Discus Business Partners and Business Objects

Discus Business Partners and Business Objects
1. Although some countries decided to have the government operate radio and television stations, many countries, such as the United States, rely instead on privately
owned radio and television stations. Government-owned stations rely on government subsidies to operate. Private-owned broadcasting companies rely on selling
commercial time to advertisers for their revenue. Private-owned radio and television
stations must broadcast content that is attractive both to advertisers and the people
who buy advertised goods and services.
• How does the reliance on advertising revenue affect the content of privately
owned radio and television stations?
2. Estimate how many hours you spend using media on the average day.
• Do you think you use media more than the average person or less? Explain.
• Do you think that ten years from now you will use media more than you do now
or less? Explain.
3. Americans love freedom of choice. However, there are only three American automakers, and there are only two major brands of cola.
• Should we care that only half a dozen companies control a large share of American
mass media? Explain why or why not.
4. Imagine that you are taking three courses. One is taught in a small classroom with no
more than a dozen students seated around a table. One is taught in a large lecture
hall with about 150 students. One is being taught online.
Discus Business Partners and Business Objects
• Using Schramm’s model on p. 2, describe how the communication would vary in
each of these class settings.
• In which class setting(s) would you prefer to learn? Why?
5. We discussed the demographics and psychographics of people in this chapter. Take
Strategic Business Insights’ VALS survey to see what type of consumer group you
fall into: The survey is available at http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/
presurvey.shtml
You will notice that most of the questions are psychographic in nature—they ask
about your beliefs and attitudes. Only a few questions toward the end of the survey
ask for demographic information about you, such as age, gender, and income.
(Remember that this survey attempts to categorize you as a consumer, nothing more.)
• Were the results about you accurate? Why or why not?
• How do you feel about such surveys? Explain.