ABSTRACT
Just as in the oil and automotive industries in the 20th-century, the media industry is going through a profound transformation, moving from a primarily national to a global commercial-media market, and in the process creating a group of global oligopolists (McChesney, 1999). While this trend of global conglomerization continues in the media industry, the new platform for content distribution, mobile wireless, has expanded rapidly around the world, suggesting ample opportunities for these global media companies. In fact, while the demand for traditional media is saturating in many developed countries, wireless penetration was expected to reach 30% of the world’s population by 2007, with certain regions such as Asia-Pacific growing at the highest annual rate of 13.6% (Greenspan, 2004). The growth of wireless services in regions such as Western Europe and many of the emerging economies presents an attractive business opportunity for the leading media conglomerates as they attempt to diversify internationally and into other new media businesses. This chapter assesses the product and international diversification strategy of the leading global media conglomerates in the mobile wireless market. Based on the strategic management literature in diversification and a review of the market characteristics and trends in the international media market, we also suggest a system of drivers that influence the conglomerates’ diversification strategy into this particular sector.
