Pranjalya Shukla

Research Paper “Analysing and Studying the Characteristics of Market Structure of the English Newspaper Industry (Broadsheet Format) in Delhi

NCR”

Pranjalya Shukla

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Pranjalya Shukla

Table of Contents

1. Abstract…………………………………………………………3 2. Introduction…………………………………………………….4-5 3. Method of Investigation…………………………………………6-8 4. Investigation of Market Structure……………………………….9-20

4.1 Public Response…………………………………………………9 - 10 4.2 Forms of Competition………………………………………………11 4.3 Advertising………………………………………………………12-13 4.4 Barriers to Entry and Exit in the Market………………………..13-14 4.5 Profit Making Possibilities……………………………………….15-16 4.6 Pricing Strategies of the Firms………………………………….16-18 4.7 Consumer Knowledge………………………………………………19 4.8 Concentration Ratio……………………………………………..19-20

5. Conclusion and Evaluation……………………………………21-23 5.1 Assumptions……………………………………………………..21-22 5.2 Viewpoints Concerning the Analysis of Business Models………….22 5.3 Limitations………………………………………………………22-23 5.4 Conclusions…………………………………………………………23

6. Bibliography…………………………………………………24-25 6.1 Acknowledgement………………………………………………24-25 6.2 List of All the Works Cited in the Essay……………………………25

7. Appendix I…………………………………………………..26-27 8. Appendix II………………………………………………….28-35 9. Appendix III……………………………………………….. 35-37

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Abstract A nation like ours can boast of a hundred and one different languages, all of which are very significant to us. We see that the vernacular newspapers have been subdued due to the major English newspapers such as The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Indian Express and The Hindu.

Due to this, I went on to write my paper “Analysing and Studying the Characteristics of Market Structure of the English Newspaper Industry (Broadsheet Format) in Delhi NCR”

I’ve conducted research on this market for factors such as advertising, barriers to entry and exit, consumer knowledge, pricing strategies of firms, ability to make profits, public response and calculation of concentration ratio of the industry. I have also carried out interviews of Marketing Heads of firms and personal surveys related to Public Response.

While investigating, I divided the area of research into five different divisions<mentioned in detail in the Introduction>.

After obtaining the data, I’ve drawn out a conclusion that states the concentration ratio of the industry and ‘what kind of a market structure it is’. This is carried out on the basis of advertising, barriers to entry and exit, consumer knowledge, pricing strategies of firms, ability to make profits, public response and calculation of concentration ratio of the industry.

My hypothesis for the research, the survey and the investigation is that the English Newspaper Industry (Broadsheet Format) in Delhi NCR is an Oligopoly.

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Introduction Newspapers are an integral part of our day to day lives. From waiting for the newspaper supplements early in the morning to reading the online issues on the smartphones, we can’t deny the fact that the media industry has had a profound impact on our imagination as well as the thought process of the society. The media industry also has deep roots in our nation’s history and parliamentary policies. It has helped in the dissemination of knowledge during the Indian War of Independence and now is known as the ‘sword-arm’ of democracy and is also considered as the ‘Fourth Pillar’ of Democracy. Furthermore, it has been used as a means to promote a plethora of things that are either a positive externality or a negative externality for the community.

The newspaper giants have adopted different methods to portray their services regarding news and have been attracting readers. The inference here is that these few newspaper giants have been active for quite few decades now; these english newspapers have been competing against each other to emerge as the ‘most-read’ newspaper.

Indian newspaper industry is one of the largest in the world and is one of the fastest growing Indian industries. It grew by 8.3% from INR 193 billion in 2010 to INR 209 billion in 2011.1

The significance of the research is to study the market structure of the English newspaper industry in New Delhi and come up with an appropriate conclusion that can determine the status and condition of several other firms in the industry. Thus, this study could also project the picture of the status of a firm in the stock market as well as the public response towards it. Hence, we will also come to know whether it is advisable for a new firm to join the market or not. The study will give us an insight of the way the market works and what kind of competitions do the firms face. Furthermore, this research will provide one with explanations that will enhance the knowledge of the consumers regarding the market. This will be beneficial for consumers as the newspaper industry is not one that consumers are aware of and thus, it succeeds in eating in the consumer surplus.

In my research paper, I will be considering to elaborate on:

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1Harish, Vinnakota, Pausali Chakraborthi, Hymavathi Pavithra, and Thousif Mohammad. Indian Print Media Industry. Indian Print Media Industry. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2014.

Pranjalya Shukla

• Looking at the CR ratio of the english newspapers that dominate the newspaper industry and how do they affect the revenue of the market.

• Examining the following factors that show whether a firm is an oligopoly: Advertising

Pricing Strategies of the Firms

Newspaper Circulation through Barriers of Entry/Exit in the Market

Reader Response

• Delhi NCR has been considered as an area of research because it was one of the first places the newspaper production began. Moreover, it is the hub of the newspaper production of our nation with most of the headquarters of the newspaper offices established there. Thus, I will get a better timeline to work with and analyse the market structure.

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Method of Investigation An oligopoly is the market where the industry may have quite a few firms or not very many, but the key thing is that a large proportion of the industry’s output is shared by just a small number of firms2. Research will be conducted on primary as well as secondary data. However, the focus might lay on the secondary data while conclusion and evaluation. The primary data would primarily serve the purpose of analysing the Newspaper Circulation as well as the Reader Response. Whereas, the Advertising and the Business Models part would be analysed using the secondary data collected through extensive reading and miscellaneous research work.

The method using which the primary data will be collected would include:

• Setting up of a questionnaire that would be answered by a certain set of people inclusive of children as well as adults. Through this questionnaire, I would gather knowledge about the brand loyalty and the regularity at which people read the newspapers. This method would help me shortlist specific newspapers and it would narrow down my further research.

• Conducting interviews of the head of marketing of the shortlisted newspapers in order to gain an insight into the business models and the way of advertising of these newspaper. Furthermore, this would help me comprehend the market structure of the newspaper industry in New Delhi in more depth.

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2Blink, Jocelyn and Ian Dorton. Economics Course Companion. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 2012.

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The method using which I will collect the secondary data is as follows:

• I will evaluate business models that I would attain from my interviews of the media marketing heads.

• The print industry would also be studied on the Advertisements.

• Similar studies of the market structure in the United States as the Indian newspaper market structure and the situation resemble the market of the United States.

In order to organise my research framework, I have divided the Delhi NCR region into five different parts; Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Noida. I will carry one my research on these regions and come up with a conclusion for Delhi NCR’s English newspaper industry.

Figure 1.1 - Map of Delhi - NCR showing Five different Regions3

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3Delhi - NCR." Delhi+NCR - Google Maps. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <https://www.google.co.in/maps/place/Delhi%2BNCR/%4028.3265841%2C77.2532375%2C10z/data%3D%214m2%213m1%211s0x390d191e40000001%3A0x3dbf534eb9abfb0>

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Through the data that I will acquire through my research work and the reader response for the newspapers in these five different zones, I will classify the market structure of the English newspaper industry on the basis of the following table:

A common indicator of the Oligopoly market structure is the concentration ratio. A concentration ratio* is expressed in the form of CRx; where ‘x’ represents the number of largest firms. This ratio also determines the percentage yielded by the firms across the industry.

Therefore, the essay will move onto the aspect of public response where people’s choices will be examined and what attracts them as a consumer. Using this, newspapers that are most read will be shortlisted and want of specific newspapers will be generalised.

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*Blink, Jocelyn and Ian Dorton. Economics Course Companion. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 2012.

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Investigation of the Market Structure

Public Response

I took a sample of six hundred people with different professions and lifestyle. I prepared a questionnaire that included the type of profession, the kind of newspaper that they read and what kind of the news they prefer. Furthermore, I have looked at adults and children in a 5:1 ratio. I took this ratio on the basis of the assumption that there are more adults readers of the broadsheet format of the newspapers than the child readers. Moreover, this data was collected over the five different regions of the Delhi - NCR. The newspapers that are published for Delhi - NCR region are given in the table below:

Table No. 1 - Broadsheet English Newspapers Sold in Delhi - NCR

Sr. No. Brand

1 Asian Age

2 Deccan Herald

3 Financial Express

4 Hindustan Times

5 India Today (English)

6 MiD-DAY

7 Mint

8 Pioneer

9 State Times

10 The Economic Times

11 The Hindu

12 The Indian Express

13 The Statesmen

14 The Telegraph

15 The Times of India

16 The Tribune

17 Union Times Today

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Out of the following newspapers, the survey concluded that the most read newspapers across Delhi - NCR are:

Table No. 2 - Most Read Broadsheet Newspapers in Delhi - NCR

According to the survey mentioned in Appendix 1, it is quite evident that The Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Hindu attract the maximum number of people as readers<refer to Table No. 2>. Therefore, using the evaluated information, I will be looking across these newspapers only and will conduct further research on their Business Models, Advertising Strategies and Newspaper Circulation. This would narrow down the scope of my research and also result in a more thorough investigation.

The public response also portrayed the element of Brand Loyalty.

Brand Loyalty is an element that seeps into the customers over time. It is seen in the data mention in Appendix 2 is that there are lots of people who prefer The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Indian Express and The Hindu. Since, the reader response portrays which all newspapers are most widely read, I have considered it as impeachable and worked further on these four newspapers only. However, what can be interpreted from the figures in the table above is that there is much of the competition between The Times of India and the Hindustan Times. Therefore, it seems that it would be tough for them to make abnormal profits and that a change in the price of one newspaper can drastically affect the sales of the other newspaper. This shows traces of an oligopoly market structure; however, the aspect of brand loyalty can also be associated with monopolistic competition.

Sr. No. Brand No. of Readers

1 Hindustan Times 220

2 The Hindu 110

3 The Indian Express 40

4 The Times of India 230

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Forms of Competition

By the reader response, I narrowed down my research work to the four most read newspapers as explained by the figures above. I went on to interview the Marketing Heads of these newspapers in the Delhi-NCR region. This was done merely to study the way of promoting the newspapers in order to gain abnormal profits, if possible, and gain access to the official data of the readership and the actual dominance of the newspapers over the industry.

Referring to the data in Appendix 2, I observed that there is fierce competition among the leading firms in the newspaper industry. This is merely price competition4 as the products in the industry are substantially similar and can only be differentiated on the basis of two things: price and brand (firm).

It can be inferred from the collected information that the firms have interest in colluding in order to maximise their profits. Further stating, it is clear that the industry has characteristics of an oligopoly and monopolistic competition5 since the major competition is on the basis of advertising and price and the products in the market are substantially similar. This also rules out the possibility of Perfect Competition.

Such evidence leaves me with the following market structures: Oligopoly (maybe collusive) and Monopolistic Competition

However, there are about seventeen english broadsheet format newspapers that are sold in Delhi-NCR. Out of these, only four come under brand loyalty and mentioned under public response. In the case of a monopolistic competition, we see that there are numerous firms having almost the same output for the industry. Whereas, in an oligopoly, a small number of firms dominate and determine the industry’s output<Refer to Appendix 3>. Even though the possibility of the market structure being a monopolistic competition can be eliminated, further the aspect of advertising will be studied.

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4Davidson, Ellis. "How to Define Price Competition in Economics." Small Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.5Ref. to Appendix 3

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Advertising Since we are clear that the market structure could only be Oligopoly or Monopolistic Competition, I moved on my research to the advertising aspect of the industry. This aspect allows me to analyse the process that showcases the difference between the products available in the market. Evidently, an oligopoly market structure requires far more advertising of its product than the monopolistic competition; this is because an oligopoly, most of the times, produces similar products whereas, in monopolistic competition, it’s easy to tell one product from another.6

My hypothesis was confirmed when I interviewed the Media Marketing Heads, and they told me that they have to focus a lot on the advertising aspect of the industry as their products are extensively similar and have slight variations only. The dominating firms lure the vendors so that they are able to push their copies to the readers shunning their competitors as more copies would lead to a better response, thus, leading to a competitive edge reminding more price for the advertisement. This gives them the price setting abilities for the advertisements.

Advertising plays a significant role in the selling of the newspapers. Further, from the data collected in Appendix 2, I saw that industries have or have planned to collude on specific issues in order to counter competitions and hold their market shares. Such collusions have been based on collaborative actions, common persuasion for the same product or same pricing for the their individual products. This shows traces of a collusive oligopoly. Here, as per the data collected from the interview of the Marketing Heads, the firms have raised the price together upon coming up on an agreement when economic crisis such as high inflation rate or a depression phase in the economy of the country.

However, apart from this type of collusion, the firms do not ‘agree to’ actions formally. They tend to compete with each other on the basis of their own product. Now, since the products in the market are not differentiable, the firms ‘add-on’ other goods to their basic products. Henceforth, many firms offer different supplements that provide or excel in one kind of knowledge field only.

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6Refer to Appendix 3

Pranjalya Shukla

They also provide the consumer with different reader consumer schemes (Lucky Draws) and individual festive events. Therefore, we can say that they firms are merely differentiated on the basis of their supplements, imagination, efficiency of the bagging and displaying the right kind of news and at last, their ability to appeal the reader; the efficiency does play a significant role. Thus, these attributes account to the product differentiation of the market. But what is very noticeable in the industry is that the price of any newspaper in the firm is the same. However, there are no records of a formal agreement, which shows that there are major traces of a non collusive oligopoly. Which means that the products are not differentiable and thus, need advertising and the price of the product is the same despite no formal agreement.

Therefore, we can further conclude saying that there is only one type of the market structure possible; Oligopoly. I will further be looking into the characteristics of the market structure and determining the CR of the market present.

Barriers to Entry and Exit in the Market Since we are more or less aware of the english newspaper industry in Delhi NCR’s market structure, I will move on to analyse the characteristics of the market. In the data as mentioned in Appendix 2, it is seen that it is only possible for a few firms to lure the vendors in order to promote their sales of the broadsheet newspaper. This shows that if new firms enter the market, then it will be really tough for them to sell their newspapers or persuade the vendors to do the same.

Referring to the “Economies of Scale,” larger firms have better management, better division of labour, better resources and R&D. They will be entitled to better finances and transportation facilities as they will be more trusted. Their main advantage is access to a better promotional economy; almost all the firms want to promote their products in one way or the other. If a firm is small and attempts at promoting its product, its cost of promoting per unit output would be far more than the bigger firm producing more units of its product.

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The numbers given below further validate my argument.

Table no. 3 - Readership of Delhi - NCR7

Their exit from the market is not controllable. If the firm is not able to ‘break even’ it is running in loss and is not able to recover its cost of production. Also, the Pricing Strategies of the Oligopoly<mentioned later in the essay> will add on to the barriers to entry of firms in the market.

Sr. No. Newpaper Delhi - NCR Readership (in ’000s)

1 Hindustan Times 2265

2 The Hindu 137

3 The Indian Express 65

4 The Times of India 1652

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7Indian Readership Survey 2013 Results (Official)

Pranjalya Shukla

Profit Making Possibilities

In an oligopolistic market structure, the firms can make profits considering two scenarios only.

As mentioned earlier, they collude formally to decide a specific price at which the giant firms sell. This again outcasts the smaller firms or those planning to put up themselves in the market. Hence, it is visible that there are quite rigid barriers to entry in the newspaper industry. Furthermore, it can be stated their due to the collusions, the market can be termed as a “collusive oligopoly” as they may experience abnormal profits by acting as a monopoly and setting up a price higher than the expected price in the industry.

Figure 1 portrays how the oligopoly firms can act temporarily as a monopoly and experience abnormal profits in the industry.

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Figure 1:

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However, this is not possible most of the times as the industry is more of a public industry. The sole purpose of the industry can be defeated if the firms start eating into the consumer surplus and make abnormal profits. Therefore, the firms act as a non collusive oligopoly and are aware of the reactions of the other firms when making price related decisions. Hence, I can say that the behaviour of the firms in an oligopoly is strategic behaviour as they must develop strategies taking into account all possible outcomes of their rival. Considering this, following observations can be made:

• Firms are afraid to raise the price because the other firms might not follow and hence, they will lose their revenues.

• Firms are afraid to lower the prices because the other firms might follow and this may lead to a price war affecting the industry and the firms themselves.

Pricing Strategies of the Firms

The firms present in the market may practice numerous pricing strategies to keep their stand in the market and also, to keep out new firms from entering it. They might practice the following strategies:

• The firms might keep the price really very low, sometimes even below the full cost of production, to force their rivals out of the industry. This is also known as keeping an artificial price.

• The firms may follow the “Entry Forestalling Price” strategy and hence, may operate at a “limit pricing” to make sure that the new firms stay out.

• The firms may collude, resulting in a higher price. This may lead to entering of new firms but more importantly, it would result in abnormal profits earned by the firms by eating into the consumer surplus.

• The firms may and generally follow the “Cost-Plus Pricing”. This is where the firms set a price by calculating the average production costs and then adding a mark up to achieve a certain profit level.

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Explaining a little on what this strategy is all about, I can say that it exists only when uncertainty exists. It is very useful for firms and user friendly too as calculated of marginal cost and revenue is comparatively difficult for the oligopolistic firms in the market. Hence, this strategy helps the firms in avoiding a scope of information failure.

However, this strategy is also dependent vastly on the “game theory,” mainly due to the reason that it is a rigid strategy. A rival firm may adopt a more flexible strategy and possibly gain market share.

Figure 5: Representation of the Behaviour of the Firms

This type of a strategy, however, allows the oligopolistic firms to be productively and allocatively efficient.8 <Refer to Figure 5>At profit maximising equilibrium,

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Figure 4: Cost-Plus Pricing Strategy

Pranjalya Shukla

P, price is above MC, and output, Q, is less than the productively efficient output, Q1, at point B. Further, this also ensures price stability.

Consumer Knowledge Consumer knowledge essential for the smooth running of every market as it would act as a ‘check’ on them and their way of selling the product.

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8Refer to Appendix 3, Oligopoly

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As per the data acquired from the interviews and surveys conducted<refer to Appendix 2>, consumers possess a rightful amount of knowledge of the product that is being sold to them in the market.

However, the consumer knowledge is not perfect as there are instances when the price is collusively raised and the revenue is eaten up from the consumer surplus. This further strengthens my belief that it is an oligopolistic market structure.

Concentration Ratio

In order to calculate the concentration ratio of the two dominating firms in the industry, sales of the newspaper in the Delhi-NCR region will be looked into and expressed as a total percentage of the industry’s sales as a whole. Here, accounts of the sales of the newspaper through the number of readers that read the newspaper. I have taken up the figures of the sales of the newspaper from the IRS (Indian Readership Survey 2013)9 Only the two giants “The Times of India” and “The Hindustan Times” will be considered. This is because they contain the largest readership in the Delhi NCR region hence neglecting the other newspapers in competition.

Table No. 6 - Sales of the Firms

The total sales of the english newspaper industry in Delhi-NCR is given below: - 5867 (in ’000s)

Concentration Ratio:

Sr. No. Zone The Hindustan Times (in ’000s) The Times of India (in ’000s)

1 Delhi 1639 1394

2 Faridabad 137 47

3 Ghaziabad 120 40

4 Gurgaon 194 101

5 Noida 175 70

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9Refer to Appendix 2 for the IRS Table

Sum of Sales of the Two dominating firms

Estimated Total Sales of the Industry as a whole* 100

Pranjalya Shukla

Therefore;

Through this calculation we see that these two firms dominate the industry immensely. This feature verifies the definition of the Oligopoly Market that a few firms (here, TOI and HT) dominate the industry and determine a major portion (here, 66.76%) of the industry’s total output.

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CR = 39175867

*100 = 66.76%

Pranjalya Shukla

Conclusion and Evaluation

Assumptions

• The sample of 500 people taken for the “Reader Response” was representing the entire population of Delhi NCR.

• It was also assumed that more adults read the newspapers than the youth and hence, in the sample 400 adults were surveyed while only a 100 youth.

• The data provided by the people and the marketing heads is accurate and also the figures provided by them.

• The long run cycle would be of one year only.

• The conclusion is based on inductive and deductive reasoning based on the data provided. This data might not be 100% accurate thus inducing flaws in the reasoning too.

• Using the IRS sales figures, it was assumed in the calculation of the CR that only two firms in the industry are dominant.

• To calculate the CR, the sales of the firms were taken instead of the revenue. This was because the revenue of a firm doesn’t depend entirely on its sales but on other things too.

• The firms follow the “Cost-Plus Pricing” strategy always.

• The oligopoly industry is always productively and allocatively efficient.

• The consumer has sufficient knowledge of the market and the industry so that the firms are not able to exploit the consumer.

• The vendors employed for the jobs are honest people and are 100% aware of the industry and the dominancy of the firms.

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• People surveyed and interviewed do not read the e-paper or any other kind of e-news.

• There are no supplements to the newspapers produced by the firms.

• There is an element of price stability in the english newspaper market of Delhi NCR.

Viewpoints Concerning the Analysis of the Business Models

• As of now, as per the records, the formal collusions only take place during economic crisis; however, if they wish to formally collude in the long run, the market would end up as a monopoly. The market showcases many features that are common to an oligopoly as well as a monopoly such as abnormal profits and sufficient knowledge possessed by the consumers.

• The fact that there is a lot of advertising done by the firms portrays the element of an oligopoly and not a monopolistic competition.

• The price competitions concerning the firms would lead to the an unstable market and the no price stability which would further lead to the exploitation of the consumers.

Limitations

• There were not many secondary sources available. This limitation led me to a more qualitative analysis rather than a quantitative one. Furthermore, in my primary research too, I should have considered more number of people or more groups of the initial number of people.

• Some of the marketing heads spoke in a very general and hesitant manner and denied me access to any official records. They provided me with rough estimates and no the exact figures thus, distorting my research.

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• Marketing heads were unable to give me the exact number of firm trying to enter the market or exit it. Furthermore, they were not able to tell me exactly how do they come to know whether a firm is trying to enter the market.

• I have considered the broadsheet format of the newspaper industry and neglected the e-papers, tabloids, e-lingers and vernacular newspapers and the worldwide web news information provided by the same firms.

Conclusion

After having investigated and studied several factor that determine the type of market structure present in the english newspaper industry in Delhi-NCR, I can conclude saying that it is an Oligopoly. The Concentration Ratio to the industry is 66.76% and the industry is dominated by two firms only. This confirms my hypothesis.

Moving on, the products present in the industry are non differentiable and dominating firms do have the ability to set the industrial price. Through this ability they are able to keep the new firms from entering the market and also reduce their competition from the firms already present. The firms practice the “Cost-Plus Pricing” strategy most of the times and maintain a certain profit for themselves.

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Bibliography

Acknowledgment I wish to acknowledge the following sources and people who have helped me conduct my research and provided me with ideas that has supported my investigation:

• "All About Newspapers." All About Newspapers. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2014. <http://www.allaboutnewspapers.com/sep13/article1.htm>.

• Business Models of Newspaper Publishing Companies. Darmstadt: IFRA, 2006. Web. 3 Oct. 2014. <http://www.robertpicard.net/PDFFiles/IFRAbusinessModels.pdf>.

• "How To Conduct Market Research For Newspapers and Magazines." Quirks Marketing Research Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2014. <http://www.quirks.com/market_research_topics/markets/Newspapers_and_Magazines.aspx>.

• "Indian Newspaper Industry." Indian Newspaper Industry. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2014. <http://www.slideshare.net/mdmangukiya/indian-newspaper-industry>.

• "Media Ownership Trends in India." The Hoot. N.p., 3 July 2012. Web. 19 Sept. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fthehoot.org%2Fweb%2FMediaownershiptrendsinIndia%2F6053-1-1-16-true.html>.

• Mukhopadhyay, Nilanjan. "Delhi’s Bursting Newspaper Market – a Paper for Every Region." Asian Correspondent. N.p., 13 Dec. 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fasiancorrespondent.com%2F71821%2Fdelhi%E2%80%99s-bursting-newspaper-market-%E2%80%93-a-paper-for-every-region%2F>.

• "Newspaper Hawkers Withdraw Strike." The Telegraph. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Aug. 2014. <http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140224/jsp/northeast/story_18014210.jsp#.VIClNodN8TB>.

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• Vinnakota, Harish. "Print Media Industry." Slideshare. N.p., 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slideshare.net%2Fvdotharish%2Findian-print-media-industry>.

• Mr. Sanjay Shukla. Head of Strategy and Operations for Hindustan Times. • Mr. Nataraj Chandar. Head Trade Marketing for Hindustan Times, New

Delhi.

List of All the Works Cited in the Essay

• Blink, Jocelyn and Ian Dorton. Economics Course Companion. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 2012.

• Davidson, Ellis. "How to Define Price Competition in Economics." Small Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

• Delhi - NCR." Delhi+NCR - Google Maps. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <https://www.google.co.in/maps/place/Delhi%2BNCR/%4028.3265841%2C77.2532375%2C10z/data%3D%214m2%213m1%211s0x390d191e40000001%3A0x3dbf534eb9abfb0>.

• Harish, Vinnakota, Pausali Chakraborthi, Hymavathi Pavithra, and Thousif Mohammad. Indian Print Media Industry. Indian Print Media Industry. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2014.

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Appendix 1: Questionnaires and Surveys

• Readership Survey Questionnaire

Name of Reader:

Age of the Reader:

Occupation of the Reader:

1. How often do you read a newspaper?

2. What form of a newspaper do you read? (Broadsheet/E-Paper)

3. Which English newspaper is your first choice? 3.1. Is your choice affected by the quality or the price of the newspaper? 3.2. Do you recommend your choice to other people? (If yes, to how many?)

4. Which section of newspaper interests you the most? 4.1. Economic/Business 4.2. Sports 4.3. General (Politics, Global issues, etc) 4.4. Lifestyle (Fashion, Global Trends, Food, etc)

5. Does your preference of a certain newspaper change due to the supplements?

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• Questionnaire for Head of Marketing in Delhi - NCR

Name:

1. Do you engage your firm in the industrial competition? 1.1. On what factors do you engage your firm; price or non-price? 1.2. What kinds of advertisements do you encourage for a newspaper?

2. Do you have price setting abilities?

3. Do you, in order to increase your profits, collude with other firms?

4. Which section of the newspaper gets the most focus? (News or Advertisements) 4.1. Are consumers aware of the content put in the newspaper?

5. Is it easy for the firms to lure the vendors of the newspapers?

6. Can firms enter/exit the newspaper industry easily?

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Appendix 2: Statistics and Data

• Consumer Survey 1. Which english newspaper is your first choice?*

2. Does your preference of a certain newspaper change due to the supplements?

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38%

7%18%

37%

Hindustan TimesThe HinduThe Indian ExpressThe Times of India

15%

60%

25%

Yes No Can't Say

* Only these newspapers were mentioned by the people who participated in the survey

Pranjalya Shukla

3. Which section of the newspaper interests you the most?

4. Is your choice of the newspaper affected by its quality or price?

EXTENDED ESSAY !29

35%

18%

25%

23%

Economic/BusinessSportsGeneral (Politics, Global Issues)Lifestyle (Fashion, Global Trends, Food)

42%

9%

48%

Price Neither Quality

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5. What form of newspapers do you read? (Broadsheet/E-Paper)

6. Do you recommend your choice to other people? (If yes, to how many?)

EXTENDED ESSAY !30

No.

of

Peop

le R

ecom

men

ded

0

2

4

6

8

No. of People Who Recommended

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

28%

72%

Broadsheet E-Paper

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• Marketing Head Survey 1. Do you engage your firms in industrial competitions? (If yes, which kind of factors: Price or Non-Price?)

EXTENDED ESSAY !31

7%

13%

80%

Yes No Sometimes

73%

27%

Non- Price Price

Pranjalya Shukla

2. What kind of advertisements do you encourage for your newspaper?

3. Do you have price setting abilities?

EXTENDED ESSAY !32

43%

57%

Display Ads Classified Ads

75%

15%

10%

Yes No Sometimes

Pranjalya Shukla

4. Do you, in order to make profits, collude with other firms?

5. Which section of the newspaper gets the most focus?

EXTENDED ESSAY !33

23%

73%

4%

Yes No Sometimes

46%

15%

17%

22%

Economic/BusinessSportsGeneral (Politics, Global Issues)Lifestyle (Fashion, Global Trends, Food)

Pranjalya Shukla

6. Is it easy for firms to enter/exit the newspaper industry easily?

7. Is luring vendors easy for all firms or a few?

EXTENDED ESSAY !34

10%

70%

20%

Yes No Can't Say

7%

80%

13%

All Firms Few Firms Can't Say

Pranjalya Shukla

Following listed is the screenshot of the table of Indian Readership Survey 2013:

Appendix 3: Assumed Models of the Basic Market Structures

Monopoly10 • There is only one firm producing the product so the firm is the industry.

• Barriers to entry exist, which stop new firms from entering the industry and maintains the monopoly.

• As a consequence of barriers to entry the monopolist may be able to make abnormal profits in the long run.

• The firm is able to set its own prices without worrying about other firms. • Number of competing substitutes available in the market are few.

EXTENDED ESSAY !35

10Blink, Jocelyn and Ian Dorton. Economics Course Companion. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 2012.

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Monopolistic Competition11 • The industry is made up of a fairly large number of firms.

• The firms are small, relative to the size of the industry. This means that actions of one firm are unlikely to have a great effect on any of its competitors. The firms assume that they are able to act independently of each other.

• Firms all produce slightly differentiated products. This means that it is possible for a consumer to tell one firm’s product from another.

• Firms are completely free to enter or leave the industry. That is, there are no barriers to entry or exit.

• Evident brand loyalty.

Oligopoly12 • An industry where very few dominate an industry.

• The industry may have quite a few firms or not very many; but the key thing is that a large proportion of the industry’s output is shared by just a small number of firms.

• The products in the industry may not be differentiable, slightly differentiable or highly differentiable.

• Firms may collude with each other in order to maximise profits.

• Firms are completely independent of each other in their production.

• There are barriers to entry and exit due to these small number of major firms. • The firms are generally allocatively and productively efficient.

EXTENDED ESSAY !36

11Blink, Jocelyn and Ian Dorton. Economics Course Companion. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 2012. 12ibid.

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Perfect Competition13 • The industry is made up of a very large number of firms.

• Each firm is so small, relative to the size of the industry, that it is not capable of altering its own output to have a noticeable effect upon the output of the industry as a whole. This means that a firm cannot affect the supply curve of the industry and so cannot affect the price of the product.

• Individual firms have to sell at whatever price is set by demand and supply in the industry as a whole. It can be said that the individual firms are “price-takers”.

• The firms all produce exactly identical products. Their goods are “homogeneous”. Thus, it can be said that there are no brand names and there is no marketing to attempt to make goods different from each other.

• No barriers to entry and exit the industry. The firms already part of the industry cannot stop firms from entering or exiting the industry.

• All producers and consumers have a perfect knowledge of the market. The producers are fully aware of the market prices, costs in the industry, and the workings of the marker. The consumers are fully aware of the prices in the market, the quality of the products and the availability of the goods.

EXTENDED ESSAY !37

13Blink, Jocelyn and Ian Dorton. Economics Course Companion. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 2012.