Corporate Capitalism & Convergent Communications vs Print Media

Blog 2: Corporate Capitalism and Convergent Communications vs Print Media
Project 1: Characteristics of the Digital Revolution
Barr’s “Forces for change: Communications as catalyst” (newmedia.com.au)

Urls:
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/inside/merger/whyvotefor.html (Retrieved August 16, 2004)
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-272527.html?legacy=cnet (Retrieved August 16, 2004)

The first interesting point is corporate capitalism (mergers between big communication companies). I would like to take an example of Hewlett Packard (HP) and Compaq who have recently merged. They claimed that they would make “the combined company a much stronger competitor”. In http://news.com.com/2100-1001-272527.html?legacy=cnet, it is said that “The idea behind the deal is that combining the two tech giants will put them in a powerhouse position in almost all facets of the computer market, allowing them to ride out shrinking sales and an economic slowdown. The companies are hoping that combining their market shares will help them flatten competitors such as Dell Computer, which has surged to the top of the PC market”. However, there are some contras. Goldman Sachs analyst Laura Conigliaro stated in the same web link that there would be “immense execution issues that will only be addressed over a multiyear period”. Compaq has undertaken an acquisition of Digital Equipment in 1998 so that makes it eligible to have such a merger. Yet, HP had trouble managing itself, and the key is execution with the integration, as Neff pointed out.
The second point is that it is actually very ironical that the more developed we are (in terms of technology), we tend to forget about the people. “Telecommunication carriers are quasi-bureaucratic, technology-focused, [and] driven by an engineering ethos” (Barr, 2000, p. 27). On the other hand, print media tends to be more financially free-wheeling, with higher risk-taking, but more customer-focused (Barr, 2000, p. 27). Companies try to invent the highest technology ever, and inclined to forget the interpersonal relationship between human. It is true with the video-phone people enable people to look at somebody’s face in a far away place and converse with them, but people need time to come to terms with the new technology. In this case, print media are still needed to advertise the video-phone. I guess we would never cease from using the print media as a means of communication.