sabato, febbraio 08, 2014

The E-Book and The Competing Network Effects

Issued on November the 6th, 2013
Course of Innovation on Cultural Industries - Final Essay
Master's Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship
Erasmus University - Rotterdam, 2013-2014

Subititle:
Phases and Waves of Innovation in the Book Publishing Industry:
Insiders, Outsiders and Their Competing Strategies.

Introduction
This paper deals with the ongoing innovation in the book publishing industry. Combining empirical survey and aggregated statistical data about the EU and US market, the paper suggests that the ongoing process in the publishing industry is the second wave of the innovation that has already shocked the movie and music industries. Both outsiders and insiders are major incumbents and the competition revolves around alternative network effects: consistently with the established patterns, outsiders are the main innovators; insiders, however, seem to have embedded radical innovation as well.
In order to address the topic, the paper presents the following sections. (1) Section 1 reports an empirical online survey of the available formats and prices to purchase a popular book. (2) Section 2 summarizes the economic theory about the dynamics of innovation. (3) Section 3 introduces aggregated data about the US and EU book publishing industry, focusing on product differentiation, distribution channels, and industrial ecosystem. (4) Section 4 discusses the competition between outsiders and insiders in term of alternative network effect. (5) Section 5 brings in the determinants that could shape the ongoing innovation process and the next industry ecosystem.

Download the Essay on Google Drive

Nessun commento: