Strategic Responses to Digital Disruption: The Case of Kenyan Media

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how three Kenyan newspapers are managing the digital disruption, and sought to answer three research questions; 1) What is the impact of the mobile phone and Internet technologies on Kenyan daily newspapers? 2) What strategic responses are being executed by Kenyan daily newspapers in response to the digital disruption occasioned by the internet and the mobile phone? 3) What are the key influences behind these strategic responses, business models and proposed revenue streams? A qualitative approach was employed to conduct this research through a multiple case study research method. A multiple case study was used with the intention of testing the same research questions within different contexts while applying the same data generation techniques and analysis for each context. Three Kenyan dailies were studied in this research. The data generation tools included; in-depth interviews with 23 senior executives and senior editors, document reviews and participant observations. This inquiry found that the Kenyan newspapers under study are currently executing four main strategies in response to the digital disruption: protecting the old business, alternative sources of revenue, pivot to digital and culture change. Based on the findings, this study concludes that the Kenyan newspaper industry has yet to disrupt itself in the wake of increasing digitisation, and instead continues to grapple with challenges of digital disruption. Several recommendations are presented in this study, including the suggestion to normalise research to allow newspapers to understand their audiences. Areas for further research include a study on media consumption habits of Kenyan audiences