Elaborative SWOT Analysis of DB Corp – India’s Largest Newspaper Group

Quick Stats on DB Corp

Founder	Ramesh Chandra Agarwal
Year Founded	1958
Origin	Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
No. of Employees	9,120+
Company Type	Public
Market Cap	Rs 1,604 Crore (2021)
Annual Revenue	Rs 2,236 Crore (2020)
Net Income/ Profit	Rs 274 Crore (2020)

 

Products of DB Corp 

DB Group has been in the media business for over a century, and its products include:

• Income From Advertisement 
• Newspapers
• Printing Jobs
• Waste Sales
• Other Operating revenues
• Power

Competitions of DB Corp

DB Corp competes with a slew of other mass-market media on a global scale. Dainik Bhaskar’s top five competitors are

• Amar Ujala Publication Ltd.
• Mail Today
• Hindustan Times
• Jagran Prakashan Ltd
• Repro India

Now, we know the brief of the company, what it is, what it does and the relevance of its existence. Let us dive into the SWOT Analysis of DB Corp.

SWOT Analysis of DB Corp 

A SWOT analysis examines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that a firm faces. SWOT Analysis is a tried-and-true tool that enables a company like DB Corp to compare its business and performance to that of its competitors.

It will give us a strategic analysis of its internal and external environment, which is crucial for understanding the SWOT Analysis of DB Corp.

To better understand the SWOT analysis of DB Corp, refer to the infographics below:

Below is an explicit guide to the SWOT analysis of DB Corp.

Strengths of DB Corp

DB Corp, being one of the leading companies in its industry, has several benefits that help it flourish in the marketplace. These strengths not only help it retain market share in existing areas but also help it break into new ones.

• Leading Newspaper: DB Corp Ltd is the only newspaper group in India that has a presence in 12 states with 61 editions in 3 different languages namely Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi. 
• Brand Recognition: DB Corp has established its brand in the media industry as being the pioneer to enter the market. It has more than 5 crore readers across 12 states in India. 
• Radio Business: DB Corp also runs 30 radio stations across 7 states of India, under the brand name 94.3 MY FM. This is the fifth-largest radio network in India and the radio is listened to by an enormous number of people in India.
• Digital Business App: DB Corp has launched a brand marketing campaign for Digital Business App that will drive brand awareness and downloads of its Dainik Bhaskar (Hindi) and Divya Bhaskar (Gujarati) mobile apps. This campaign will amplify its growth even further.
• Annual Revenue: DB Corp’s annual revenue grew by 7.7% to Rs 395.1 crore in Q3 FY2022 as compared to Rs 366.7 crore, on a comparative higher base than last year. Revenue growth is one of the biggest strengths.
• Strong Customer Relationship: DB Corp has developed good relations with its customers and due to that, they have reached the majority of its potential market by providing amazing printing products and radio services.

Weaknesses of DB Corp

DB Corp’s weakness is an area where he can improve. Strategy is about making important decisions, and weaknesses are areas where a company could improve with the help of a SWOT analysis.

• Limited Market: DB Corp only exists in the Indian market. Though they have high customer retention and international customer users on their mobile application, still they are not able to extend in large markets by which DB Corp has limited markets. 
• Improper Financial Planning: The liquid asset ratio and liquidity ratio indicate that a company can use its cash more efficiently than it currently is. 
• High Labour Outflow: With higher dropout rates compared to other organisations in the industry, DB Corp, and have to spend significantly more on employee training and development than its competitors. 
• High Competition: The daily stock is high compared to its competitors, so the company has to raise more capital to invest in the channel. This could affect the long-term growth of DB Corp.
• Limited Readership: This is especially true nowadays when more and more people are eschewing print publications for online electronic versions.
• No Control Over Ad Placement: DB Corp has no control over news publishing by its journalists. Oftentimes newspapers won’t guarantee premium placement on any given page. 

Opportunities for DB Corp

Opportunities are potential areas for companies to focus on to improve results, increase sales, and ultimately profit.

• Online Networks: DB Corp should add new features, like blogs and video, and with the help of citizen journalists and more distributed online networks, it will ultimately increase their reach and influencers in the coming years. The audiences for online newspapers and the traffic to newspaper sites are both growing as well.
• Re-launch DP Post: DB Corp had shut its English newspaper named DB Post due to the main journalist taking an exit from the company. DB Corp should bring back its English newspaper by appointing an experienced journalist so that it can take over the market covered by foreign newspapers like TOI, ET & Business Standards.
• Strong R&D: Research and development is an integral part of any company, especially media companies and with less product differentiation and huge competition, it seems that DB Corp needs R&D for product differentiation and Human-Centric Newspaper Design.  
• Geographic Expansion: Opening its branch or franchise globally helps DB Corp to expand its marketplace. Many people in the world need the solution provided by DB Corp and replicate it in the market with some personalization. 
• Using First Mover Advantage: Instead of fighting with competitors, they can position themselves as a pioneer and quality newspaper and media brand. Launching new products like pocket newspapers before the market is an addition. 
• New Technology: DB Corp may now use differential pricing in the new market thanks to the new technology. It will motivate the company to reinforce its existing clients via excellent service while also attracting new customers through various value-oriented offers.
• Economic Recovery: Economic recovery and rising newspaper readers after years of recession and slow industrial growth are opportunities for DB Corp to attract new customers and increase market share.

Threats to DB Corp

Many factors can affect your business outside its immediate environment. Some of these include factors such as a shortage of skilled workers or a supply chain issue. The threats DB Corp is facing are as follows

• Fragmented Readership: Today’s readers do not opt for publications made by DB Corp. Instead, they drive to news articles via shared links on mega-platforms and curation sites like Facebook and Google that produce little editorial content of their own.
• Misinformation & Disinformation: Circulating misinformation or wrong information by DB Corp journalists and producers will lead to legal actions against the corp. Also, disinformation is often viewed as harmful to society related to politics, immigration, health and security.
• Competition from Corporate Media: Increasing competition from corporate media and international media industries like TOI, ET and Business Standards has been always threatening for local corporations like DB Corp. People are switching to reading more in the English language rather than preferring to read news in Hindi, especially the youth.
• Fierce Local Competition: DB Corp faces tough competition from local media distributors like Amar Ujala Publications, Hindustan Times etc. These newspaper corporations’ reader base is getting a double day on day and this is an alarming signal for DB Corp.
• Environment Activists: The main raw materials which are used to produce newspapers are paper and ink. These two resources are extracted from the environment and environmental activists who are concerned about the exploitation of such resources are keeping an eagle eye on the activities of media corporations like DB Corp.

This ends our elaborative SWOT analysis of DB Corp. Let us conclude our learning below.