Amazon.com's Kindle: Publishing Industry's iPod?
Details
Themes: Strategy
Pub Date : 2009
Countries : US
Industry : Services
Buy Now
Case Code : INA0111
Case Length : 25 Pages
Price: Rs. 200;
Tools
ICMR regularly updates the list of free cases. To view more free cases, please visit our site at frequent intervals.
Demand Shifts of the ConsumersConsumers who are more exposed to computer technology explored new technologies for their reading needs with easy inputs from the increasing use of computers both at work and home that enabled them to generate, process and store the information required. Ease of access to information accentuated the need for change in product offerings from the publishing houses. The demand for books on specialised topics gradually started picking up though books covering topics of general interest also flourished. According to former US-based Times Mirror group (it now merged with Tribune) vice president Jerome Rubin, "...Gutenberg's movable type enabled such mass distribution of identical copies upon its implementation in the fifteenth century, the twentieth century's 'electronic technologies allow the creation of infinite variations'."17 Mergers &Acquisitions (M&As) in the Publishing Industry |
Many undercapitalised small firms were acquired by large companies that had other media businesses such as motion pictures, television and music recording. Small publishers, though being undercapitalised, known for their innovativeness in terms of publishing works, were continuously acquired by major publishing houses. The competitive structure of the industry was completely altered due to the M&As.
Publishing Business at Doldrums
By the end of the 20th century, proliferation of internet changed the landscape of publishing
industry to a large extent and has brought it to the verge of decline. Internet affected the prospects of
the print media as more and more readers preferred free content available on the net. Many companies
such as Amazon started selling books and also e-books through the internet. There are also companies
like Google that offer free on-line books on the internet. These trends affected the business model of
the traditional publishing industry in which several channels function to deliver the book from the
publisher to the end-user, thus paving way for a new operating model of the publishing industry
The diminishing demand for print resulted in the deceleration of the revenues of the publishing
industry. Publishers usually bear lot of costs in the process of printing, to and fro shipping and pulping
the merchandise which result in less profit margins of the publishers.
17]Ibid., page 113