Emergence of digital printing presses and the implications for the future of newspaper industry value creation

Abstract

This theoretical article analyses the overlapping of consumption and production in the value chain for the newspaper industry. The creation and consumption of the digitally printed newspaper are theoretically shown as being led by the decentralised nature of the value chain network. Such that the conventional distinction between consumer and producer of newspapers is challenged, with the journalist typically acting as a mediator between them and other stakeholders, in the value chain. The value chain concept in the newspaper industry is predicted to experience a fundamental paradigm shift with the advent of digital printing press technology in respect of: (1) the methods of production and supply becoming highly personalised; (2) the newspaper industry experiencing an overlapping of cultural consumption and production, and (3) the emergence of the self organising newspaper. The performance of such self organisation units is theorised as being appraised through levels of 'stakeholder satisfaction'.