There are various channels that can be pursued in regard to the possible launching of the Cricket E-Zine. It is important to note that there are various factors that need to be considered in order to ascertain the viability of launching a Cricket E-Zine. With this in mind, one of the options that could be pursued would be to continue publishing the cricket magazine and yet fail to launch the Cricket E-Zine. A second option that could be pursued involves publishing both the cricket magazine and Cricket E-Zine concurrently. Finally, the third choice could focus on launching the Cricket E-Zine but on the other hand bring the publication of the Cricket Magazine to a halt. There are various advantages and disadvantages that are associated with each of these options.
Publish the Cricket Magazine and NOT Launch the Cricket E-Zine
The first option involves continuing with the publication of the Cricket Magazine while failing to launch the Cricket E-Zine. There are various advantages that are associated with this option. To begin with, Sporting Publications will be in a position to maintain the current base of customers who have really supported it since its inception. In this regard, the lack of growth of cricket fans could have contributed to the inability to grow by this magazine publication. Therefore, failing to launch the Cricket E-Zine would minimize chances of incurring costs that are not able to bring back returns. In addition to this, Sporting Publications would be in a position to control overhead costs since there would be no need to hire a technician or rather a website developer to develop and manage this new website (Aidarous & Plevyak, 2003).
On the other hand, the failure by Sporting Publications to launch Cricket E-Zine would result in this company to tap into the economies of scale that come with the internet technology. Among these include the ability to reach a wider market with minimum costs. Similarly, the current trends in the technological world dictate that the future of the corporate world will depend on technology. In this respect, there is a need to adapt new forms of technologies that are available in the market currently as it may be difficult to adapt these technologies in future as compared to the present time.
Publish the Cricket Magazine and Launch the Cricket E-Zine concurrently
The second option for the management at Sporting Publications entails the launching of the Cricket E-Zine while at the same time publishing the Cricket Magazine. As it has been argued above, the pursuing of this option has both advantages and disadvantages to Sporting Publication. to begin with, publishing the Cricket Magazine while at the same time running the Cricket E-Zine will offer an opportunity to Sporting Publications to widen its market base. It is important to note that any person who has access to the internet can be able to access the e-magazine from any part of the world, even where there is no excellent road infrastructure (Aidarous & Plevyak, 2003).
Apart from increasing the market base, launching the Cricket E-Zine and at the same time publishing the Cricket Magazine will provide an opportunity to subscriber to have a variety to choose from. In this case, one can choose either to obtain a hard copy of this magazine or a soft copy of it. This has been found to increase customer satisfaction while at the same time opening channels for new customers to join the subscription base.
On the contrary, publishing the Cricket Magazine while at the same time launching the Cricket E-Zine would pose a great threat to the Cricket Magazine. It is important to note that currently, the rate of exposure to technology has been rising at amazing speeds and more people have access to the internet as compared to a few years ago. In essence, most people in the current world prefer to read and write in soft copy rather than hard copy. Thus, having both versions of these magazines will create an unfair competition between them leading to the fall of the other and in this case the Cricket Magazine. Additionally, there are high costs that are involved in running both versions of the magazines (Aidarous & Plevyak, 2003).
Launch the Cricket E-Zine and Halt the Publication of the Cricket Magazine
The third and last option that could be pursued involves stop the publication of the Cricket Magazine and instead adopt an online version i.e. the Cricket E-Zine. To begin with, this will drastically reduce the printing costs. In addition, this magazine would be able to reach to market base where it could not reach before thus creating a market for itself. Apart from generating income from the sale of magazines online, this option will allow Sporting Publication to generation income from revenue models that are available in the market (Aidarous & Plevyak, 2003).
One of the greatest disadvantages of these options is that there are customers who have conservative perception towards life and other issues. As a result they prefer hard copy as compared to soft copy of the magazine. In this regard therefore, these customers will be lost. On top of this, not every customer or rather client of Sporting Publications has an access to the internet. As a result of this, such a customer will be unable to access this magazine.
Conclusion
In summation, it can be said that whereas the above options provide a basis on which one can make a choice, not every choice that is made will provide an opportunity to earn high returns. Following this point, option two; Publish the Cricket Magazine and Launch the Cricket E-Zine concurrently is the best option that needs to be pursued by Sporting Publications and should be adopted. There are various reasons why this is the best option. To begin with, Sporting Publications will not loose its current clients or rather consumers as a result of a continued production of the Cricket Magazine (Aidarous & Plevyak, 2003).
Apart from maintaining the current base of customer, Sporting Publications can also be able to attract new clients, not just from the United States but from other parts of the world where there are people who love Cricket. In this regard, new customers can be targeted through adverting and other ways of creating a virtual community of cricket lovers. It is important to note that the internet can access even remote areas thus enabling this magazine to be read online anywhere and any time of the day or night across the globe.