There are obvious advantages in being a large group of companies, and this applies in the media industry too. In many areas – in the development of business, products, expertise, managers and talented employees – we benefit from being a large, international group. We can, and must, grow more quickly by cooperating to a greater extent.
In Schibsted, we believe in sharing ideas, improving the flow of expertise, establishing common meeting places and paving the way for cross-boundary careers. In the years to come, this will allow us to move as quickly as a small company but have many of the advantages of being a large one.
Key to Schibsted’s management philosophy is local involvement, effective collaboration and an including group culture. We intend to safeguard the diversity and pride of each organisation and promote drive and entrepreneurship. By applying this philosophy, we aim to ensure the involvement of our staff, new growth and that we attract skilled employees.
We believe extensive centralisation and detailed directives would have deprived Schibsted of some of its best attributes. This would have lessened the Group’s internal diversity and each organisation’s local involvement. In the worst case, it would have eroded the tolerant culture that is characteristic of Schibsted. We believe just as much in the benefits of small companies as we do in economies of scale.
In balancing between a sense of community and freedom, we want to maintain each company’s pleasure in being creative while also utilising the benefits of being a large, international media group.