Introduction:

Newspaper publishers spend millions of dollars annually to ensure that the newspaper arrives at the newspaper stand or the subscribers doorstep every day. Reporters track down stories and editors diligently maintain the editorial integrity of the newspaper. The production department meticulously guarantees that advertisements make it onto the right page. It is no small feat that this daily production process has continued for centuries across every city and town in the world. Therein lies the rub. With a resolute focus on both the published newspaper and production efficiencies, newspapers have become true stalwarts of the industrial age. The last decade has ushered in a new era, the information age, which is characterized by an unwavering focus on customers. A newspapers most valuable asset is customer acceptance. Today, customer service means more than delivering the newspaper on time, every time. Many newspapers are transforming their organizations from manufacturing-oriented enterprises to customer-centric businesses and relying on customer relationship management solutions to help catapult newspapers into the new age (Margaret 2002). In the early of the eightys of the last century the then government of Bangladesh had declared the newspaper sector as an industry. Now a day it has become a wide and very important industry of the economy of our country. At present there are about four hundreds national daily newspapers and more than two thousand magazines in the country [Siddique 2002]. This is one of the most dynamic sectors of our economy. A revolutionary change has been occurring in this industry especially from the last ten years. Technological revolution has brought a dramatic development in this sector. Our newspaper industry has been flourished highly during this period. A number of renowned daily newspapers are ready to face the challenge of the era of information age. It has crossed a long path from the era of letter compose to todays updated computer compose. Internet has changed the way of the newspaper business. Now a day, publishing of newspaper is not an adventure; it has become a business. And the ultimate objective of any business venture is to maximize the profit for the owner, not to maximize the social welfare. The newspaper industry has been transformed from its old entity, social work, to a for-profit business venture. Marketing is the most critical factor of todays market-oriented newspaper industry. Thats why todays entrepreneurs of this industry have to think for various marketing variables i.e. the development and maintenance of products quality; developing price

strategies; establishing effective distribution channel; and lastly conducting promotional programs to pursue consumers to buy their product. And they have to do all these things keeping the needs, wants and demands of their consumers in their minds. In this way we can see that the understanding and application of modern marketing concepts is very significant in getting success in this industry.

Types of Industry Structure:

Fragmented Industry: Porter defined a fragmented industry as one comprised of many small firms where the concentration ratio of the four largest firms was 40 percent or less. No firm in such an industry has a significant market share and so there are no dominant players that can exert a strong influence on the industry. There are several economic forces at work which can cause a market structure to be fragmented, and these are primarily cost conditions and demand. An industry cannot be fragmented when there are significant economies of scale in production or barriers to entry because these factors lead to market structures that are highly concentrated. Porter also identifies high inventory costs or variable sales as contributing factors, since they make it difficult to produce in high volumes to lower costs or invest in capacity which might reduce costs. High transportation costs will also tend to reduce the minimum efficient scale plant and will create isolated geographic markets. Products and services which are highly customized for individual customers do not lend themselves to economies of scale, so the nature of the product plays a role in determining industry structure. Consumer preferences on the demand side of the market may also cause an industry to be fragmented where customers require customized service that can be served by small job lots (McAuliffe, n.d.) Consolidated Industry: A consolidated industry is a commercial structure where a relatively low number of companies control a rather large market share of the overall output or sales for a particular product or product type. Consolidated industry markets often have relatively high barriers to entry, differentiated products, well established brands and high profit margins (Consolidated industry, 2012). Industry consolidation is categorized into either horizontal or

vertical integration. Horizontal integration combines similar firms and products within the market segment. Vertical integration consolidates companies along the same supply chain. Industry consolidation may arise when multiple smaller firms merge together within an emerging market to grow financial resources. Consolidation may also signal limited growth opportunities related to mature markets. Historically, airlines have been forced to consolidate in order to survive (Bofah, 2012).

Strategic Groups within Industries A strategic group is defined as a group of corporations that employ the same or similar strategies in a particular industry. Hunt discovered that some companies follow very different strategies when compared with other companies in the same market and classified uniform industry subgroups based on their value adding chain. Those sub-groups, which display similar behavior along key strategic dimensions, were called strategy groups. Porter discovered that individual strategic group members face similar threats and opportunities in the competitive market. Furthermore, similar resource configurations form protective barriers around the strategic groups. The strategic behavior and performance within a strategy group are very similar. The industry may consist of several or only one strategic group. A strategic group may consist of one or more members. (Mller-Stewens, 2005)

Industry Life Cycle Analysis

According to what is industry life cycle (2009), industry goes through the following stages based on which it formulates its strategies:

Fragmentation or embryonic stage: Fragmentation is the first stage of the new industry. This is the stage when the new industry develops the business. At this stage, the new industry normally arises when an entrepreneur overcomes the twin problems of innovation and invention, and works out how to bring the new products or services into the market Shake out or growth: Shake-out is the second stage of the industry lifecycle. It is the stage at which a new industry emerges. During the shake-out stage, competitors start to realize business opportunities in the emerging industry. The value of the industry also quickly rises. Maturity: Maturity is the third stage in the industry lifecycle. Maturity is a stage at which the efficiencies of the dominant business model give these organizations competitive advantage over competition. The competition in the industry is rather aggressive because there are many competitors and product substitutes. Price, competition, and cooperation take on a complex form. Some companies may shift some of the production overseas in order to gain competitive advantage. Decline: Decline is the final stage of the industry lifecycle. Decline is a stage during which a war of slow destruction between businesses may develop and those with heavy bureaucracies may fail. In addition, the demand in the market may be fully satisfied or suppliers may be running out. In the stage of decline, some companies may leave the industry if there is no demand for the products or services they provide, or they may develop new products or services that meet the demand in the market. In such cases, this will create a new industry.

Industry Structure

Fragmented or consolidated?
The Newspaper industry of Bangladesh is a fragmented industry. As no one is dominating the market & most importantly the price range of main rivals are relatively same. Now in Bangladesh there are 201 dailies that are being published, its a great enhancement. Competition in the newspaper industry is very tight. The size of the newspaper industry is increasing over time. So we can say the barrier of entry to this industry is low as well. Though the concentration ratio of 1st four Industry leader are close to 40%. During last five years the total sale of newspaper industry has gone up to 31.95 million TK.