Magazine Management

Abstract

Magazine management as a field of study lies within the area of Media Management and Economics (MME). MME research is producing a growing body of literature focusing on economic, management and business issues in the media industries, based largely on traditional concepts and theories in the two related disciplines of management and economics. Study of media management and economics has grown in stature since the 1990s pioneering works of Robert Picard and Alan Albarran. Several seminal books have been published in the 2000s, including the Handbook of Media Management and Economics and Annet Aris and Jacques Bughin’s Managing Media Companies. The founding of three academic journals, namely the Journal of Media Economics (in 1988), the International Journal of Media Management (in 1999), and the Journal of Media Business Studies (in 2007), has established the field by providing industry-specific publication outlets for research on journalism and media-based business and economics. This chapter comprises a review of the current research on the magazine industry, segmented in the following five categories: media economics, management research, business modeling, innovation and brand management. These categories reflect the main body of research related to magazines and magazine publishing from a business perspective. Research specific to magazine publishing is scarce in comparison with that in other media sectors, such as the newspaper industry. However, a strength is that the body of magazine-related research includes both global and digital studies, with theory and applications continuing to mature. Included in this review is management research that focuses on magazine publishers, as well as research in which magazine publishing is the empirical context for a larger theoretical approach.