Encyclopaedia Britannica, the 244-year-old company, recently announced it would stop printing encyclopedias. Of course this triggered a flurry of talk about the end of printed books, magazines, and newspapers and a once-great company humbled by shifts in technology. But to fall into that narrative is to miss the greatest lesson of the story. Innovating, creating something new, playing the beginning of the game is the easy part. Britannica offers us invaluable insight into the much harder half of the innovation process: how to play the end game.You see, every game--chess, tennis, business--has an end. Every business will eventually die. We cannot escape this inevitability. Yet we hold on to the fantasy that somehow OUR company will be different, that our company is “built to last.” The key to long life in business is knowing how to play the end game so that you can position yourself to play the next game. Britannica seems to be doing that well.The Wi-Fi PatternTo understand what is going on here, think about Wi-Fi (wireless Internet) service. Ten years ago when you walked into a Starbucks you had to pay for Wi-Fi access. Now you get it for free. If something doesn’t cost anything to provide, eventually someone will give it away for free. Or as an economist would say, over the long run, the market price of any competitive product or service reaches its margin cost.Wikipedia has proven that there are lots of smart people out there who are willing to write content for free.... Continue reading at 'Fast Company'
[ Fast Company | 2012-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell, Benedicte Page and Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 09/09/2011 - 09:00 Publishers have reacted broadly positively to Waterstone's requests for a higher flat rate discount on books in return for a scrapping of major promotion charges, calling the system... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 09/09/2011 - 08:45 Discount retailer The Works has said it hopes to expand its stores in the UK by nearly 150, as well as growing its e-commerce business with the sale of ebooks. The retailer has opened 43 new stores this yearbringing its total... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell, Graeme Neill and Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 31/08/2011 - 18:15 Publishers and trade figures have broadly reacted positively towards the scrapping of Waterstones 3-for-2 promotion. As The Bookseller revealed earlier today [31st August], the offer is... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill and Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 31/08/2011 - 10:27 Waterstone's is bringing its iconic 3 for 2 offer to an end, with plans to implement money-off deals across individual books. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 22/08/2011 - 11:40 Random House Childrens Books is hoping that Christopher Paolinis Inheritance Cycle series will be remembered for generations to come as it plans marketing activity for the final instalment, Inheritance. The fourth... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 15:35 Canadian novelist Kate Pullinger has said the power of Amazon, Apple and Google has put publishers in a "difficult situation". read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 03/08/2011 - 13:30 Cambridgeshire county council is set to announce new library plans in September, with book "vending" machines at train stations and park and ride sites potentially on the cards. An online ordering and delivery service,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 01/08/2011 - 08:59 Digital sales have helped to bolster profitability for Penguin in the first six months of 2011, with company chiefs looking for organic growth and a focus on the high street over the second half of the year. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Wed, 20/07/2011 - 14:20 French cultural product chain Fnac has announced a new five-year strategic plan to help lift flagging sales as consumer habits change and competition from the internet erodes traditional markets. Called Fnac 2015, the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 19/07/2011 - 17:41 The Publishers Association is launching its second digital survey this year and could introduce a quarterly digital survey by 2012. The trade body said the survey came in response to the "significant growth" in digital sales,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the more simple days of selling, advertising sales executives dealt in print, closing deals on a monthly cycle. Now, as technology drives opportunities for publishers, sales execs are faced with an ever-growing portfolio of products and services to offer to clients. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 14/07/2011 - 15:18 Oxfordshire library campaigners have claimed there are "major gaps" in the council's plans to make extensive use of volunteers in its library network. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Do you think Zynga's Mark Pincus would put a cat on his head for a national magazine shoot? Or LinkedIn's Jeff Weiner? Or, perish the thought, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook? But the wacky stylings of Groupon CEO and Co-founder Andrew Mason seem to demand it. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Fri, 01/07/2011 - 11:46 Anthony Cheetham has left Atlantic Books and resigned as a director of the company. It is understood that Cheetham left the publisher yesterday (30th June) with a memo circulated internally announcing his departure. His role... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 10/06/2011 - 08:23 Book Club Associates has announced plans for 30% growth over the next year after it was bought by the Webb Group in a deal which could potentially see its books sold through Next and Grattan retail catalogues. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 03/06/2011 - 08:40 HarperCollins is giving Harriet Evans' backlist a "summery" look as it plans its biggest ever campaign for the paperback release of her latest novel later this month. Love Always will be published in paperback and ebook on 23rd... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 03/06/2011 - 14:47 Canongate is planning to give a limited number of free ebook copies of Grow Up, the debut novel by 19-year-old Ben Brooks, ahead of its paperback publication in July. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The last nine Borders stores in Australia will close after no buyers could be found for the bookseller chain, the administrator said today. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2011-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Earlier in the week, Amazon announced that it was hiring Laurence Kirshbaum, the former CEO of Time Warner Book Group, to head a new publishing imprint. This seems like an odd time for Amazon to be making its mark on the pubishing industry: book sales are down, major book chains like Borders are... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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