FROM APATHY TO ALACRITY: MANAGERS AND NEW TECHNOLOGY IN PROVINCIAL NEWSPAPERS
研究了1970年代末至1990年代初，省级报纸管理者对新技术从抵触转向热情的原因，分析了产业关系、市场条件和技术发展的变化如何推动这一转变，并揭示了成本、控制和市场三大管理动机。
ABSTRACT The article explores why provincial newspaper managers have shifted from a position of reluctance and uncertainty about new technology to enthusiasm and zeal for the process and product development opportunities it offers. the transformation is assessed in terms of changes in the industrial relations context, market conditions and technological developments between the late 1970s and early 1990s. This can be characterized as moving from reactive management to proactive management, and the article examines how the latter reflects the development of new business opportunities through application of new technology to the information‐gathering process, the pre‐press production process and the product. Data are drawn from case study interviews and trade/professional publications. The analysis suggests that there is evidence of three prime managerial objectives/motives for introducing new technology: cost, control and market. Each of these were of varying importance for managers at different times, and were affected by technological uncertainty and ignorance. Attitudes transformed because of the changing context and the pursuit of functional interest, with the result that newspaper managers are now in a better position to exploit new technology for competitive advantage.