In his book entitled Creative Disruption Simon Waldman builds on his observations and experience working for companies like the The Guardian and LoveFilm in the digital era.
Creative Disruption is the notion that traditional industries are being disrupted by new creative competitors offering either brand new services (like Google) or the same service radically reinvented (like Amazon).
When this happens traditional businesses, such as publishers, need to fundamentally change the way they operate or they will struggle to survive.
He outlines a three point strategy for disrupted businesses based on the examples of IBM, Britannica and Apple:
In reality some of this advice is much easier said than done. During my time at Blackwell Bookshop, the pressure of becoming irrelevant was always present. Initiatives such as the Espresso Book Machine, Custom Textbook publishing and Textbook Rental were all undertaken with the objective of innovating and finding new markets. At the same time many efficiencies and cost cutting were implemented. However, transforming the core of a business is a tricky task, large scale change is very difficult to implement. I remember one Blue Skies session at Blackwell ending with the CEO saying "If a new opportunity is too far removed from what our staff know and want to do, then we would be better off just starting a new business all together"
Questions to think about
Creative Disruption is the notion that traditional industries are being disrupted by new creative competitors offering either brand new services (like Google) or the same service radically reinvented (like Amazon).
When this happens traditional businesses, such as publishers, need to fundamentally change the way they operate or they will struggle to survive.
He outlines a three point strategy for disrupted businesses based on the examples of IBM, Britannica and Apple:
- Transform the core
- Find big adjacencies
- Innovate at the edges
In reality some of this advice is much easier said than done. During my time at Blackwell Bookshop, the pressure of becoming irrelevant was always present. Initiatives such as the Espresso Book Machine, Custom Textbook publishing and Textbook Rental were all undertaken with the objective of innovating and finding new markets. At the same time many efficiencies and cost cutting were implemented. However, transforming the core of a business is a tricky task, large scale change is very difficult to implement. I remember one Blue Skies session at Blackwell ending with the CEO saying "If a new opportunity is too far removed from what our staff know and want to do, then we would be better off just starting a new business all together"
Questions to think about
- Who are the companies causing major disruption within the publishing industry?
- What advantages do creative disruptors have over traditional publishers?
- Are you aware of any publishers that are visibly: transforming the core, finding big adjacencies or innovating at the edges?
- What are the core skill and assets publishers have?
- Can you think of any adjacent industries that those skills could be applied to?