Abstract

In 1996, the South China Morning Post (SCMP), a Hong Kong-based English-language news daily, established PostNet (an electronic publishing division) to experiment with the on-line medium. In mid-1999, SCMP’s Board of Directors observed the Internet’ s meteoric rise and considered PostNet’ s e-commerce opportunity. In order to leverage e-commerce’ s growth, they resolved to reposition the SCMP from a print-based publisher to a company capable of multi-media publishing. PostNet was renamed SCMP.com. To be successful in this endeavour, the SCMP had to overcome numerous problems, including the need to build a viable business model, to streamline internal workflows, to transform the mindset of the employees and to search for the “right” strategic partners to strengthen its on-line network. In addition, the SCMP would be required to decide whether or not to spin off SCMP.com (or any other part of its Internet capable business) into an independent concern.

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