As a theme, worries about technology take a lead role in top executives' depiction of the problems the newspaper industry faces. Solutions to major problems require a big-picture understanding of the newspaper business. I sense top management has lived through a succession of radical new programs designed by and carried out by individual departments that had unforeseen consequences for the entire newspaper. When department heads better understand the consequences of changes in their own department strategies on the rest of the newspaper, wiser courses of action will be charted. Competition for readers' time.
Readers choose from increasing options for news, entertainment, and general interest information.
Competition for advertising dollars. Advertisers are bombarded by new opportunities to more finely target their efforts, or to expand into larger markets. Competition from new media. We can also get information about ratings and advertising revenues from published sources to help track the competition. Non-traditional competitors link directly to the customer and are therefore harder to detect, let alone monitor on a regular basis.