Almost everywhere, the newspaper industry today is facing major transformations due mainly to increased competition, changes in consumer behaviour, and technological advancements. These factors are having an impact on the organisational structure and performance of newspaper firms. Managers likewise are face-to-face with new environmental conditions in terms of uncertainty and munificence. In the presence of these challenges, the literature on corporate entrepreneurship justifies a firm’s entrepreneurial behaviour in order to be able to detect and seize new opportunities. Although there seems to be sufficient proof of a positive relationship between being entrepreneurial and performance, there is no clear evidence in the literature regarding the extent these organisational and environmental factors may enhance or curb the effects that an entrepreneurial strategy-making mode might have on performance.

This study examines the complexities of the relationship between an entrepreneurial strategy-making mode and the firm’s performance as it investigates the moderating effects of the organisational structure and environmental factors on the newspaper publishing industry. A mixed method research design is employed thus complementing the findings of quantitative analyses by means of exploring three newspaper case studies assessing the various dimensions of the entrepreneurial strategy-making mode.

The results show that entrepreneurial newspapers attain better performance than non-entrepreneurial ones, particularly the ones that have developed proactiveness and an entrepreneurial culture as essential elements of their strategy-making mode. From a configurational perspective, performance is enhanced when entrepreneurial newspapers present a higher level of organisational integration and are prone to outsourcing various activities while facing low environmental munificence. Nevertheless, newspaper firms competing in munificent and less uncertain environments may perform well albeit lack of entrepreneurial behaviour. These findings and the novel research design employed contribute to strategic management, corporate entrepreneurship and media management fields of research.