Booz Allen Hamilton

Offshoring has taken on new meaning in recent years. The Web, electronic file transfer, advancements in foreign technology and faster, better ways to communicate globally have all stirred the waters of opportunity for tapping the American marketplace from overseas. A global marketplace has swelled beyond what many expected. For some, this means greater opportunity, savings and growth. For others, it means the promise of more jobless Americans, more abandoned factories, more unfair labor competition. For many book publishers, specifically, it means more options for manufacturing books cost-effectively. It means new options for digital content creation, design and editorial. It means increased profitability, growth

In 2003, custom publishing was again the fastest growing publishing activity for academic and professional publishers, with most enjoying double-digit sales growth. But some publishers saw little or no profit margin improvement in their custom publishing activities. Why, then, do some custom publishers continue to outperform the industry in sales and profits, while others lag in one or both of these key performance indicators? A Booz Allen Hamilton study, titled Smart Customization, Profitable Growth Through Tailored Business Streams, provides insight into how some companies convert incremental revenue from custom products and services into a better bottom line. Companies who were 'smart customizers' "focused simultaneously on value creation