TAKE IT OR LEAVE: AGILE/NOVELTY BUSINESS MODELS AND VALUE ADDITION IN THE PUBLISHING SECTOR AND FORCES IMPACTING ON THESE MODELS

The publishing industry is in a period of tumult marred by severe uncertainties. Established publishers are accused of sticking to timeworn but broken and ruined business models, while start-ups are seen as the primary legatees of the swift pace of technological change and the internet. To survive this war, existing publishers must find new sources of value conception, by way of allocating resources to the development of new business models much the same way they do with content development and product innovation. This study blends research findings cutting across the publishing and management fields, presenting a generic business model for the traditional book publishing industry. This is finally used to identify and classify select agile/novelty business model innovations within established book publishers. An analysis of the approaches used to construct value for publishers, content creators, and consumers breeds four new distinct sets (classes) of business model innovations which are: generating new distribution and sales mechanisms, breaking down obstacles between publishers and consumers, capturing new revenue streams, and transforming into a service business. It is established that the innovative business models pursued by established publishers are in tandem with those that have helped increase performance for start-up businesses. It is also established that while many publishers worldover particularly in Europe, Asia and America are significantly innovating their business models to remain competitive in this digital age, African publishers have not done much. Even then, for those old publishers that have positively innovated their business models, the impact of such initiatives on performance is as of now indeterminate.