The Express Tribune: touching the tricky price point

Author Affiliation

Lalarukh Ejaz is Assistant Professor at Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi

Amber Gul Rashid is Assistant Professor and Director of the Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) at Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi

Khadija Bari is Assistant Professor at Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi

Faculty / School

Faculty of Business Administration (FBA)

Department

Department of Economics

Was this content written or created while at IBA?

Yes

Document Type

Article

Source Publication

Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies

ISSN

2045-0621

Disciplines

Accounting | Business | Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Econometrics | Economics | Education | Finance | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

The main theme of the case revolves around decision-making by the publisher, Bilal Lakhani, as he operates in conditions of an oligopolistic market. The case focuses on the set-up of a major English-language newspaper, The Express Tribune, in conjunction with the internationally branded and well-regarded International Herald Tribune by a well-known business group of Pakistan. The group already has a major Urdu newspaper, which has been operational for 15 years, and three television channels, as well as a host of other non-media-related businesses. The case tries to go behind the reasons for setting up an English-language newspaper in a market which already has at least five major existing ones and where literacy is not that widespread. Also, experience in much of the rest of the world would suggest that newspapers – i.e. the print media – are in decline, especially because of the rise of the Internet and social media as means for providing news, information and entertainment. The case is set in Karachi, Pakistan's media capital and, in particular, in an organization that has been involved in the business of media for several years. It currently runs the country's second most-circulated Urdu newspaper, Daily Express. Specifically, the time period is three weeks after the paper, The Express Tribune, was launched into a market with a few competitors and high brand loyalty for existing competitors. The publisher of the paper, Bilal Lakhani, is questioning his pricing decision right after the launch of the paper and there are a series of reasons he is looking into on how he set the original price and why should he reduce the price of the paper now. Students should be able to see, understand and analyze: challenges faced by entrepreneurs of starting an initiative which has a largely unreliable and untested audience; the extent of interdependence in an oligopolistic industry and how it influences the current and future decision-makings of an entrepreneur or any other firm for that matter, especially in a developing economy; the personnel, financial production and regulation issues involved in setting up assembly/ delivery systems that deliver a product for mass use, i.e. a newspaper; and the pricing and marketing strategies involved in the launch and subsequent successful operation of a product, in this case, a newspaper.

Indexing Information

HJRS - Y Category, Scopus

Publication Status

Published

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