Premium
Why outsourcing cannot help profitability in today's challenging times
Author(s) -
GLAHN Peggy
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
learned publishing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.06
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-4857
pISSN - 0953-1513
DOI - 10.1087/20100112
Subject(s) - profitability index , outsourcing , point (geometry) , citation , apex (geometry) , library science , art history , management , world wide web , computer science , history , political science , business , law , economics , botany , mathematics , geometry , finance , biology
Over the past two decades, primary and secondary publishers have utilized the services of outsource vendors around the world to typeset their journal and book pages and digitize vast amounts of historical information. The impact has been a revolution in access to information and fundamental improvements in publishers’ cost structures. Today, outsourcing has become a widely accepted business strategy to reduce costs, which has led to improved profitability for publishers. While the outsourcing strategy worked well in the past, outsourcing as it is currently understood and practiced is becoming obsolete as the economic and technical environment around us rapidly evolves. Today, for publishers to thrive in the marketplace, they must adopt a transformative view of their business. Publishers must transition from seeing themselves as print publishers to seeing themselves as rich-media publishers. Instead of looking for outsourcing vendors, publishers must seek true collaborative partners who are capable of understanding the publisher’s business goals and who are expert in workflow re-engineering, creative product development, and content transformation to meet those goals.