PROBLEM SOLVING, QUALITY AND OTHER APPROACHES

Problem Solving, Quality and Other Approaches



Abstract

The emergence of the digital and online media has brought about a significant change in the core business model of the publishing industry. The change in technology and consumer behavior has given rise to new opportunities and challenges for traditional publishers. Digital media has targeted the publishing industry's core sources of revenue related to consumer spending and advertising dollars. The rapid expansion of digital media has driven publishers to reduce costs and streamline their operations. Also, the pressure on publishers has increased as a growing number of consumers prefer access to online content.

Problem Solving, Quality and Other Approaches

Introduction and Background

The publishing industry is one of the foremost industries that have gained ground over the last century owing to the expansion of the horizons of education beyond the erstwhile boundaries of the elite. While education has been disseminated among the masses, the publishing industry has grown over the years being incumbent upon the urge among people to read and gain knowledge as well as wisdom. The publishing industry started to proliferate right after the invention of the printing press and today is among those few industries that help to build the backbone of modern society.

However, the publishing industry, despite being popular for long, is not absolutely free from problems. There is many a problem that plagues the publishing industry and needs feasible solution to the same. Among the problems that persist in this industry, one of the major ones is concerned with printers.

In the present study, to define the problem in more precise terms, the publishing industry has to involve the printing industry as an essential part of the production process of books and while doing so, both the parties put up with stiff resistances while deciding upon the number of copies to be printed, given the rates that either party wants to thrust on the other. The problem is accentuated with the introduction of the trends of customization in almost all industries and major publishing firms want to customize their operations as much as possible.

The Nature of the Problem or Opportunity and its Situation

The problem is that the publishing industry normally pays to printing firms on the basis of the number of copies printed. In most cases, these rates have fixed as well as variable charges. While the first slab of the rate is fixed, subsequent runs of the press are variable. However, the publishers, now faced with cut throat competition, have been pressurizing printing firms to boil down to rates that are fully variable, something that has for long been resisted by printers. Though various firms have agreed to work on different terms and conditions, none of the problems have found proper solution or that these have been widely adopted within the industry. Thus, a balance between the demands of both printers as well as publishers is sought so that a big problem in these complementing industries may be sorted out.

While the root of the problem lies in ...