School of Business

Reader's Digest: Inform, Enrich, Entertain, and Inspire

Document Type

Article

Abstract

After decades of successful expansion, The Reader's Digest Association's products were mature. With an average readership age for the flagship Reader's Digest magazine of 50.3 in 2004, efforts to develop new products had so far failed to entice a significant number of younger customers. Following a financial downturn in 1996, positive financial results remained illusive. Several major changes instituted by Thomas O. Ryder, CEO since 1998, including acquisitions, re-capitalization, restructuring and systematic re-engineering of the corporate culture, had proven mildly successful, but RDA, as well as the entire publishing industry, faced a persistent decline in profitability. Could RDA fulfill its stated mission to create “products that inform, enrich, entertain and inspire people of all ages and cultures around the world”, and could it do this by continuing to rely on the 80-year old Reader's Digest magazine?

Publication Title

CASE Journal

Publication Date

1-1-2005

Volume

2

Issue

1

First Page

65

Last Page

100

ISSN

1544-9106

DOI

10.1108/TCJ-02-2005-B005

Keywords

Reader's Digest, magazines

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