Strategic leadership and management in China’s music publishing industry: a case study of the Shanghai Music Publishing House

Abstract

Strategic leadership and management has played an essential role, not only in the general business domain, but also in the music business area in China. In the music business domain in China, people used to over-emphasize the role of music artists and their works, performances and productions but overlook the role of strategic leadership and management in the development of the music businesses and industries. But, in fact, strategic leadership and management has increasingly influenced not only the development and effectiveness of music companies but also the trend of the music businesses and industries in China (Li and Morrow 2013). Thus it is important to address in this chapter the issue concerning the role of strategic leadership and management in the practice of the music businesses and industries in China. In the music industries in China, strategic leaders, as the performers ofstrategic leadership and management, need a strong capacity to deal with complex environmental changes and influences. Specifically, good strategic leaders first need to interpret the changes and influences, predict and judge industrial trends, make appropriate strategic development decisions and effectively implement them. During the twenty-first century, ‘convergence’ is assumed as one of the most important environment factors that has influenced China’s music publishing business and industry. So it is important for a successful leader to use the skills and/or abilities of strategic leadership and management-such as to align, to learn, to anticipate, to challenge, to interpret and to decide-in order to identify the opportunities and challenges that convergence has brought. This chapter examines the role of strategic leadership and management inthe music publishing industry in China in the early twenty-first century through a case study of the Shanghai Music Publishing House (SMPH). Specifically, this case study addresses the following question: how was the role of strategic leadership and management in China’s music publishing industry re-conceptualized? There are also two sub-questions: first, how did the leaders of the SMPH use the skills of strategic leadership and management to deal with the influence of convergence on the music publishing business andthe production and then implement it? The following discussion examines the context of strategic leadership andmanagement of the SMPH. This discussion proceeds with an examination of the following three topics in relation to the case study: (a) a brief history and present situation of China’s music publishing industry; (b) the profile of the SMPH; and (c) convergence as an important environmental factor.