While the Harvard Business Review, the bible of the business set, has bucked recent trends with increased print sales, its publisher accepts that, ultimately, its future is online only

FOR 90 YEARS, it has been an institution in the world of management. Many of the leading ideas in strategy that have entered the popular lexicon of business-speak – such as the balanced scorecard, disruptive innovation and competitive advantage – were propagated within its pages. Most likely to be found on the desk of the chief executive and required reading for MBA students, Harvard Business Review is much more than a business magazine. However, according to its publisher, Josh Macht, who is giving a masterclass to a media industry conference in Dublin today, HBR may not exist as a printed magazine within 10 years.

That message is one that should send a shiver down the spine of traditional print media owners. In an industry beset by falling circulation and heavy losses, at first glance HBR stands out as a beacon of hope for hard-copy publishers.

It has numbers many in the industry can only dream of. News-stand sales are up 16 per cent over the past year, with total print circulation standing at more than 225,000 including 185,000 hard-copy subscriptions. At an average rate of $92 per subscription and with a rate card of €40,000 for a page of advertising, it’s a premium product that continues to make a substantial bottom-line profit contribution to its parent, the Harvard Business School.

Macht, who's previous role was editor of time.com, is on a different track. HBR's future is digital, he says, and traditional publishers who ignore this will not last. "Make no mistake, there is an inevitable move to digital. It's coming at you and going to get you, so there's no point in trying to ignore this if you want your publication to survive," he says. "That's something that's more immediate than people may realise. If you push me I would say that we will have a digital-only publication within 10 years."

For now at least, HBR is happy to exploit both sides of the print/digital equation, with the magazine, traditional books and e-books sitting alongside website, social media platforms, tablet editions and webinars as part of an integrated publishing operation.

Moreover, Macht sees the benefits of leveraging the advantages of traditional and new media forms. “It’s not an either/or question. It’s a matter of looking at each of the platforms and seeing how they can complement one another – print, web and tablet all have different characteristics and dynamics. Every time someone touches the brand digitally, for example, it increases the news-stand potential.”

At the core of the current digital platform is hbr.org, a website that serves as a daily destination for emerging leaders seeking strategies and tactics to get an edge in business, with a range of editorial features complementing the magazine with infographics, audio and video, as well as text.

The pace of this growth has surprised Macht. “Four or five years ago, we were attracting only 100,000-200,000 unique visitors a month, and we decided that four million would be our target. We are fast approaching this level, much quicker than we thought, and believe we have the potential to go way beyond five million.”

Many traditional publishers see digital platforms as value destroyers, cannibalising traditionally profitable print publications with low-yielding advertising models. Macht says this does not have to be case and publishers need to be innovative. HBR, for example, has developed sponsored webinars – typically costing around $45,000 for a package. Digital advertising revenues are growing. Advertising clients are now also looking for packages that include both print and digital elements.

In addition to hbr.org, the group has around 600,000 mobile app users and 1.3m social media followers. While it is no surprise to learn that 178,000 of these come from the professional site Linkedin, its Facebook numbers – which are fast approaching half-a-million – are a testament to the changing demographic of the HBR follower. No longer the preserve of the greying boardroom set, today's HBR reader is as likely to be in their 30s and more likely than not, digests the publication in a digital format.

Another key benefit of digital is the access it provides to emerging markets, a significant contributor to the growth in its traffic. With the economic centre of gravity shifting away from the United States, there are now 11 licensed editions of the magazine produced in 10 different languages around the world. India is producing great thinking and great ideas and is a very important market for HBR, Macht notes, as is China, while parts of Africa have also seen significant growth in readership

“We are unique in the industry. Our brand is respected across the world; we have customer evangelists in dozens of countries who understand the impact business ideas can have on an organisation and its people; and we are nimble enough to move our content to the customer, wherever he or she wants to consume it,” he says.

The digital strategy has been built on the back of a significantly different editorial offering. In 2007, the magazine decided to refresh its stuffy ivory tower image and try to engage with a younger audience with a significant shake-up. Features were shortened and new bite sized sections were introduced. An increased emphasis was placed on articles that helped managers manage their careers. Interviews with more popular mainstream figures now appear – comedian Ricky Gervais was featured in a recent issue for example – a major departure from the previous editorial mix.

For a serious and traditionally highly conservative publication, this was a tricky act to pull off and risked accusations of dumbing done for commercial reasons. It was also important not to compromise its relationship with Harvard Business School. Macht feels that the publication has got the balance right and points to the increased level of article reprint orders as evidence that the academic community sees HBR as the heavyweight publication it always has been.

Ironically, it was HBR’s own authors that were the slowest to move to the new more accessible model. “The biggest challenge was changing our contributors’ mindsets. The 8,000-word HBR article was all they wanted. They initially didn’t think smaller or ‘snackable’ content was very interesting. When it came to the web, we also had to show them that it isn’t just another content channel – it’s a way to have a conversation.”

For Macht, conversation and building a community is the key, a message he feels other publishers could learn from.

“The key is to find your unique value as a publication and then look at ways you leverage that across the various platforms that are available. In our case, our community is very different from any other. We want our audience to contribute something very thoughtful and to actually enhance our content. The web is not just another way to tell the world about an idea; it’s a platform to shape and share ideas with others. We believe our readers should have their fingerprints all over our products.”