| In The News #99 >> | ||
>> TITLE College Books Move Online Lead Story-Dateline: >> SUMMARY The rising cost of textbooks pushed Pearson PLC to offer 300 of its most popular college textbooks online. College students tend to be a very price sensitive consumer group and the new online texts will be about half the price of the traditional versions. File sharing concerns have been addressed by a new technology designed to prevent downloading the files. However, the web version is printable one section at a time. Pearson's strategy is an attempt to circumvent student price resistance and also stem the tide of books making it to the used book market. Modern students are also multimedia savvy and the timing may be right to introduce the web based versions. The new versions have search features for key components and provide student access from anywhere with an Internet connection. From a production standpoint, the Internet versions will reduce manufacturing and inventory costs. However, maintaining the Internet systems is not costless as other Internet publishers point out. Some critics question whether a company can support two competing business models. Other potential problems stem from the fact that textbook adoption is controlled by faculty, many who might be reluctant to adopt the technology. Sellers of traditional hard copy texts also point out that students recover a portion of the cost at semester's end, something they will not be able to do with Internet versions.>> Talking it Over and Thinking it Through
>> Thinking About the Future The Internet continues to provide both opportunities and threats to businesses. In this instance the Internet provides the ability to deliver a textbook in a non-traditional mode. However, the Internet has also provided students with the ability to buy lower priced foreign versions and provided greater access to used books. For textbook publishers the Internet is the proverbial double-edged sword. I suspect this industry will continue to evolve and define the appropriate business model as technology becomes even easier to use and more accessible.
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