The approaching bereavement of paperback books has generated a wonderful-mess for the book publishing industry and created a clear Blue Ocean opportunity.
Well – the Blue Ocean chance is clearly there, but who and what is not. And book publishing industries administrative are far from happy at the instant. Blue Ocean opportunity refers to
Blue Ocean Strategy, the proven system for making the competition irrelevant by creating new market spaces through instantaneous accomplishment of demarcation and low cost. Instead of being locked in red oceans of brutal bloody competition, Blue Ocean Strategy moves to clear, unchallenged waters of highly profitable growth.
The book publishing industry, now more than ever, faces its toughest competition to date. The book publishing industry has survived books on tape and books on phones. However, Amazon.com’s Kindle, which offers the innovative alternative to paperback books throughout its 3G Wireless capability to download electronic books in less than 60 seconds, can hold up to 1,500 books…not to reveal its large selection of over 450,000 books.
Moreover, the current release of Apple’s iPad - The iPad’s easy-to-use edge allows customers to play games, navigate the internet and download electronic books. The ameliorating electronic faction through hi-tech innovation has created a crowded red ocean of competition for the book publishing industry. Amazon and Apple continue to take huge bites of profit out of the book publishing industry requiring a usual
Blue Ocean Strategy, value-innovation driven, change.
“Traditional trade book publishers are scared,” says Harvard Business school professor (and former CEO of Random House) Peter Olson. “The world that they have known, of print books and brick-and-mortar bookstores – the whole physical distribution system – is on the cusp of changing fundamentally.”
Recently, Macmillan, privately-held international publishing company, battled with leading online retailer Amazon over e-pricing as the biggest source of friction. Amazon briefly removed the publisher’s Kindle editions and print book from its site after Macmillan indicated it would begin setting higher consumer prices for e-books than Amazon’s typical charge. Amazon eventually renegotiated terms with Macmillan, but the confrontation reflects publishers’ concern that more and more customers are going to get used to cheap electronic pricing that will undercut print books. Publishers believe that consumers’ perception of things that are digital should be less expensive or free.
The ongoing power struggle between publishers and key online retailers like Amazon remains an open question. Odd enough, the spotlight of publishers and retailers is primarily on the amount of resources fanatical to the developed and physical sharing of books.
Blue Ocean Strategy focuses on customers and non customers as a source for value innovation to make the competition irrelevant.
The existing industry concerns are quarrel versus cooperation with retailers and e-pricing and royalty rates. But, consider the solution from a different approach – a
Blue Ocean Strategy approach. The major publishing companies and online retailers are competing and worrying about the strategies for competing. For example, publishing companies are pricing their books based not on what is costs or what people want to pay for it, but based on another set-up that is entirely different, just because they want to keep the old format alive. Macmillan was able to win the shot-term pricing battle with Amazon, but couldn’t Amazon just retaliate by promoting other publishers’ titles more?
The electronic movement has resulted in the inevitable – disruption happens. But, what company in the book publishing industry is going to create a Blue Ocean of highly profitable development and how will they do it? Can the book publishing make the souk better-looking with additional electronic features, packages, etc? With the central focus of the publishers’ and retailers’ debate on price and the adoption of the e-reader it will require the request of the fundamental aspects of
Blue Ocean Strategy – differentiation and low cost to survive.
