Can a media company become any kind of company?

We know “all companies are becoming media companies.” Does the inverse apply?

Non-media companies are increasingly publishing their own content in order to engage customers and enhance their reputations. Now that many companies have entered the terrain of publishers, can publishers do the reverse?

Here’s why you might say no

The Internet diminished barriers to reaching a large audience, which had been the primary competitive advantage of large publications. Successful companies in other industries have competitive advantages that have not been diminished by the Internet, such as proprietary technology or production scale. While is it easy for non-media companies to publish content, it is not easy for media companies to break into other companies’ competitive advantages.

Here’s why you might say yes

The Internet enables mass collaboration — the sort that powers peer-produced products like Wikipedia, open-source software like Android, and social networks like Twitter. Even companies you might not consider as primarily digital are leveraging the Internet to tap into massive collaboration: consumer-packaged goods companies are leveraging distributed communities for R&D; toy companies are embracing hacks built by their customers; food companies are creating products suggested by customers; apparel companies are selling products designed collectively by customers; and manufacturing companies are focusing on coordinating the work of independent suppliers.

In this open world of mass collaboration, a key competency is convening. Companies are bringing together lots of partners to work together to solve problems or build things. Convening groups around particular issues is something publishers are quite good at.

Other key competencies in this new world are marketing and user experience. As open communities take on more of the development processes, companies are concentrating on value-add features closer to the customer. With their regular engagement of large audiences, publishers are in good position to do this.

Jumping into markets that seem really different but aren’t

Amazon’s dominance of the cloud services businesses is perhaps one of the most interesting business achievements today. How did a retail company become a cloud computing company? They seem like really different businesses.

But cloud computing was in fact a natural progression for Amazon. The company had built an open computing platform that enabled developers to build applications that tapped into Amazon’s products and services. Amazon benefited from the ingenuity of these developers since new applications increased the exposure and sales of Amazon’s products. Key limitations for these developers were the basic tools, including server space, required to build applications, so Amazon made those tools available.

Amazon’s entry into hardware products such as the Kindle may also seem like an huge jump. But it was also a reasonable extension of its books business — customers needed a better reading and purchasing experience.

Companies of the future will be built on compelling missions and an ability to convene people around those missions. This is not a far cry from what media companies do best.