Tapping the Supply Chain Opportunity
For intellectual property industries, this is less of a trap. Differentiation is built into the title of every book (although one can look at the textbook sector and wonder about that). Plus, the supply chain management of outsourcing production and manufacturing has long been embedded in management practice (less so for other marketing and distribution functions), although it has been constrained by the limited foresight of outsource providers. It is a more significant issue for book manufacturers and printers.
Eugene G. Schwartz is editor at large for ForeWord Reviews, an industry observer and an occasional columnist for Book Business magazine. In an earlier career, he was in the printing business and held production management positions at Random House, Prentice-Hall/Goodyear and CRM Books/Psychology Today. A former PMA (IBPA) board member, he has headed his own publishing consultancy, Consortium House. He is also Co-Founder of Worthy Shorts Inc., a development stage online private press and publication service for professionals as well as an online back office publication service for publishers and associations. He is on the Publishing Business Conference and Expo Advisory Board.