DIENA

Requires students to draw a new organization structure diagram for a rapidly evolving business. A/S DIENA is a newspaper publisher founded during Latvia's 1990/91 struggle for independence from the USSR with a clear social mission to support democracy. With the help of Swedish investors, over the 1990s the entrepreneurial business survives the ups and downs of the transition economy to build a leading national newspaper. In 1997, seeking new sources of growth, A/S DIENA expands outside the Latvian capital to set up the Regional Press Group, a decentralized network of community newspapers emphasizing employee ownership and a separation of roles between editors and publishers. By 2001, however, the community newspaper market is shrinking, the Regional Press Group is not yet profitable, and a Western-style profit planning system is met with some resistance by former state employees. The decision point focuses on how to redesign the Regional Press Group and its interactions with the national newspaper and the other business units of A/S DIENA.