As a market to sell in or as a destination to outsource to, businesses across the world have been fascinated by China. The Chinese economy has relied heavily on exports – mostly contract manufacturing. Contract manufacturing here is a loosely used term. It encompasses everything from shoes, clothes, books, computer peripherals to machinery, heavy fabrication, automobile parts etc. It would be safe to assume, that every product out in the market has a Chinese contribution. Services might take longer to make a significant contribution to the economy, but once the population overcomes language issues, revenues from services are likely to increase.

This week, I came across an article that mentioned a few numbers about the publishing industry – which I think is indicative at best. While the numbers might be debated upon (and that would be welcome), it does not discount the fact that China is a strong contender – as a destination to outsource printing and as a potential market to sell in.

Continue reading ‘The Paper Dragon’ »

One would expect customer satisfaction levels with outsourcing providers to be proportional to the years spent in outsourcing. However, our findings from a recent survey of publishing industry segments – STM/Academic and Educational publishing threw some of these assumptions off the mark. It is surprising to note that publishers from the STM/Academic segment indicate such low levels of satisfaction with outsourcing despite being pioneers in outsourcing and offshoring.

Continue reading ‘Satisfaction with outsourcing: Educational vs. STM publisher’ »

Publishers lament the lack of skills when it comes to offshoring complex copy-editing to India. Some complain that even simpler, less complex copy-editing jobs are difficult to procure at the same level of proficiency that a US/UK-based counterpart can achieve. Service providers admit to the huge challenge of finding the right guy for the job, and more importantly keeping him there. The talent gap is evident… solutions are elusive! Apart from intensive on-the-job training provided by most service providers, other steps have been tried and proved useful, some of which include:

- Setting up training arm within the company to develop and absorb trained manpower

Continue reading ‘So where is the talent hiding?’ »

The newspaper and magazine segments are the largest contributors in revenues to the global publishing industry – contributing close to 52% of global publishing revenues. It would therefore be safe to assume that of all the challenges faced by the industry, none would be as altering (in terms of revenues) as the challenges faced by these two segments. The newspaper and magazine segments have already lost considerable revenues on account of dip in ad revenues. This is directly attributable to the global economic slowdown, which has led to decrease in consumer and corporate spending.

Continue reading ‘Magazines: Ad-ing up the losses’ »

With the publishing industry facing cost pressures, change in consumption patterns and struggling to sustain its revenues, it only seemed logical that the industry as a whole would outsource more. To truly understand how the industry value chain perceived outsourcing, we at ValueNotes Sourcing Practice decided to conduct a publishing survey.

To gain clarity on where the industry is heading, we needed to understand: Continue reading ‘Publishing Survey: Disparity in cost savings continues’ »

The newspaper and magazine segments are the largest contributors in revenues to the global publishing industry – contributing close to 52% of global publishing revenues. It would therefore be safe to assume that of all the challenges faced by the industry, none would be as altering (in terms of revenues) as the challenges faced by these two segments. The newspaper and magazine segments have already lost considerable revenues on account of dip in ad revenues. This is directly attributable to the global economic slowdown, which has led to decrease in consumer and corporate spending.

Does a drop in revenues merit a need to re-invent the business model? How are publishers coping with the dip in revenues? Will the digital market provide a strong revenue source? Will this mean more outsourcing/offshoring?  Over two posts, I will answer these questions, starting with the newspaper segment.

Continue reading ‘Newspapers: Stop the presses?’ »

Margin pressures are a sign of maturity (and commoditization) in any services industry. Publishing outsourcing is no different. Low entry barriers have kept the wannabes pouring in, relentlessly setting up shop, offering ridiculously low prices … to a point where it won’t work any further. However, that hasn’t stopped any more wannabes from joining the game.

While this phenomenon on one side of the industry spectrum has led to rapid commoditization of services, it has also galvanized creativity amongst players on the other side. Innovations in productivity enhancements, process refinement and proprietary product development has become the new mantra for industry leaders, in order to stay in a profitable game. Today, prices have dropped to levels that have pushed struggling players out of business, while the larger players are desperately seeking opportunities to grow.

Continue reading ‘The yin-yang of publishing outsourcing’ »

The publishing industry has been undergoing a transition. Starting with increasing costs of production and print, the industry is struggling to address the increasing demand of digital content as opposed to print. In the midst of this transition, the global economic slowdown prompted lesser spending by consumers and corporate spenders.  Over the past few months, we have seen publishers try a variety of approaches – going digital, reducing print publishing, and cutting costs.

In spite of these measures, one thing comes across very strongly – the industry is yet to find that one formula/method that addresses all their problems. The lack of such a formula forced us to ask the question – will publishers outsource? Sure, some publishers already outsource certain aspects of their operations. But will they outsource more? Will they end up offshoring? And if they do want to outsource/offshore, what are the primary reasons for doing so? Are they hoping outsourcing will  be the ‘X’ factor while re-defining their business model?

Continue reading ‘Will publishers outsource?’ »

A lot has been said and written about ebooks, ebook readers and the stimulus that the publishing industry has been giving to anything and everything digital. The arrival of a technology behemoth such as Google just goes to validate that the market is in fact, worth it.

What about Google?

For starters, Google stunned the publishing industry, with the launch of Google Editions at the recently concluded Frankfurt Book Fair. The company is launching an online service for booksellers and will let readers buy books and read them on a range of devices – from computers to cell phones. Continue reading ‘Don’t be e-vil’ »

It’s easy to dismiss technological alternatives to established time-tested tools as fads… And easier still, to get carried away by the sweeping power of technological innovation!  Well, in this case I am referring to the Kindle, Sony reader and the ever-evolving e-reader clan and the writing off of paper and print. Critics across generational divides have strong opinions supporting both sides. Technology drove the music industry’s evolution and the fade-out of non-adapters. Will this be replicated in the publishing industry, evolving rapidly in a digital era?

Almost everyone in the industry is trying to make sense of what lies ahead… Which technology will emerge stronger and which one will bite the dust?  Will e-readers replace print books entirely? Where will the industry head to if it doesn’t toe the line?

Continue reading ‘The content-technology tussle’ »