Book Industry Business, Concentration, Internet and Social Media of Management and Marketing

Abstract

This chapter’s centrality lies on the identification of some disruptive elements and on the analysis of some trends, particularly from the business strategy point of view, including the business concentration movements, as well the changes operated in the value chain and in the book business model and the role of social media in marketing and promotion practices. Adopting a more systematic overview, we can say this work was developed with the aim of finding possible answers to two research questions: RQ.1—Is it possible to identify trends and characterize the business tendencies in the book sector, including the business concentration? RQ.2—Which are the main challenges and disruptive elements that publishers have to face in terms of their corporate governance and business models? In addition to the identification of some of the most frequent strategies, the Ansoff matrix (Ansoff, Implanting strategic management, Prentice-Hall International, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1984) was applied to the book sector; simultaneously, possible revenue sources associated with the book business were identified and systematized. In order to analyze the strategies and quantify the levels of ownership concentration in the publishing market, two indexes (the “Herfindahl–Hirschman Index”—HHI and CR4) were applied, based on the Portuguese market. Overall, the research methodology was largely based on documentary research, namely scientific articles, press articles, books on the sector, industry reports, etc. Taking into account that one of this chapter’s authors is an editor and a partner of a book publishing company, participant observation was also applied.