The Impact of Technology on the Publishing Industry - Essay Example

Ho Yeung Shiu ENG102 Amanda Laughtland JAN 27 Research: The Impact of Technology on the Publishing Industry Introduction According to Otuoma (33) the internet has resulted in both positive and negative impacts on the publishing industry. Specifically, the internet, the e-education (e-book) and printing-on-demand have impacted on all aspects of the publishing value chain. For instance, among the various trends in the industry due to the internet, at a production level, books can move straight from the author to the reader with distribution been done through electronic marketplaces were e-tailers retail electronic books.This paper assumes that the impact that internet has had on the publishing industry can be well observed by examining the e-learning system. Consequently, paper examines both the positive and negative impacts of the internet on the publishing industry. In evaluation, the positive and negative impacts of the internet on the publishing industry will guide policy and point on to major features that need to be improved on. Further, the examination of the trend in the industry that is caused by the internet will help in predicting the future changes that may be experienced in the industry. Moreover, this research will enable researchers in the future to identify potential areas of industry that can be researched on. The internet has improved the publishing industry by enabling books to be printed on deman, online marketing that reaches more readers and perhaps, the e-book which has significantly lowered book transport costs. 2. Literature Review This research looked at the carious reources that have been written relative to the study. A research by Kennedy (2009) provides information on the effects of using this criterion of electronic publishing. It is much useful in that it gives detailed information on the future of publishers and librarians who are applying the idea of electronic publishing. Kennedy predicts that the internet will ultimately change the various positions held by different players in the industry and that some will have to be eliminated or fit themselves in the expanded market. Contrary, Otuoma (2002) predicts that the future market for the publishing industry though expanded will need fewer players to supply it hence many players will not find space in the industry but will be eliminated. This research by Otuoma has been of much help in this research as it focuses on the landscape of the technology basically the content production. Importantly, it is useful for this research since it brings out the distribution of the technology in different nations as the publishers work more hard so that they can fit in this competitive world. Generally, the revolution that has taken place in the publishing sector due to the advanced or rather modern technology as immense and weighing the positive impacts against the negatives, Ronte (2003) asserts that the positive impact justifies the adoption of the internet in the publishing industry. Further, the article talks about the multiple dimensions of the publishing industry and the extent they have been affected by the technology. Ronte observes that some areas of the industry, like marketing have had the impact more as compared to the production whose adoption to the change was easier. Ronte also gives the overall framework of the research and potential areas of interest. In addition, Travis (2014) provides empirical evidence evaluating the impact of the internet in replacing the old ways of publishing. Trivis here provides empirical evidence on the interaction between the traditional means of publishing and the modern methods introduced by the internet by evaluating their revenues. In this regard, Trivis challenges the conclusions reached by Otuoma (2002) that the old market players especially in the distribution channel have been negatively effected by the introduction of the internet. As a result of his criticism to Otouma, Travis tries to establish whether the changes in the traditional publishing methods and distribution channels have been due to the introduction of the internet. Ghose, Anindya, Michael, and Rahul (2006) examine the impact of the introduction of used books on the internet to the publishing industry. Inductively, by using a case study of Amazon’s used books market; they explain the impact of used books to the publishing industry. Their relevant to this research as it uses the largest distributor of the used books online to evaluate the impact of the introduction of used books to the industry. In contrast to fears by Travis (2014) that the e-book was reducing the profits from new books, their study uses empirical evidence to prove that the old book market had no impact on the sale of new books. Lastly, Vaara, Matias (2010). provide additional empirical evidence of the impact of digitalization of the publishing industry. Their study uses qualitative research based on interviewing experts in the industry that enlightens this study on some important opinions. Notably, their empirical evidence especially on the case of the impact since the introduction of the e-book agrees with the predictions by Otouma that Kennedy (2009) that not all the players in the publishing industry have been eliminated and that many have fitted within the new expanded industry due to the expanding market.  In summary, the researches above proved both theoretical and empirical studies concerning the impact of the internet on the publishing industry. The empirical research provide this study with evidence of both the positive and the negative impacts on the industry under onsideration. On the other hand, the theoretical reviews offer us insights as to the causes of specific impacts due to the internet on the industry. In some incidences, the theoretical frameworks are laid before the empirical evidence is provided while in some cases theories are formulated in attempt to explain the empirical evidence. As it surfaces from the review, thre has been disputes regarding the impact of the internet on the publishing industry with proponents basing their arguments on the positive impacts while the antagonists emphasize on the negative impact.  3. Hypothesis Hypothetically, the introduction and growth of the internet to the publishing industry has positive and negative impacts. Therefore, a research is necessary for identifying the positives so as to strengthen them and the negative impact. The main aim publishing is the spread and dissemination of knowledge. The reasoning behind this research is that the internet has impacted the media through three main forms namely, the digitalization of the publishing industry, replacing traditional publishing means and the introduction of used book markets on the internet. Moreover, the identification of the impact will guide future decisions concerning the industry. Furthermore, normally for a sound decision to be reached, the positive impacts have to be weighed against the negative impact. 4. Experiment In this regard, the study tries to find out how the introduction and growth of e-education have changed the publishing industry. Also, it will find out what specific changes in the industry have resulted from the introduction and growth of the tendency to print books on-order as enabled by the internet. As such, the research will try to answer the following questions: 1. a) What changes has internet brought to the publishing industry? b.) What is the impact of these changes in the publishing industry? 5. Methodology and Materials Basically, this research uses secondary data to prove its hypothesis. As such, different empirical researches that have been done before will be examined. This is because the study intends to examine trends that have happened in the past. In this regard, this paper has explained in the literature review the books chose and the reasons for selecting each of them. However, there is a lot of material that explains the impact of e-learning in the publishing industry which has been left out due to the limitation of the number of volumes that can be covered in one finding. 6. Results A thesis by Vaara examined the disruption that had been caused by the internet in the publishing industry. Objectively, he examined the changes that had been caused by the internet by the digital forces of digitalization of the media, the internet as a publishing platform and the emergence of mobile digital reading devices. Basing the research on qualitative case-study and interviews of industry experts the research found that the publishing industry is being disrupted. Basically, at the technological level the internet forces have altered the definition of a book and changed its role as a means of spreading information (Greco 35). Consequently, the business model of traditional publishers has been undermined by the disruption of the internet that calls for innovations to adapt to its changes. At a company level, publishers have been forced to reinvent their investments the organizational dynamics have a historical role as publishers have been altered. Further, at the industry level the internet has lowered the barriers to entry and changed the value chain of the book publishing industry. Therefore, the trend is that the publishing industry is converging with the other media industries and also with parts of the IT-industry. As it regards to the relation between the internet and the old form of publishing, an article by Travis examines whether the internet has led to the decline of the traditional means of publishing. Using data from the U.S’ traditional publishing industry, they tested whether the internet in general and peer-to-peer sharing of large files has led to a decline in revenues for the old forms of publishing. In their findings, they discovered that not every industry subject to internet infringement had realized a fall in revenues. Moreover, some of the industries that had realized a fall in revenues, the fall had not been proportional to the infringement of the internet but to other factors that are closely related (Travis). In addition, the traditional old publishing firms that had a decline in revenues had the decline at a less rapid rate compared to other traditional firms whose decline is subject to general economic trends. In specific, Ghose, ,Smith and Telang (10) use empirical evidence to test the impact of used books that have been introduced by the internet. This increased use of used product sales on the internet has caused concern among content creators and distributors. In line with this, this study asserts that the Association of American Publishers and Authors Guild believe that the used product market had led to a significant reduction in new product sales. The analysis found that used books were poor product substitutes for new books for most Amazon customers. Empirically, they determined the cross elasticity of demand to be 0.88 hence only 16% of the used books in Amazon are substituted for the new ones. Moreover, the findings suggested that Amazon’s used books market increases the consumer surplus by approximately $67.21million annually because of the increased readership. On the side of the publisher, the study estimates that, even though the publisher welfare decreased by about $45.05 million, the related increase in profit of about $65.76 million more than offsets this loss. As a result of the gain by publishers and the consumer, the study estimates an increase in the welfare of the society of about $87.92 million from the introduction of the market for used books by Amazon.com (Ghose, Smith and Telang 12). 7. Discussion At the distribution level, the internet has eliminated some traditional roles. Notably, the ability to print on demand, e-tailers have eliminated or at least changed the role of traditional middle people as illustrated by Vaara. Arguably, however, Travis implies that though the role of middle people in the publishing industry may have declined, the decline is not attributable to the internet. This conclusion by Travis, however, uses revenues to establish the claimed effect. Revenues are not a good measure of changes in the organization, however. Basically, the changes in the structure may be well gauged by evaluating the industry in terms of wholesalers, retailers and publishers who might have had to change their line of business or even close down (Jewkes, Yvonne, and Majid Yar 93). The study by Ghose, Smith, and Telang, does not include this potential loss in the calculation of the impact on the total welfare of the society. However, against this setback must be weighed the advantages in terms of lowered costs resulting from the introduction f the internet. These costs lowered include costs previously incurred by publishing firms that have been eliminated or considerably reduced by the internet (Kennedy 238). For instance, storage costs have been reduced by the ability to print on demand, to this must be added the reduced costs due to almost zero transportation costs. Another interesting feature of the internet in the publishing industry has been the introduction of used books market (Sanya 32). Cross elasticity of demand is an economic measure that determines how a substitute product impacts on the demand for the other. The study by Ghose, Smith and Telang (12) conclude that this has contributed to a positive progress in the welfare of the society. A limitation of this study is that though it does well to evaluate the impact of the used book market to the Amazon.com, the use of Amazon’s findings to predict industry performance may be misleading. This is because it omits the impact on individual publishing firms and other players in the publishing industry that result from the introduction of used books by Amazon. Most probably, the increase in the number of customers which the consumer surplus is based has resulted from the decrease in sales of other publishing industry agents (Hanno 10). 8. Conclusions The impact of the internet on the publishing industry has caused mixed effects on different stakeholders in the industry. Markedly, those who have embraced the internet in the industry have reaped immense benefits in terms of reduced costs and increased revenues. Further, the increase in production and related reduction in costs associated with the internet have improved efficiency in the industry. However, traditional distribution channels have been considerably altered and a research on the area would be appropriate. In conclusion, the internet has made the publishing industry more efficient in playing its role in assembling and disseminating information. Works Cited Ghose, Anindya, Michael D. Smith, and Rahul Telang. "Internet exchanges for used books: An empirical analysis of product cannibalization and welfare impact." Information Systems Research 17.1 (2006): 3-19 Greco, Albert N. The book publishing industry. Routledge, 2013. Jewkes, Yvonne, and Majid Yar, eds. Handbook of Internet crime. Routledge, 2013. Kennedy, John. "The Impact Of Electronic Publishing: The Future For Publishers And Librarians." Australian Academic & Research Libraries 40.3 (2009): 236-237. Print. Otuoma, Sanya. “Effects Of Information Technology On The Publishing Industry.” Publishing Research Quarterly 17.4(2002) 32 Ronte, Hanno. "The Impact Of Technology On Publishing." Publishing Research Quarterly 16.4 (2003): 10. Travis, Hannibal. "Myths of the Internet as the Death of Old Media." (2014) Vaara, Matias. "Digital disruption faced by the book publishing industry." (2010) Read More