Media Online 2002. All rights reserved.

Education in Media Management in Bosnia-Herzegovina

(Research Results)

Nenad Brkic and Jelisavka Eta Madunic

1. INTRODUCTION
As any other business, a media organization must be managed in a profitable
manner if it wants to survive and meet the financial expectations of its owners. At the
same time, the organization must respond to the interests of the community,
represented through certain regulatory bodies that exist in every country. Balance
between private interests of owners and public interests of communities is a constant
challenge for media organizations.
Media, furthermore, have numerous functions. They serve as advertisement
media, entertainment media, informative media, educational media, etc. An additional
challenge is to exercise these functions in a way that meets the expectations of
advertisers, general public, media employees, and others.
The next requirement is a result of the competitive environment in which the
majority of the media operate today. In many countries the media are fiercely fighting
against one another for advertisers, public and employees. That is why it can be said
that not many management jobs offer the challenge that being a media manager
offers. Media managers are responsible for the work and results of work of the media
and that is why they are of key importance.

2. MEDIA MANAGEMENT IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Lack of competent management is one of the most serious problems faced by
media organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The result is unattractive content, poor
sale of media products and low income. Management, as one of the most important
business factors in media organizations, has not been given enough attention. In a
study called Bosnia and Herzegovina Media Analysis, made by IREX ProMedia, one
of the main conclusions was poor business management practice in BosnianHerzegovinian media.1
The majority of Bosnian-Herzegovinian media suffer from a lack of
management know-how and skills necessary for surviving the so-called period of
consolidation of the media industry in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is currently

Bosnia and Herzegovina Media Analysis, IREX ProMedia, April 2000, p. 1.

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underway. The media in Bosnia-Herzegovina either have too many employees or
they do not have enough; they lack business skills and financial resources for
efficient operation. Furthermore, their business decision-making in the past years has
mostly been directed towards donors, instead of consumers and advertisers. This
period may be described as a period of donor orientation of the BosnianHerzegovinian media. Reduction of donations, however, is forcing the media to
replace this orientation with another market orientation. Still, this shift to marketdriven business is not easy. In all of this, the individual characteristics of managers
have a crucial role. If it were not so, it would not be possible in the same BosnianHerzegovinian environment to have different approaches to conducting media
campaigns and their different results in the market. Finally, lack of regular and
reliable data on the media market and advertising industry in Bosnia-Herzegovina is
creating additional complications for media companies and their managers.
If one wants to change the unfavorable situation in media organizations in
Bosnia-Herzegovina and ensure their survival and development in the media market,
efforts must be directed towards raising the level of management know-how and
skills in the media business. It is necessary to get managers who can run media
companies successfully. With this aim in mind, a project of a School of Media
Management has been launched, intended for management teams in public and
commercial broadcast and print media in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This is the first project
of its kind in this country.
In order to adapt the School of Media Management program to the actual
needs of the participants, a qualitative research of management education needs
was carried out. The research was supposed to answer three strategic groups of
questions: 1) general views on management education and managers interest, 2)
desirable education topics and program, 3) desirable way of organizing and
implementing the School of Media Management.

3. RESEARCH OF MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN MEDIA IN BOSNIAHERZEGOVINA

3.1. Research Methodology

The research was carried out in June and July 2001 using the method of
survey with the application of a structured 12-question questionnaire. In case of
media organizations which are crucial for the planning and implementation of the
School of Media Management, additional interviews were conducted with head
managers.

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The intended sample consisted of 70 media organizations: 45 broadcasters
(10 public and 35 commercial) and 25 print media. A total of 51 organizations
responded to the research: 43 broadcasters (10 public and 33 commercial) and 10
print media. The response rate was approximately 73% of the total sample: 92% of
broadcasters and 40% of print media.

3.2. Research Results

The research showed a clearly expressed need for education in the field of
media management and interest of media organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Almost half of the media managers in Bosnia-Herzegovina had never attended any
form of education in media management.
Those managers who had attended some form of education in media
management assessed the quality of services received as average, neither high nor
low. Benefit from education was assessed similarly, and the highest marks were
given to the cost of such courses. Namely, a big part of them were actually cofinanced by a sponsor, usually an international organization.
The majority of managers in Bosnia-Herzegovina believe the success of their
respective organizations greatly depends on the organizations internal resources,
such as know-how and skill of management teams, and that there is a lot of room for
advancing management know-how and capabilities of people in the media.
Moreover, the majority of media managers in Bosnia-Herzegovina maintain
that their weaknesses as managers have to do with business functions of the media,
and less with technological functions of the media. On the other hand, they believe
that their strengths have to do with their individual characteristics, such as
communication skills, optimism, good business connections, as well as knowledge of
media programming and production processes, and production team organization
and integration.
Managers of media organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina give advantage in
education to traditional management topics, such as strategic management, human
resources management, marketing management and financial management. Looking
separately at public and commercial media, one can see that public media give the
biggest priority to human resources management and team building, followed by
strategic planning, and then financial management. As for commercial media, the
most important place is given to strategic planning in media organizations, followed
by marketing management, and then managing finances. Both public and
commercial media showed less interest in media topics, such as media legislation,
media ethics and standards, media systems, etc.

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When asked to list specific topics of their choice which they consider
significant, media managers listed a number of topics, such as development of public
opinion in Bosnia-Herzegovina, European identity and European management in the
field of public broadcasting services, media promotion, creating a name and market
position, relationship between the media and politics, media market research, media
in countries in transition, media management in crisis economic conditions and small
markets, etc.
With regard to lecturers, the majority of managers in media organizations in
Bosnia-Herzegovina expressed a wish to see primarily successful media managers
and other media professionals from the region and wider as lecturers at the School of
Media Management.
The majority of managers of media organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina
consider education to be part of their business activities and would like the School of
Media Management to be held as part of the working day, in the form of a crash
program. This, generally speaking, increases pressure on the participants in the
School of Media Management to fulfill their obligations and requires bigger
commitment.

4. CONCLUSION
The media scene in Bosnia-Herzegovina is overfilled with participants.
According to the number of broadcasters per capita, Bosnia-Herzegovina is one of
the leading countries in Europe. On the other hand, if we take into account the fact
that the advertising market in Bosnia-Herzegovina is one of the smallest in Europe,
between 30 and 35 million DEM annually, the situation seems quite tense: A small
pond full of crocodiles, one may say.
At the same time, a process of consolidation and growth of the media industry
has been opened in Bosnia-Herzegovina, both in the public and in the commercial
sector. A lot of effort is being put into ensuring emergence to the national media
market in the country and in breaking beyond local or regional frameworks. All these
factors call for efficient management, capable of ensuring survival in the developing
media market through media campaigns.
Education in media management is one of the critical factors of
successfulness of media campaigns in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The most important
areas that need to be covered in class are strategic management of media
organizations, human resources management, marketing management and financial
management.

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Media Plan Institute from Sarajevo has developed a good quality program,
which will successfully meet the basic needs of media managers for education. It will
be implemented in cooperation with leading media managers and professionals from
Southeast Europe.

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Bosnia and Herzegovina Media Analysis, IREX ProMedia, April 2000.

The research was carried out by a Media Plan Institute research team. Nenad Brkic,
M.A., is a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics in Sarajevo. Jelisavka Eta Madunic
is a business coordinator at Media Plan Institute. Translated by: K. H. Media
Online 2002. All rights reserved.