties stood

for during the election campaign.

Another of the area of concern is the ever-increasing public expectations

whenever anything important occurs. Let it be an earthquake in Timbuktu or a flood in

Chittagong (Bangladesh), a mine accident in Xandu (China) or a preliminary election in

Illinois audience always expect the names like BBC to report first of anything important

anywhere in the world. This has in past put the house in situations where a compromise

between the reality and authenticity of news and the time taken to break the news

becomes a tricky one.

The increased pressure from the higher management for higher TRPs and the

pressure exerted by the audience for quicker delivery of services has become the scrub

that has polished the personnel and staff of BBC to deliver in the most unlikely

conditions and circumstances. This, along with others, had become a trademark and a

USP or a value proposition of BBC and its services over the years.

Capability

It describes the resources and competencies of a particular individual or an

organization. BBC employs more than 28,500 people in UK alone (Pharr, Susan; Krauss,

Ellis (eds.) (1996). Media and Politics in Japan, University of Hawaii Press.) to go with

approximately 15,000 freelancers. But it is not only the number of employees that is the
strength of BBC (as it can prove to be a breath stopping burden for some organizations as

well) but the degree of experience and the level of dedication and loyalty with their work

that sets BBC apart from its other competitors.

Over the years BBC has been the training ground for the most respectable and

most admired and reputable journalists, anchors and hosts of the world media. It was its

dominance in the News segment that has proved to be a magnet to attract the brightest of

talents from all over the world when BBC decided to move into areas other than news.

Furthermore, BBC along with its closest rival CNN enjoys the largest news

networks present around the world. Its established operations and global presence ensures

that it remains on top of the news and this is its one distinct competency. New entrants

always face stiff competition not only in the form of substantial investments but also in

terms of trained staff and news correspondents and other necessary resources; hence the

existing barriers to entry are significant.

BBC’s reputation as the premier news channel of the United Kingdom is a Unique

Selling Point (USP), which is engraved even in the minds of foreign viewers as well.

Furthermore, this image is propounded by the fact that most of the commonwealth

nations still prefer British practices and customs and therefore also rely heavily on the

Premier UK News Channel. BBC can also thin about utilizing this fact to design

customized marketing strategies to target the audiences of the other Commonwealth

nations as well.

The goodwill and brand image of BBC is second to none and it is this fact that

will remain engraved in the minds of the future generations. Intangible Assets like the
quality of news shows and entertainment programs have an essential part to play in

engaging audiences. This fact has been enjoyed by BBC ever since its beginning. The

quality coverage of major events has set very high standards for companies vying for

position similar to BBC’s. Critical reports, especially on Developing countries have set it

apart from other channels. Its portrayal of problems faced by developing countries and

especially India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and African countries has alerted the world to the

dynamic issues faced by these developing countries.

All the above services have been helped to materialize by a dedicated and

professional staff that is equipped with good work ethics and the required resources to

provide important news around the clock, worldwide. Providing selfless reporting to

ensure audiences remain informed is a necessity in view of the prevalent turbulent

conditions. News reporting has become a challenging task of late and now it demands for

strategic collaboration and real time decision making because of the global nature of

events.

Purpose

The purpose describes the reason for being of an organization. It is a zillion times

told story that how BBC started in 1922 as a company of only ten people. It started

working in collaboration with some radio manufacturers and then the organization made

its first ever broadcast (a historical event) on November 14 the same year from Marconi's

London studio.
 After such a humble start, over the last eight decades, it is interesting to know that

the organization now has become the world's biggest public service broadcaster for both

radio and television.

Its transmission is being viewed in many parts of the world in not less than 42

languages along with English. It is estimated that more than 90% of the UK television

audience watches it every week. It has become Europe's biggest broadcasting exporter.

This fact alone has done a world of good for United Kingdom to retained its prestige in

the European Union and its ability to provide quality news and entertainment programs

globally.

A fact that is often ignored by commentators is that BBC has also played a

substantial role in the development and spread of the English language. This achievement

is also praise worthy because of the need of a global language that can answer several of

the problems and issues arise due to lack of a medium of communication. Furthermore,

Higher UK education has also received immense support from the role of BBC, as lately

educational services have become the largest export of the British nation.

As it is governed by the Royal Charter, the organization’s objectives, authorities

and responsibilities and more importantly its constitution and the sources and uses of the

revenue are in its supervision. As it is accountable to its license fee payers so it has a set

of 'public purposes' which have laid the foundation of its mission, vision and values, such

as providing people with programs and services intended to educate, inform and entertain

them without any type of prejudice. The management at BBC agrees that the core

purpose of BBC’s existence needs to be defined more clearly time and again and
especially in the areas of citizenship, education, culture, serving different communities

and most notably in playing a global role. Therefore the management of BBC has shown

its commitment to raise the bar in the superiority, reliability and uniqueness of its

programming.

The BBC must develop a clear structure, based on reach, excellence and

uniqueness, impact and monitory value, in order to evaluate the success or the otherwise

of its services in meeting their intended purposes and standards of excellence.

Culture

It is the heartthrob of an organization. How it thinks, how it behaves under certain

conditions and how it values its internal and external customers. The British Broadcasting

Corporation likes to adhere to a very high level of professional and ethical standards. Its

in-depth research and breath-taking reporting define its desire to provide cutting edge

news to its customers.

The management of BBC feels the need of flexibility in the addition or removal of

programs and services by predicting the shift in audience expectations and more

importantly changes in technology. The BBC is in need of a system of public value tests

which will ensure that the proposed newer versions of services or changes in present

services should be scrutinized rigorously and objectively.

In today’s media world news and opinion converge increasingly and the very

notion of neutrality has come under great threat. In these circumstances, the BBC

commits to provide accurate and at the same time impartial information which can be
trusted by people and this has become the source of pride and the centerpiece of its public

purpose.

Strategic Options

From the beginning one can clearly say that the only way to implement any

change at organizational level is to do so with the help and commitment of the senior

most management. Luckily BBC, as an organization, already has systems installed for

staff feedback and assessment.

The initiatives which were previously taken by the name of an engagement

exercise known as 'Making It Happen', supposedly the largest ever appreciative

assessment in the world, are needed on more frequent basis. Nearly half of the

organization, i.e. 13,000 people, took part in the exercise conducted all across the UK,

designed to ask people and to encourage them to throw in ideas by considering the

positive aspects of the organization.

Among the major themes covered were audiences, leadership, respect, creativity

and diversity.

British broadcasting may want to compete with new channels when it comes to

quick reporting, however, BBC has a brand image that denotes reliability and

authenticity. There is always a great deal of risk in reporting and airing unverified news

and events. It has been seen recently that new channels hastily report news and at many

times misreport. What is even more complicated is that no matter how unreliable and

unauthentic it may be it still interests people to be the first to know. And it is common
observation that after a while people do get back to BBC for confirmation and once

something is verified by BBC it becomes authentic.

This gives an option to BBC to continue improving its reporting speed and keep

its verification and authentication standards intact. BBC must not get carried away by the

quick reporting trends and lose away its years of legacy which represents the two core

values reliability and authenticity which BBC claims as accuracy.

Generation of sufficient revenues to sustain the organization is also becoming

challenging. This has lead to many of the new channels seeking sponsors from political

as well as business circles. Seeking significant sponsors from such quarters definitely

hurts impartiality which is the second half of BBC’s reporting philosophy. BBC could

retain its impartiality by keeping itself financially independent from any parties that may

have vested interests in the corporations reporting.

After 9/11 growing disparities, deprivations and resulting extremism has at one

end posed a challenge on the other hand it gives opportunities to corporations like BBC

to play their role in making the people feel important, by making them heard. BBC can

attract a lot of viewership and sincere support for such efforts. It could not only develop

its competitive edge by making the African, Asian and Muslim communities heard it can

also develop a vent for the frustration of these people and contribute to world peace by

preventing moderate people from becoming extremists.

The BBC has started a big shift of production from London to other parts of UK.

It is predicted by some internal resources that approximately 60% of BBC’s public

service staff will get transferred outside London to a new broadcast office in Manchester.
(Review of the BBC’s Royal Charter) This will be followed by large increment in

network investments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland so the service can truly call

itself as a service for and by the whole UK.

BBC is also considering proposals for a ‘window of creative competition’

(WOCC) which will be a way of opening up BBC commissioning to creative and

independent producers, along with maintaining the current production base at BBC. This

will ensure to provide the public a range and diversity in programs and will also

contribute to the industry in terms of training and creative heritage.

BBC has recently shown interest in exiting from the activities which are not

related to its core competencies like disposing of the magazine Eve. BBC could introduce

programs for world youth on the same footings as it did in the UK. BBC could also make

use of the growing phenomenon of pod casting. It could also make public its treasured

archive for a charge or for free and encourage research and promote journalism.
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Appendix I

BBC is the biggest broadcasting corporation globally, besides that it also has the

distinction of being the largest news gathering system by virtue of BBC Newsgathering,

its newsgathering operation. BBC has its reach spread over more than 200 countries and

its programs are being watched by more than 274 million households. Its nearest rival

CNN has a viewer base estimated around 200 million, therefore, it can be concluded that

BBC is also the biggest news channel globally. BBC’s radio services broadcast are

available to most parts of the eastern hemisphere as well. The network broadcasts news

(by radio or through Internet) in 33 different languages.

Below is presented a diagramatic representation of BBC’s different operational

units.
(Source: Whittington, R. (2000). Building one BBC.)
 (Source: BBC - Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006.)

Over the years BBC has been the biggest job provider in the UK. Presently it

employed more than 29,000 individuals and 15,000 freelancers. (Dando, S. (2004).

Drivers for Leadership. HSE Case Study: British Broadcasting Corporation.)

 (Source: BBC - Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006.)

The above presented pie chart is showing BBC’s income in 2004. Unlike its

American competitors, BBC's domestic programming is basically supported by

television licence fees, other sources of funding are the usual commercial activities

like merchandise sale and programming. However, the BBC World Service, recieves

a grant-in-aid issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Due to some clauses

in the BBC Charter, they cannot display commercial advertising on any of their

services (television, radio, or internet) inside UK. Outside the periphery of UK the

corporation broadcasts commercially funded channels like BBC World News, BBC

America and BBC Canada. The rating systems works like anywhere else in the

world but BBC has the distinction of showing programmes that other commercial

broadcasters would not broadcast under normal circumstances.

The BBC is a marginally autonomous corporation, generally independent

from any direct government intervention. Usually its activities are overseen by the

BBC Trust (formerly the Board of Governors). Day to day management of the

organization is looked after by a Director-General usually appointed by the Trust.

 The corporation has the largest budget for any UK broadcaster, with an operating

expenditure of approximately £4.3 billion in 2007, compared to British Sky Broadcasting,

ITV and GCap Media (the biggest commercial radio broadcaster). The health and

prosperity of the corporation can easily be judged from the graph presented below which

clealry depicts that BBC has gone stronger after each year since the start of the decade.

(Source: BBC - Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006.)

The BBC was the sole television broadcaster in UK until 1955 and the only

radio broadcaster until 1968. Its impact on the country’s culture and traditins has

been therefore really significant as the people of the country had no other choice and

they had to rely on BBC’s broadcast for information and entertainment.

Even after the beginning of commercial television and radioin UK, BBC

continued to enjoy the status of one of the main elements of British popular culture.

The beginning of BBC2 gave BBC the necessary room to explore avenues never

visited before and BBC made programs like drama, current affairs, documentaries,

entertainment and sport. It was during the start of 21st century that BBC produced
arguably the most critically acclamied Documentaries ever, in the history of

television, in the form of Blue Planet and Planet Earth which received a number of

awards worldwide and are considered by many as the finest examples of capturing

nature in the wild. In radio industry BBC has maintained its trademark of high

standards in news, documentaries, drama, entertainment, sport and music for

listeners of all tastes.

BBC’s reason for being as described in the words of Mr. Huw Wheldon, a

former broadcaster and executive of BBC is "Making the good popular and the

popular good has been a core purpose of the BBC since its foundation." This is also

evident from BBC’s spending on programs which has shown a dramatic increase in

news, current affairs and learning genres whereas the focus on sports and music has

been decreased.

(Source: BBC - Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006.)

 BBC's prime objective is to provide a service to the public, instead of only

entertainment. And this mentality has helped in tranforming the general public's

perception on a wide array of subjects from health to natural history. By sticking

with a high standard of srvices BBC has also set up a quality threshold which the

commercial companies had to cross in ordeer to retain their licences, but the impact

of the multi-channel approach is apparently taking its tole by lessening this effect.

The rise of satellite and more recently internet has ensured that the cultural impact of

BBC can be experienced globally.

The interaction between the corporation has never been a one-way traffic, on

one hand BBC has altered society, and on the other the society has tend to change

BBC. From its more elite beginnings, the corporation is becoming more inclusive

after every passing day and now tries to accommodate the interests of nearly all

segments of society, as everyone of them is paying the licence fee.

Competition has, to a certain extent, diluted BBC's reach and impact, but still

it is one of the major influences on British popular culture (a proof of which is that

many popular everyday maxims and sayings are actually derived from BBC-

produced television shows).

(Source: BBC - Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006.)

(Source: BBC - Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006.)

(Source: BBC - Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006.)

 As depicted by the graphs and tables presented above BBC has no significant

problem when it comes to reach in television and radio sectors but as we always say that

“we are living in the age of internet” and “internet is the future” so there is a need of

greater emphasis on increasing the reach of audience online. For this purpose a range of

interactive options could be and should be employed in order to ensure that BBC remains

abreast to the changes in demographics and should remain in the frontline when it comes

to technology.