Strategically Speaking: Is Digital Printing 'Ready for Prime Time'?
6. Textbook rental. While textbook rental is a relatively recent development, it is clearly spurring interest in the college sector, and can only mean fewer copies coming off the presses.
7. Regional manufacturing. In a global economy moving at Internet speed, there's a lot to be said for replacing the long-standing tradition of manufacturing in the country of original publication (there goes that obsession with unit manufacturing cost again) with exporting to international markets with a policy of local manufacturing—as close to the customer as manufacturing capabilities permit. If we take a total cost perspective—defined here as printing, shipping and handling, customs clearance, inventory carrying costs (including obsolescence and the risk of lost sales created by not having the inventory immediately available to meet customer demand)—the case for local manufacturing is hard to dismiss. While all this is good news for the publisher's bottom line, it's unlikely to bode well for country-of-origin print orders.