Overview
Media professionals and media firms are united in their need to acquire the commercial, strategic and managerial skills to prosper in an industry undergoing constant fundamental change. This course is designed to address these needs, developing entrepreneurial leaders equipped to deal with the complex and novel challenges presented by new technologies, consumer behaviour, and evolving business models.
The course will enable you to identify and analyse strategic and operational problems and opportunities, understand, quantify and access national and international media markets, and use foresight and planning techniques to understand and respond to change. As well as being able to manage complex media projects, you will also have the skills to engage in strategic direction setting, deploy business-planning skills, and excel in leadership and implementation.
The course is delivered by academic staff with lengthy experience of advising and managing media organisations. Teaching methods are based around practical problems and include in-class exercises and individuals and group projects and assessment. Assignments will enable you to develop and apply your skills in creative project development and business planning.
Course content
The course provides a rounded suite of managerial and commercial skills, rooted in a critical understanding of today’s media and content industries, building on our role as a leader in media research. Practice-based assignments, such as the integrating business-planning project, play an essential role in enabling you to apply ideas and learning in a creative fashion. The course consists of eight credit-bearing modules and an additional key skills module which includes the use of quantitative methods and software tools.
Modules
DISSERTATION
The course culminates with a major research-based project. You will take a research and methods course designed to introduce you to the key tools for collecting and analysing evidence. Group work in Semester One orients you towards identifying and refining your individual research topic, which must be specific to the Media Management MA. Topics must be related to the strategic and commercial challenges faced by media businesses. You will be encouraged to focus your research upon the challenges and opportunities confronting a specific media firm or group of media organisations.
MEDIA MANAGEMENT: STRATEGY, CONTEXT AND TOOLS
This module provides an overview of the course and the strategic and operational disciplines required for modern media executives. It also introduces you to a number of conceptual tools that you will use throughout the course. The module analyses key drivers for change within media industries and the context for managerial decision-making. You will also acquire important skills in report-writing and professional presentation techniques.
MEDIA MARKETS
This module will introduce you to the economics of the media and content industries, including broadcasting, print, film, recorded music and interactive forms. You will examine the revenue and cost structures of these industries, and the economics of the key processes of production, distribution and consumption. The module provides tools enabling decision-making based on market data.
MEDIA OPERATIONS AND ORGANISATION
The module addresses the fundamental challenges involved in organising and managing the operation of media companies. It examines the degree to which it is possible to apply conventional management techniques for achieving efficiency and quality in the creative and editorial processes of media organisations. In particular the module focuses on how digitisation and convergence are changing the methods of managing those processes.
RESPONDING TO A CHANGING MEDIA ENVIRONMENT
You will acquire the skills and knowledge to transform the information and insight gained through analysis into strategic recommendations and proposals for commercial initiatives. The module introduces a range of theoretical and practical tools and techniques enabling your to formulate solutions to problems and apply them in a practical and realistic fashion. The module explores structured innovation techniques, the marketing and branding of media products and services, as well as business planning.
STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION IN THE MEDIA FIRM
The module addresses the key challenges facing media organisations as they attempt to manage a period of unprecedented, radical change. The course builds on the work done in Media Management and Strategy and Media Operations and Organisation to address the practical questions of how to implement changes to the way media organisations and media professionals actually work.
THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA FIRM IN TRANSITION
How have media firms around the world dealt with the task of synthesising commercial and strategic solutions to the challenges they face? This module examines the ways in which private and public media organisations are changing. It will highlight key topical issues such as the challenge of piracy and file sharing, the switch to on-demand, and the impact of globalisation. The module combines methods derived from foresight studies with the your own directed research to engage with concrete problems facing international media organisations.