Small Firms: The Precursors of Future Business Environments?
MSc Business Administration Small Business and Entrepreneurship
H. WEITZ Master Thesis
June 2020
University of Groningen Faculty of Economics and Business
Supervisor: I. Kozlinska, PhD Co-assessor: dr. E.P.M. Croonen
Boterdiep 55-4 9712LK Groningen h.weitz@student.rug.nl Student Number: 2979381
Acknowledgements
Abstract
Although news and academia alike mostly focus on large firms in their reporting, it is small firms that make up the bigger part of the economy (European Commission, 2020). Therefore, it is surprising that even established theories like Teece’s (2007) dynamic capabilities are mostly investigated in the context of large firms. This paper intended to shed a light on how applicable the model is to small and medium-sized firms (SMEs). To do this the dynamic television industry was investigated in depth. Due to continuous network restructurings and new market entrances by global corporations the Dutch television market presented an interesting field for inquiry. By use of semi-structured questionnaires 14 production companies of diverse backgrounds were investigated to gain deep insights into their strategic resource deployment. Especially interesting was their appraisal of resources in the context of the COVID-19 crisis which had commenced in Europe at the beginning of this research. The findings showed that all firms valued flexibility to a great extent and ensured it by relying heavily on freelancers. From this observation the idea was discussed that to reach full flexibility, and thus survive in a highly dynamic market, a further fragmentation of the workspace might be inevitable. In regard to broadening the understanding of Teece (2007) in the context of smaller firms, one firm in particular stuck out. They showed that by enacting all of Teece’s (2007) dynamic capabilities not only were they able to be competitive before the crisis but also afterwards. Through continuous sensing and seizing this small firm was prepared to reconfigure its strategy in the face of COVID-19 regulations in such a way that not a single loss had to be incurred.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION……… 1
LITERATURE REVIEW……….… 4
The Resource-Based View………..….. 4
The Role of Resources in RBV……….... 5
The Evolution of RBV………..… 6
Developments in the Television Industry………... 8
1st Phase: Public Broadcasting………..… 8
2nd Phase: Commercial Broadcasting………. 8
3rd Phase: Consolidation Period………..…... 8
Importance of the Television Industry………..… 9
Economic Crisis………. 10
METHODOLOGY……… 10
Research Design……… 10
Participants and Other Data Sources………. 11
Introduction
The business world is becoming increasingly dynamic through globalization and the subsequent internationalization of local markets. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up 99.8 percent of these markets across European countries (European Commission, 2019). Although they contribute 56.4 percent to the total gross domestic product they are chronically understudied in comparison to their larger counterparts. Thus, less is known about how SMEs stay competitive in an increasingly dynamic environment. This paper deepens the understanding of the academic field by taking a closer look at the Dutch television industry. A sector that is by default creative and a country that is known for its outstanding creative capacity (investinholland, n.d.) presented the opportunity to gather enlightening insights about competitive resource usage. Conducting the study during the worldwide COVID-19 crisis pointed out the most valued resources and their strategic deployment.
“It is always the same when new media come along that people think TV is over, but radio isn’t over either and cinemas recovered as well.” (Firm 9)
Television broadcasting around the world has experienced many changes during the past decades. The introduction of ever-new technologies and subsequent further audience fragmentation seem to have heralded television’s death time and again (North and Oliver, 2010). Against these odds, viewing times have been rather steady for the past decade as can be seen in Figure 1 outlining numbers for the Netherlands (Kijkonderzoek, 2020). *
Figure 1. Average Annual Television Viewing Times for the Netherlands 2010 – 2018
The relevance of television broadcasting across Europe is further underpinned by its great contribution to national GDPs (Doyle, 2018) and its influence on cultural identity (Schlesinger, 1997). During the demanding times of the 2020 COVID-19 crisis it could be observed that people returned more often to their TV sets for information and entertainment as average viewing times experienced an upsurge compared to previous years (Kijkonderzoek, 2020).
Figure 2. Average Monthly Television Viewing Times for the Netherlands 2018 – 2019 - 2020
Since television possesses cultural influence and reaches the masses, it is important that its content stays diverse and independent. Diversity is reached when the market avoids ongoing consolidations. Smaller firms need an incentive to resist the safe womb of big media groups with their promise of resource safety. The most obvious one is the prospect of operating successfully on their own. Therefore, this paper intended to find out what it actually is that makes production firms function well. The research question is formulated as follows:
RQ1: How do small and medium-sized television production companies secure competitive advantages in the market?
were budget cuts across the industry. Many shows that were already planned for production had to be postponed, some indefinitely. While international powerhouses like the RTL group expected to avoid layoffs, the independent production company Talpa had to resort to such drastic measures to ensure survival (Takken, 2020).
While Talpa is by far no minor player this example of RTL’s seemingly superiority in competitiveness gives a first idea to why the market structure has been going through changes in the past – and what it entails for small and medium-sized firms if even larger independent firms like Talpa are struggling. For the UK and across Europe, Doyle (2018) noticed that big national and international players have been buying off smaller competitors with accelerating speed. For example, the British production company Shine Limited merged with Dutch Endemol to become Endemol Shine in 2011 which in turn was in takeover discussions with French media conglomerate Banijay for the past two years (Lückerath, 2019).
2018). The global crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic just tightened this grip. The above-mentioned developments in practice and theory led to the second research question:
RQ2: How does an economic crisis influence the competitiveness of small and medium-sized television production companies?
To answer both research questions, this paper first delved into the basics about why resources are an important firm component to attain competitiveness. This overview started at revisiting the well-known resource-based view (RBV) which sees resources as everything that supports a firm’s efficient strategizing (Barney, 1991). In the next step, criticism around this idea was acknowledged. Further, this paper elaborated on one answer to the criticism particularly focusing on the static nature of the RBV. Teece’s (2007) ideas about dynamic capabilities, introduced a framework helping to identify how firms can react to “fast-moving business environments open to global competition” through the use of resources (p. 1319). Subsequently, a review of literature concerning this topic showed where the field is currently at and informed the development of relevant interview questions.
The answers to the above posed questions can have important implications for practice and theory. The aim of this study was to investigate resource deployment of television production companies in the unique situation of the COVID-19 crisis. By doing so the paper adds to the existing ideas about the RBV in the context of SMEs. To achieve that the paper gave a comprehensive overview of what literature in this field has unearthed so far and to analyze what is done in practice to find out how strategies might be optimized. Because this research was conducted during the 2020 COVID-19 crisis its focus was on firm behavior during crises. However, the television industry is generally a dynamic sector marked by diminished customer loyalty due to an extant availability of contents across channels. Therefore, findings stemming from this research will hopefully stimulate strategy optimization post crisis as well. Might it be to compete more successfully during non-crisis times or to be prepared for the next one.
Literature Review The Resource-Based View
attractiveness and the subsequent opportunities this offers to firms for them to compete successfully. In doing so, this research stream neglected the differences between individual firms and how such variations influence competitiveness (Barney, 1991).
This is where the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm rose to fame. Conscious of the above-mentioned discrepancy in the field of strategy research, academics like Barney (1991) and Wernefelt (1984) investigated the firm as a single unit. In their research they did not argue against the importance of the environment but advocated for a more integrated and at the same time more diversified view in which the individual firm and its resources are acknowledged as much as its environment. Porter’s macroeconomic view assumed that resources are homogeneous and mobile and while these assumptions were useful to investigate the link between environment and firm performance, they were not helpful in identifying sources of competitive advantage of separate firms (Barney, 1991). Therefore, RBV based its ideas on opposite assumptions. The view presumes that resources in a market are distributed heterogeneously across firms and that this heterogeneous allocation can be achieved long-term if these resources are also imperfectly mobile.
The Role of Resources in RBV
To locate such resources Barney (1991) suggested a framework to test for sustained competitive advantage that builds upon resources having four attributes. They need to be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and non-substitutable. In arguing for his framework, the researcher did say that environmental models should not be disregarded in the analysis of resources. Instead they can help locating valuable and rare resources by judging if a resource 1) enables the firm to exploit opportunities and neutralize threats in the environment (valuable) and 2) is not owned by a vast number of competitors (rare). In a subsequent step, the RBV framework identifies if these resources are also imperfectly imitable and non-substitutable which will make their value and rareness sustainable.
The difference between sustained competitive advantage and plain competitive advantage can be found when looking at the longevity and idiosyncrasy of said advantage. If a firm possesses a resource or a bundle of resources that positively sets them apart from their competitors and if the firm can keep this advantage long-term it is said to be a sustained competitive advantage (Barney, 1991). However, long-term does not mean calendar time in this case. It means a firm is able to avoid duplication of such an advantageous resource by competitors and not that it will keep this advantage forever. If a firm loses its competitive advantage through, for example, changes in the environment, this does not mean they were not sustainable to begin with. This would only be the case if they lose it because of competitive duplication.
The Evolution of RBV
Since its advent the RBV has been used but also criticized a lot. Opponents like Priem and Butler (2001) found that there has not been enough critical evaluation of the theory and they even questioned if the RBV brings along the basic requirements to be seen as a theory (e.g. the problem of tautology). One major argument here is that the RBV underestimates the environment. Barney (1991) stated that the environment influences the first two attributes (i.e. valuable and rare) of resources but that the assumptions of immobile and heterogeneous markets underestimates this influence. As much as it is a simplification by earlier environmental models to assume resources in an industry are homogeneous and perfectly mobile the same goes for Barney’s assumptions, in reverse. In a response Barney (2001) acknowledged Priem and Butler’s (2001) criticism and argued that it is up to future research to further develop and hone the resource-based view. Adhering to this call, there has been much work on furthering the RBV in different contexts (e.g. Rangone, 1999; Newbert, 2008).
neglecting that markets are increasingly fast-changing (p.1344). He argued that if controlling scarce resources is important for value-creation, then it comes naturally that more dynamic capabilities like the appropriation of skills and learning are of strategic importance (Teece., 1990). Firms that want to stay ahead need to innovate and protect their IP but also need the matching organizational and managerial skills. This complementarity would subsequently lead to attaining sustained competitive advantages.
Dynamic capabilities according to Teece (2007) are 1) Sensing and shaping opportunities and threats 2) Seizing opportunities and 3) Managing threats and reconfiguration. To accomplish the sensing capability, it is necessary to invest in research related tasks that will foster successful scanning and interpretation of the environment and of the available resources in it. This opportunity creation either occurs when entrepreneurs access existing sources of information or tap into new knowledge sources that might be exogenous or endogenous. It is a difficult task since markets and the opportunities they offer develop through co-evolution of several actors like competitors, customers and governmental bodies. Still, it must happen constantly and in local as much as in distant markets (March & Simon, 1958; Nelson & Winter, 1982). When the opportunity has been sensed the time comes to seize it. Investing in development and commercialization efforts at the right time and to the right extent is of utmost importance. A certain amount of flexibility is necessary to await what dominant design will arise to bundle heavy investments towards it – like improving technologies or managerial competencies (Abernathy & Utterback, 1978; Teece, 1986, 2007). Sensing and Seizing need to be performed parallelly. Due to their different characteristics and needs this can lead to problems within firms which will be discussed more thoroughly at a later point of this paper. Finally, the key capability to retain profits derived from the first two capabilities is the ability of recombination and reconfiguration. The routines a firm establishes in regard to a dominant design need to be adapted when the environment changes so its evolutionary fit can be maintained. Recalibrating fixed routines and assets can be hard for incumbent firms and in some circumstances new or more divested firms are better equipped to respond to changing market conditions (Leonard-Barton, 1995; Rumelt, 1995).
firm performance (Helfat & Peteraf, 2009) and innovation (e.g. Ellon, Wikström, and Jantunen, 2009) but neglected the role of smaller competitors. This paper aims to add to the ongoing research on resources and how they may lead to sustained competitive advantages. Particular attention is paid to the changing tv industry. In the following part the importance of the sector is laid out, an introduction to the industry and how it has been changing is given. Further, the importance of researching this specific sector is elaborated on and it is discussed in perspective to the economic crisis.
Developments in the Television Industry
1st Phase: Public broadcasting. In the early days of television, the market was
dominated by public service broadcasters. This was more or less the same for all European countries and also for the Netherlands between the early 50s and late 80s (televisies.nl, 2020). Competition was low, the environment stable and production done inhouse, so there was no strong need for dynamic capabilities (Naldi et al., 2014). Property-based resources were of great importance during this era. Owning the rights to scarce and valuable resources like production sides that are hard to imitate due to their underlying network complexity or like the rights to a content library. Such rights were attained through vertical integration of the whole television supply chain (Landers & Chan-Olmsted, 2004).
2nd Phase: Commercial broadcasting. Next, the advent of commercial broadcasters
was supposed to help competing against the dominance of the U.S. television market. More and more productions were outsourced to independent specialized producers (Saundry, 1998). During the late 80s the first commercial television stations rolled out in the Netherlands (televisies.nl, 2020). What helped against bracing oneself against the U.S. market had the logical downside of bringing more uncertainty to the European market. The more uncertainty arose in the environment the more important became knowledge-based resources (Miller and Shamsie, 1996). The lack of vertical integration and the addition of open commercial competition led to information asymmetry which propelled knowledge-based resources, like intellectual capital, to the forefront.
3rd Phase: Consolidation period. In recent years, a sort of backward development in
alike. Esser (2016) comes to the conclusion that the main factors that make Europe interesting for US-based firms are the successes of its format business, greater competition and lower interest rates. One reflection of this international interest is the activity of the American Warner Brothers group in the Netherlands which took over BlazHoffski in 2011 and Eyeworks in 2014 (Tartaglioni, 2014).
As mentioned earlier production firms need to participate in a constant stream of exploration and exploitation. Larger production firms are known for being able to use their resources to a fuller extent (Hoskins, McFadyen, & Finn, 2004; Ofcom, 2006: 71). However, North and Oliver (2010) found that small firms serving a niche had good chances at survival as well due to their streamlined use of resources. Interestingly medium-sized television producers appear to struggle the most the more competitive a market becomes. Still, there is also literature on medium-sized production firms enjoying advantages through larger scales than their small counterparts (Oliver & Ohlbaum, 2015 quoted in Doyle, 2018). Thus, more insight into the way production companies stay competitive is needed.
Importance of the Television Industry
Studying the television sector is relevant for its two major fields of impact. From an economic perspective the creative sector, of which television products are a part of, adds billions to the GDPs of European countries (Doyle, 2018). From a societal perspective, television still reaches vast numbers of viewers and thus executes direct influence on society. Social learning theory states that people adapt their behavior and opinions first and foremost by observing others (Bandura, 1986). When they witness that certain behaviors are rewarded, they themselves accept these as appropriate modes of conduct and transfer them to their daily lives. For example, studies have found that viewing impacts the audience’s relation to violence in that it can lead to antisocial or harmful behavior (Kunkel & Wilson, 1995) or that the presentation of gender roles leads to continuous stereotyping (Lauzen, Dozier, & Horan, 2008).
2010) while others cannot completely support this train of thought (Paterson, 2017) which warrants further inquiries.
Economic Crisis
The television market is already without any external crisis a very risk-ridden industry. Producers can never be certain about the reception of the content they introduce to the audience. Such a hit-based business is prone to uncertainty which makes the mitigation of risks highly necessary. In comparison to small and medium-sized productions larger rivals are able to instigate a product library strategy to achieve competitive advantages that will help weathering stormy times (Achtenhagen, 2012). However, picking up the Endemol Shine example again gives an idea about how quickly changes in the environment can affect business operations of any size. By the end of 2019 media outlets announced that the takeover by Banijay was finalized after lengthy discussions (Niemeier, 2019). In spring of 2020, the status of the takeover changed drastically with voices saying Banijay was trying to get out of the multibillion-dollar deal in the face of economic COVID-19 consequences (Keslassy, 2020).
Due to emerging technologies the television market has experienced some turbulences in the past decade (Brown & Picard, 2005; Gillan, 2011; Palmer, 2006). Naldi el al. (2014) constituted that the European market was still immature and therefore quite dynamic. Since then the market has not lost in dynamism but gained another recession (Financial crisis 2008) in its portfolio. While the researchers pointed out that the last recession was still tangible in the bones of the economy, they noticed that the ability to adjust to quickly changing market conditions was of great importance to the television sector. The current times offer a unique opportunity to investigate harsh environmental changes and their influences on firm behavior. It is too early in the process to try and infer effects of current actions on subsequent performance levels. It is, however, possible to get a first glimpse into the way firms deploy resources and to see which are assumed to be useful in especially dynamic times.
Methodology Research Design
timeframe can help in finding underlying concepts which might be important for emerging theory (Yin, 1994; Eisenhardt, 1989).
These cases were studied using the same method, namely a semi-structured interview guide that was continuously adapted throughout the process of collecting interviews. In accordance with Gioia, Corley, and Hamilton (2012), this guide addressed the overarching topics of the research questions in that the interviews were concerned with firm resources, competitor comparisons, the market structure and the current crisis. To maintain the opportunity of discovering new concepts and ideas the interview guide was not restricted to its initial form. Instead of standardization it was slightly adapted to each company and revised after each interview if new insights warranted this. The level of analysis are the firms for which a high-ranking manager was interviewed to obtain comparative information about strategic research deployment in each firm. Managers are more likely to have access to the relevant information. Due to the scope of this paper and the tightened situation in the market during the CoVid-19 crisis, I decided to interview only one person per company. Since most questions are not concerned with subjective impressions this was deemed appropriate.
Participants and Other Data Sources
Firm # Size Corporate Parent Content Focus Audience Successes
Firm 1 Large Yes Non-scripted
Infotainment
Yes
Firm 2 Large Yes Infotainment
Fiction Online
Yes
Firm 3 Medium-sized Yes Journalism
Documentary
Yes
Firm 4 Medium-sized Yes Human Interest Yes
Firm 5 Small No Fiction Yes
Firm 6 Small No Non-scripted
Human Interest
Yes
Firm 7 Small No Unique Niche No
Firm 8 Small No Unique Niche Yes
Firm 9 Small No Entertainment No
Firm 10 Small No Human Interest Yes
Firm 11 Small No Fiction No
Firm 12 Small No Infotainment Yes
Firm 13 Small No Human Interest
Documentary
No
Firm 14 Small No Fiction No
Table 1. Firm characteristics of sampled firms
owner/manager duo was female/male. There was no prior relationship between the researcher or any of the interviewees, so no ethical pitfalls had to be considered.
Firm # Position Gender Occupational Background
Firm 1 Business Manager Female Mixed
Firm 2 Owner/Manager Male Mixed
Firm 3 Owner/Manager Male Creative
Firm 4 Business Manager Male Economic
Firm 5 Creative Manager Female Mixed
Firm 6 Owner/Manager Male Economic
Firm 7 Owner/Manager Male Creative
Firm 8 Owner/Manager Male Creative
Firm 9 Creative Manager Male Creative
Firm 10 Owner/Manager Female + Male Mixed
Firm 11 Owner/Manager Male Mixed
Firm 12 Owner/Manager Female Creative
Firm 13 Owner/Manager Male Creative
Firm 14 Owner/Manager (retired) Male Creative
Table 2. Interviewee Characteristics of sampled firms
Participant Selection
The aim of qualitative research is typically to get rich insights from the field (Given, 2008). The general recommendation in the methodological literature is to conduct interviews (as a chosen method in this study) until the so-called saturation is reached (Bryman & Bell, 2011). Data saturation is the collection of new material until there are no new insides gathered from any further interviews. Marshall (1996) argues that some interviewees offer a more in-depth insight than others and along this notion interview partners were chosen according to their position in the respective firms, their occupational trajectory, and their firm’s position in the market. For all of the interviewees their current position in the firm was accessible via the firms’ websites while their occupational history was presented on LinkedIn. Finally, the standing of the firms within the industry was determined by their respective performance across the past three years. Measuring performance in media industries is difficult because it is not easy to pin down what a successful performance exactly constitutes (Wirth & Bloch, 1995). Doyle (2018) suggested to take “non-economic indicators” into consideration, like viewing figures, awards and critical evaluation of content. For this study I decided to take viewing numbers into account because in the end these numbers, and not awards or pleasant critiques, decide if a show is continued or a firm gets another chance from broadcasters to generate profits in the future. Each year, the Dutch statistical institution for television viewing numbers and duration publishes a Top 100 list of the television shows with the highest audience numbers (Kijkonderzoek, 2017; 2018; 2019). I cross-referenced the lists of the past three years (2017-2019) with the firms of my sample frame by which I could identify particularly influential, interesting and potentially trendsetting firms.
Recruitment Process
developments due to COVID-19 as possible while still staying within the timeframe of my Master thesis. In line with government regulations the interviews occurred online via videocalls. For that matter I used whichever online platform the interviewee preferred (Google Meet, Zoom, Skype). To further accommodate the interviewee the conversations were held in Dutch. The way I described the purpose of the study to the participants and its actual objective did not differ much from the research question. The only adjustment was to avoid terminology when telling them that the aim of the research was to investigate how production companies stay successful, especially during times of crisis.
For the participation in this study no incentives were given. Participants were offered to get a summary of the findings. In advance of the interview the interviewees received an informed consent form (see appendix 1) that they had to read and sign beforehand. There was no previously defined number of participants, but the final count was reached by data saturation (Bryman & Bell, 2011). The moment interviews from firms with similar characteristics (e.g. similar production method, similar size, similar strategic focus) did not generate new insights no more interviews with such firms were conducted.
Data Collection
I conducted semi-structured interviews because they allowed me to keep a focus on the topics I needed to cover while also giving great leeway to the interviewee concerning the scope of their answers (Bryman & Bell, 2011). A previously set up interview guide helped covering all relevant topics. To attain deep and contextualized insights, I developed open-ended questions, which were in line with the investigation in this research paper (see appendix 2 for an overview). As response to answers that seemed worth diving into deeper, I tried to come up with nonleading paraphrases as much as possible to derive logically at follow-up questions. This helped me formulating relevant additional questions on the go and it supported the interviewee in keeping an overview of the process and getting an idea about why certain questions were asked and what they were related to.
Interview Instrument
visited, 2) The number of industry specific newsletter subscriptions a firm possessed, 3) The number of purchased research reports, 4) The number of full-time employees concerned with research and development. To avoid leading the interviewees I formulated one question for points 1) – 3), asking them how their respective firms kept up with developments in the industry. If they did not give up rich information from that I probed further into the directions of Naldi et al.’s (2014) questions. For example, asking if they visited the industry’s trade show in recent years.
For “seizing” the researchers came up with four items: 1) The number of novel production techniques that the firm had developed. 2) The number of new partners in the vertical supply chain. 3) The number of structural changes within the firm. 4) The number of new distribution methods. Again, I kept the questions broad to avoid pushing respondents too far in a preset direction. For the third capability “Managing threats and reconfiguration” I inquired how the firms reacted to the crisis and if they had come up with any innovative ideas to weather its consequences. Naldi et al. (2014) did neglect this last capability because it usually has to be investigated in a longitudinal study design. Due to the COVID-19 crisis every firm had to react to the same market threat (consequences of the pandemic) and needed to reconfigure their business within a short timeframe. This presented a unique opportunity to also look closer into the last of Teece’s (2007) capabilities. Finally, it is also sensible to ask for the age of the company as this might influence their ability to sense and seize due to history (Barney, 1991).
Data was collected within a time frame of four weeks and the interviews lasted between 30 and 90 minutes. They were recorded twice, once via the videocall platform and additionally with a phone to make sure the information for transcribing the interviews would be available in any case. Each of the interviews was transcribed to its full extent. After the research was completed all audio flies were deleted to ensure participant anonymity.
Analysis
& Bondas, 2013). Especially, in rare times like during the COVID-19 pandemic it was important to keep an open mind towards unexpected insights. At the same time, it was a goal to not disregard theoretical understandings that already existed in the field.
In that line of thinking the analysis of the present data first underwent 2nd-order analysis
which was followed up by a 1st-order analysis. At the 2nd-order level (akin to the axial coding
of Strauss and Corbin, 1998) I used the themes derived from the literature review to guide me in finding quotes to answer the research question. Next, the 1st-order analysis resembled Strauss
and Corbin’s (1998) open coding in that it allowed the emergence of a multitude of terms, codes, and categories that stemmed from the information the interviewees offered. Looking at the quotes again, but still with the umbrella of the overarching themes derived from literature, enabled me to sort them into novel subthemes.
These two steps helped developing the interview guide (which was built upon information from existing theory) continuously during data collection. Such a flexibility in applying the interview guide assisted the formation of even further detailed insights which in turn were grouped under existing or newly emerging sub-themes (comparable to Glaser and Strauss’s (1967) theoretical saturation). Subsequently, I created a visual representation of these three analytic steps in form of a data structure in order to be transparent about the process (Table 3). To get a better overview of the data I used data maps. These helped to sort quotes in subthemes and put these subthemes in a logical relation to each other. An example for this is given below.
Themes Sub-themes Codes Market Structure Influences of Public
Broadcasting on the Market
Different layers offer diversity Extra layer provides quality control Low Budgets – High Creativity
Robustness towards quick market dynamics Consolidation
Advantages for SMEs
Small firms can fulfill growth ambitions Founders/Managers can build careers Small firms can work on large projects
Weathering hit-based market dynamics more easily
COVID-19 Consequences of
governmental restrictions
Cancelled/delayed productions Less output – less income Harder on commercial channels
Dismissals and/or governmental support Factors that impact the
intensity with which a firm is hit
Lucky if they were not filming/no plans to do so Type of Content the firm focused on primarily Type of Business focus firm followed beforehand Entrepreneurial Activity taken part in previously Mostly producing for public broadcasters Owning IPR to formerly produced content
Competition Power in
Entrepreneurship: John de Mol
Great power in securing IPR Strong influence on the industry Founder/Personality as success factor
Resources The founder and his
background as source Connections within the market Content preferences (often manifested by chance) Allrounder vs. Specialist
Manage several objectives simultaneously
Entrepreneurial aspirations towards business focus Entrepreneurial aspirations towards innovation Entrepreneurial aspirations towards growth Enabling investments
through sufficient funds
Funding long-term projects Attracting high-quality staff Influence of Human
Capital on output performance
Amount of people active in content creation Connected employees open closed doors High-quality staff produces high quality output Intellectual Property and
its problems
Difficulties in retaining rights Fiction producers
Non-fiction producers Actual Problems Channels Actual Problems Competitors Reacting to the dynamic
market with extreme flexibility
Goal is low overhead and easy upscaling Freelancers are less risky
Product-based contracting as middle ground Different freelancers offer broad idea pool Being an allrounder
Smart strategizing by not losing focus
Keeping overhead low Finding niche market
Validity
As this was a qualitative study generalizability was difficult to accomplish. First and foremost, because of the small sample size such studies entail. Still, Gioia et al. (2012) stated that generalizable findings can be reached through usage of qualitative methods if concepts emerge that are obviously relevant to other sectors. To attain this goal, interviewed firms represented a broad excerpt of the industry in that they were divers in size, lifetime, corporate affiliation, performance and produced content. The interviewees were similarly diverse in that they represented both genders, had different occupational backgrounds, stated different levels of entrepreneurial aspirations and were in different phases of their career (e.g. from first national successes as content producer to retiree). Thus, this broad sample offered many distinct experiences that in turn offered better chances for generating generalizable findings (van Aken, Berends, & van der Bij, 2012).
Reliability
To reach a high reliability, the code manual was given to another researcher to check the coding and themes for semantic and logical discontinuities. Additionally, the methodological steps in this study were described in great detail. In this way the likelihood that other researchers could arrive at similar conclusion, should they replicate this study, was heightened (Yin, 1994).
Findings
In this section the findings from the interview analysis are presented. First, some insights from the interviewees about the industry are presented which will help to understand the motivations behind the kind of resources smaller firms deemed valuable and how they strategically used them to maneuver the environment they act in. Most recently during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“So, the role of production is provided by us and in addition there are editors from the broadcasters to make sure that each broadcaster can add their color." (Firm 3)
That the broadcasters shed themselves from the responsibility of producing most of the content and by doing so departed from vertical integration, could have been a necessity to stay flexible and to survive in the increasingly dynamic business environment (Sutcliffe & Zaheer, 1998). However, with its changing role ambiguity emerged in the industry about the system’s relevancy. Interviewee 8 suggested a revision towards the British BBC system where the quality control resides directly within the channels. Meanwhile, Interviewee 3 was a firm believer in the positive externalities this rather complicated structure offers since it adds extra diversity and control to the market which becomes particularly important in times where reliable information spreading is essential. Ironically, the system’s greatest weakness seems to be its greatest strength, in that budgets are not only scattered across the public channels, but they have to be divided amongst all the broadcasters.
"And with all its handicaps, I think it's pretty successful because everyone's getting a piece. And that has also led to an enormous creative industry in the Netherlands. We're used to
making very good programs with low budgets". (Firm 3)
Another advantage of having a public system in general might lie in its robustness towards quick developments in the economy. Interesting to note is that out of fourteen firms ten stated that they mostly produced content for the public channels which might be an indicator for their healthy position in the market even during crisis. While all of the firms acknowledged the crisis’ influence only one stated that operations for the whole year had been cancelled and staff had been dismissed. This was the only firm that had solely focused on an international cable channel in recent years. Interviewees univocally stated that lines to commercial channels were put on a hold for the time being.
"Fact is that the commercial stations are suffering from declining advertising revenues. And from the advertising revenue they finance their programming, of course. So, if there is less advertising revenue, you also see that programming was immediately cut back. You saw that
Although firms that focused on the public sector seemed to have a superior position during the crisis the intensity of its impact appeared to depend on more than that. The interviews showed that next to channel preference the following factors played a role in how hard productions were hit by the crisis.
Chance "We were filming [overseas] last year before the crisis broke out. I was really thankful that that didn't happen now because that would have
been a real disaster." (Firm 8)
Type of Content "And you see that they can still produce talk shows in studios. Plus, that's what everyone wants to see now to stay informed." (Firm 9)
Business Focus “It is not a big problem because we do not have to live from the production process anymore [but from idea development] (Firm 6)
Entrepreneurial Activity
“For example, we financed another concept […] where people can film their own content on their smartphones and with one button, they upload it to a central cloud where our firm can process the content”
(Firm 7)
IPR “COVID-19 is business wise really good for me. I can renegotiate
rights that expired in foreign countries again now.” (Firm 6)
Especially the last factor IPR is greatly debated in the industry, crisis aside. Effectively exploiting created content through IPR leads to improvements in the financial performance of firms (Doyle and Paterson, 2008). However, in non-fiction, which makes up the greater part of this sample and also the industry, there has been a change in the sector towards the channels being the holder of the rights.
“They saw that people like John de Mol, Harry de Winter […] became multimillionaires or even billionaires with formats that premiered in the Netherlands. […]. So, they said “Wait a
One logical conclusion was that some producers focused on exporting their ideas to countries where rights can still be retained. This approach brought one major hurdle with it in that interviewees mentioned ideas must first prove themselves in the Netherlands before foreign countries feel comfortable investing in the format. So, a sole focus on international distribution did not seem advisable. In conclusion firms got creative in finding other ways aside from retaining IPR to be profitable within the Netherlands. These ways were investigated by looking at the resources that firms valued the most and how they deployed these strategically. The analysis showed that the most valued resources seemed to be flexibility followed by human capital. These two resources exhibited an interesting interplay. The flexibility firms aspired to reach was mostly attained through who they employed and how they employed them. The sample frame mentioned in the methodology section showed that there are mostly small firms in the industry (with only a handful of large competitors) which is also represented in the final interviewed sample. Most firms had zero to five employees while at the same time being able to quickly scale up operations up to teams of 100 people by making use of freelancers and project-based contracts.
“We are flexible in our thinking and small enough to down or upsize quickly. Our overhead is smaller.” (Firm 10)
It was an active strategy by firms of all sizes to keep their overhead as small as possible. This way they prepared themselves to be able to react to environmental dynamics which are intense in an industry that is based on a few hits. It was seen as constant challenge to integrate this goal in the firm while still being active enough in research and development. These efforts are a direct representation of what Teece (2007) called sensing the environment.
“We have 15 people [fulltime]and 5 managers who spend some amount of their time on development and sale of formats. Do you have an idea what this costs? And you have no certainty that it produces anything. Any turnover or profits. You definitely have to be able to
pre-finance.” (Firm 1)
themselves off the financial long-term burden each creative process entails. These days they try to delay any investment until the very end when they can buy the final product. To stem this burden the interviewees mentioned two options. They either agreed to a takeover and henceforth operated under the protective cloak of a conglomerate or they engaged in temporary cooperation and coproduction.
Option 1 Option 2
“You do feel protected with such a large parent company with billions on its bill. It
helps.” (Firm 1)
“Or sometimes, we do have a great idea, but it is a very big and risky project, so we look for a cooperation with [larger firms].”
(Firm 7)
Second, funds were repeatedly mentioned to be important tools in the quest for attracting high quality personnel. This was the most frequently mentioned resource in this study. High quality personnel generate superior creative output which is the backbone of every content creator. As mentioned earlier simultaneous sensing and seizing of business environments is an important skill but hard to attain (Teece, 2007). Creative industries are characterized by project-based production cycles (Lundin, 2008) within which the goal is to combine the creation of novel content with the management of routine tasks (Karow & Reul, 2012). Interviewees of smaller productions made use of freelance staff to be able to dip into a broad pool of exploratory capabilities.
“[…] I try to get together with a diverse group of people from time to time. And then I see if there are new ideas and how we can develop them.” (Firm 8)
“So, I rent a cameraman, a sound engineer, sometimes an editor […].” (Firm 12)
Knowledge-based resources have been known to be of greater importance in the current business environment (Miller & Shamsie, 1996) and tapping into them, whether they are exogeneous or endogenous, is important for the sensing process (Teece, 2007). Therefore, freelancers who are highly skilled enjoy particular advantages in the industry.
“So, they are well situated in the market and are in a good negotiation position to also choose not to commit to a company and just say "I go from project to project and then I
just choose those projects that I find interesting" (Firm 1)
Employees who did not only bring expertise in content production to the table but also connections to potential new customers were an especially valuable resource.
“"We don't do enough there, we want to do more there. So, then we hired someone who works for us now, who has worked for RTL and SBS for a very long time and therefore knows
the commercial channels very well. And that's nice because you're healthy and have enough money to hire someone like that and strengthen yourself". (Firm 3)
Having the right network was stated as another essential resource to compete in the TV landscape. For the public channels there is a system in place called “Pitchmodulen” through which everyone can pitch their ideas to the public channels, theoretically (NPO, n.d.). Practically, already having a foot in the door is more likely to lead to success.
“But that’s a bit for form’s sake [Pitchmodulen] because it does just work better when you are a producer who already has a connection to the broadcaster.” (Firm 9)
“Due to the documentary we had some sort of contact so there was a line towards AVROTROS […]. But that was just one person who worked there that we had contact with.”
(Firm 8)
In any case, the analysis showed that the founders had immense influence on the trajectory of the company no matter the size or lifetime. The owner/managers of the firms influenced the companies’ built-up and strategic focus on all levels.
“"In most companies, if the helmsman leaves, the largest resource is also gone. That's very simplistic. The same goes for John de Mol. If he leaves, then that company's resource is gone.
It's not the money or the people in the office. In fact, it's John de Mol. That's extreme in the content world." (Firm 11)
It was very noticeable how many times John de Mol was mentioned by the interviewees and how his market power was acknowledged and downright feared by firms of all sizes. Some pointed out his role as creative mastermind, others appreciated him as a strong ally while most interviewees saw his power as a threat to their firms.
“Well, we don't actually present ideas at SBS anymore because that's from John de Mol. And if you present something there on Monday, then Tuesday evening it's on John de Mol's desk, who sits down with a group and they first say, "Can't we do something like that ourselves?".
And at that stage, it's tricky.” (Firm 9)
Growth “We want to do more. We have growth ambitions” (Firm 2)
Business focus
“So, businesswise it is not that interesting to produce. It is businesswise way more interesting to export internationally.”
(Firm 3)
Innovation
"So we also used new innovative ideas in the field of content production [by offering an online tool accessible to everyone] Because if the day comes that not everything is made by content producers anymore, we will have a platform where content can be
developed, but on our platform and with our expertise". (Firm 7)
With this last strategy Firm 7 does not only tap into the development that the public becomes their own content creator more and more, thus taking into account the constant market dynamics, but also avoids the troubles of having to protect IP. They diversified their competitiveness intensively with the introduction of their online platform. As Table 1 shows they operated in a niche market which was pointed out by North and Oliver (2010) as offering good survival chances for smaller firms. Further, they actively decided to stay small and only upscale by using freelancers to stay flexible and being able to react to market changes thus obtaining another advantage (Teece, 2007). In addition, they displayed innovative activity which opened up a broader customer field than “only” that of local or international broadcasters but literally everyone.
"For example, during the crisis, we offered it to the schools. So that teachers could record their own video lesson with our platform. We take care of the editing and the whole infrastructure where we take them by the hand step by step and where they can make their own content with e-learning where we share our knowledge and take care of the editing".
(Firm 7)
"So, our expertise is still in demand and despite the crisis we will get the same turnover result as last year. That's very special." (Firm 7)
The app was in development previous to the COVID-19 crisis, but processes were speeded up and marketing intensified due to the new market threat. This is in strong accordance with Teece’s (2007) statements about being able to sense and seize at the same time while using those capabilities to reconfiguration the business quickly and successfully if the dynamics in the market call for it.
Discussion
This study set out to investigate how small and medium-sized television production companies secured competitive advantages in general and in particular during the COVID-19 crisis. The focus on small and medium-sized firms was chosen because they make up most of the economy and contribute heavily to national GDPs (European Commission, 2019). Still, the plethora of academic work is conducted on large enterprises. This ratio and imbalance is also evident in the television industry. A look at the sample frame of this study shows that 47 out of 57 production firms are small and medium-sized. During this research I came across several studies concerned with the audiovisual industry. To the best of my knowledge there were none that investigated smaller firms and how such a focus could develop theoretical understanding. Nonetheless, the firms of this study turned out to be very helpful in deepening the understanding of resource usage in practice and theory.
Theoretical Implications
out to be expecting market changes in advance. To the question what the takeaway from this crisis was, interviewee 7 answered:
“That it is very important to develop continuously. By staying the same for too long, you can also adapt less quickly if necessary.” (Firm 7)
This is particularly interesting when taking into account that the strategy of most of the interviewed firms was to either wait for the crisis to be over or to create “Corona-proof” content. None of which is an action of reconfiguring the business in the face of a market threat. Teece (2007) mentioned that firms holding an advantageous position in one environment might lose this advantage after the environment changes. That might just be the case here. Firm 7 was a profitable and healthy company prior to the crisis but the big successes in viewing numbers failed to materialize. That might have been the case due to their narrow focus which ensured a steady stream of jobs but did not attract vast audience numbers. However, after COVID-19 this firm is the only one stating they will not incur any losses. A fact that highlights the importance of parallel sensing and seizing to be ready to reconfigure the business when the market warrants it. Additionally, this case is one of the fewer examples in the literature supporting the applicability of Teece’s (2007) ideas to smaller firms.
Practical Implications
When looking at the sample (Table 1) it becomes apparent that medium-sized firms are underrepresented. This could have two reasons: 1) Either they did not have the capacity to take part in this study during COVID-19 or 2) They do not exist in vast numbers. The first case is underpinned by earlier research that found out that especially middle-sized firms have trouble during tough times (North and Oliver, 2010). The latter case would support the findings derived from this study. Firms almost univocally stated that they try to keep their overhead as small as possible to react to the changing market. In television it is possible that a firm has a successful show the one day (which supports the salaries of a medium-sized firm) and no show at all the next day. If there are not enough shows to support a certain number of employees, as is the case in large firms, it is more logical to scale down and count on flexibility. This industry focuses heavily on freelancers and project-based contracts, which will apparently only get more due to consequences derived from COVID-19 and the lessons learned from it.
As mentioned earlier the television industry is highly dynamic. Balakrishnan and Wernerfelt (1986) argued that such environmental circumstances might lead companies to avoid integration activities and rather focus on lowering their profiles. Actually, this movement could already be witnessed in the way Dutch broadcasters vertically disintegrated their productions to independent firms (see findings). According to the researchers, bargaining power becomes less interesting to compete on in a world that is marked by quick changes. So, keeping in line with this thought a logical conclusion would be that there are going to be even more small firms in the future. Statements like this could become the norm rather than the exception:
“And I do realize that this does not make me the standard production house. I am not the head of a big production company. I am the production company.” (Firm 12)
Taking a look back, this development is actually not new or surprising. For younger generations it is already not standard anymore to work in one company their whole life. Something that used to be common practice only a few decades ago. We live in a fast-paced world which only gets faster. Continuing this thought, a further fragmentation of the workforce might be inevitable to stay up to speed and thus competitive. Just by count of frequency, flexibility was the most cited resource in the data set of this study. Fluid networks that come together whenever needed and split apart when not would be the maximum of flexibility. Limitations
COVID-19. This study has been conducted during a very unique and unusual period. It was the first time that the television industry was hit by a global pandemic. Doing research in such an exceptional setting which (hopefully) will not see an iteration any time soon might come across as anything but worthwhile. Generalizability from such rare circumstances seems low. However, generalizability is not the first goal of qualitative studies anyway (Gioia et al., 2012). The aim in this case was to find out how small firms can reach a competitive advantage in a dynamically changing environment. The motions within the industry that were unleashed by COVID-19 consequences highlighted important resources more accurately than any questionnaire could have done. Therefore, the crisis rather helped than harmed the study’s findings.
of the firms without such a hit show had additional stakes in the cinema industry. Another firm without recent audience successes had focused on such a specific niche that they could reap extraordinary profits from it without scoring high viewing numbers. Therefore, there was only one firm exclusively producing for television that did not had a hit show resonating highly with the Dutch audience. As mentioned in the findings this was also the only firm that did primarily produce for commercial channels. In conclusion this sample is skewed towards success and interactions with public broadcasters. Latter entails that the firms are less dependent on the free market economy since public broadcasters are funded by taxpayer’s money. However, the aim of this study was to investigate how small firms attain competitive advantages and thus, operate successfully in the market. Therefore, this tendency towards high performing enterprises did not taint the findings derived from this sample but enrich them.
Country focus. Since the Netherlands is a small country the population to draw a sample from is, unsurprisingly, small as well. However, it is still an interesting country to investigate. Compared to its size there are many broadcasters and production companies. The extent to which national content is exported is impressive (investinholland, n.d.). Producer John de Mol mentioned that the country’s smallness is actually an advantage because it offers more flexibility in trying out new ideas (Lysk, 2015). Productions recover more quickly from a miss and are therefore braver to try out new ideas. This exclusive position is also reflected by the interest of international big players to consolidate with, takeover or cooperate with Dutch television producers. Thus, the focus of this study on one country is not seen as deteriorating the derived findings but actually as unearthing especially useful insights from a superior market.
Conclusion
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