Dynamic Capabilities and Adaptive Advantage in UK Media

The past decade has seen a transformation in the way media organizations have managed their businesses. The emergence of new media has paved the way for new technologies, digitalization, a proliferation of media outlets and multiple platforms to distribute mediated content. Picard (2002, p.46) argued that these structural market changes compel media executives to address the issue of sustainability since “a firm that is competitive today can lose that competitiveness in future years”. The work of Kung (2008) and Oliver (2012) demonstrated the nature of high velocity market conditions that characterize many media industries, whilst Doyle (2013, p.35) commented that “media firms have naturally adapted their business and corporate strategies” in response to the dynamic nature of media environment. This paper examines the concept of media firm sustainability by investigating the dynamics of the current UK media environment and the efficacy of media firm strategy and resource management. As such, issues of media firm sustainability will be examined through the lens of Dynamic Capabilities Theory (Teece and Pisano, 1994) which is well placed to consider how media organizations have adapted (Ambrosini, Bowman & Collier 2009) to a transformational context heavily influenced by technological innovation. This paper argues that it is the ability of a media organization to adapt and refresh their resource base, capabilities and competencies that can provide them with an advantage in the market place. As such, this paper argues that Adaptive Advantage should be a prime consideration for media firms operating in the type of high velocity market conditions that can threaten the sustainability of their business. This paper will present the findings from a survey of UK media executives and argue that Dynamic Capabilities Theory can be extended to consider not only the adaptation of organizational strategy and resources, but the notion that a media firm can gain an Adaptive Advantage over their competition, and therefore, provide the basis for the long-terms sustainability of their business