Media Technology Conferences

Papers are being sought for presentation at an international workshop exploring media company structures and how various architectures affect firms that will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, October 20-21, 2006. The workshop is sponsored by the Media Management and Transformation Centre at Jönköping International Business School (Jönköping University), Europe's premier centre on media business issues.

Because of media have been neglected subjects of management research, questions concerning the effectiveness and efficiency of organizational structures, as well as industry specific characteristics of media organizations remain unanswered or have only been marginally studied. This workshop is intended to answer such questions and broadening understanding of the implications of structures and their effects on media firms.

The organizers solicits paper addressing the extent to which different types of staff (content creators, business, and technical) represent different organizational cultures that respond to different organizational structures and coordination models, whether it is possible to optimize the degree of centralization or decentralization when forming and/or developing the organizational structure of a media firm, or if is it more appropriate to split the media firm into different divisions? The organizers are interested in research on whether the centralized organizational structures found in many media firms affect their abilities to innovative, grow, and respond to dynamic environments and if virtual organization or other innovative forms of organizing represent feasible alternatives to structure a growing media firm? Do the organizational structure requirements differ according to the media industry sector? Studies questioning whether a unified organizational culture can be created within a media firm and whether organizational structure models from other industries are heuristically applicable to the media industry are also of interest. Research on whether media processes dictate structure or the architecture of media companies dictate processes are of interest. Additional inquiries about whether there are differences in the ways multidivisional firms and firms with subsidiaries organizations promote and control cross media and cross divisional activities are topical.

Papers are therefore solicited on issues including:

* Specific or general organizational patterns of media firms

* Heuristic application of industrial organizational models to media firms 

* Relationship between organizational structure and strategies

* Relationship between organizational structure and performance

* Personnel as determinants of organizational structures in media firms

* Centralized versus decentralized coordination models

* Project, virtual, and federal organizations as paradigms for media firms

* New technologies and organizational development

* Impact of transforming value chains on organizational structure

* Relationship of cultural learning, knowledge management and acceptance of change and organizational structures

* Patterns of cooperation relationships (networks) and their impact on organizational structure

* Social-cultural influences on organizational structures of media firms

* Influence of ownership on organizational structures

* Holdings, groups and the organization of financing

100-word abstracts are due June 1, 2006, with notification of accepted proposals on June 30, 2006. Completed papers are due in mid-October. Send abstracts to:

Dr. Cinzia Dal Zotto, Research Manager

Media Management and Transformation Centre

Jönköping International Business School

P.O. Box 1026

SE-551 11 Jönköping - Sweden

For more information: cinzia.dalzotto@ihh.hj.se