The Content Trap

Two problems haunt almost every company in the digital age: how to be noticed, and how to get paid. Bharat Anand, a professor at Harvard Business School, takes both on by looking closely at businesses around the world. His cases range from the Chinese internet giant Tencent and the Scandinavian media group Schibsted to The New York Times and The Economist, and he extends the same thinking to talent management and the future of education.

The book's central warning is the trap of its title: the belief that winning means producing the best content and guarding its value at all costs. Anand argues that the companies thriving today do something different. They understand that the connections between people matter more than the material that sparks them, and they treat content as a way to link customers with one another. Rather than defending what they already sell, they look for the opportunities that sit right next to it. And rather than copying the best practices of rivals, they see each strategic choice as one piece of a connected whole.

Because digital tools let anyone reach and interact with others directly, Anand suggests that we are all in the content business now, and that brings risks most people do not see coming. He combines interviews with key players and detailed reports from the front lines of digital change with recent research in economics, strategy and marketing. The result is a readable challenge to popular myths about media and technology, and a practical guide to rethinking strategy for anyone trying to make sense of a fast-shifting landscape.