Are You the Weakest Link?

For example, it is commonplace to recognize that different skills and assets are required of the four pillars supporting the publishing enterprise (you can, of course, model as many, or as few pillars as you like):

#1 acquisition and development of the editorial product

#2 production and manufacturing (or digital conversion) of the physical product

#3 marketing and sales of the assembled product

#4 distribution of the packaged product

It is also commonplace to recognize that the administrative and process tools for enterprise management are yet another bundle of skills that attach to each of these pillars, generally not identified as such in the supply chain diagram.

A conventional and rudimentary supply chain model might look like this (of course, longer lists of discrete functions and movers can be aggregated):

Function chain: creative + production + marketing + distribution + customer.

Mover chain: author + printer + publisher + librarian + patron.

Process and administrative management is required of all of the functions, but there is also an enterprise function. In a smaller company, it may reside in the hands of a “shirt-sleeve,” or owner-operated publisher who also doubles as editor-in-chief and triples as marketing manager. In a larger company, we find presidents, CEOs, COOs and vice presidents who do not appear in our foregoing models.

So, we need to add an additional element up front:

Function chain: enterprise

Mover chain: CEO

The CEO and publisher may be one and the same, but the supply chain distinction is critical to an examination of threats and opportunities, strengths and weaknesses—to positioning for core competencies.

The Publisher as a Manufacturer and Content Manager

Publishing-industry people usually don’t think of themselves as manufacturers. That is one of the reasons why many smaller publishers don’t necessarily get the best financial advice—since they are likely to engage accountants who specialize in professional, creative or personal services, where fixed assets and work-in-process aren’t significant.