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These circumstances raise one pressing question : How can publishing houses switch from a defensive to offensive posture and tackle the undeniable evolution taking place in their industry today ? Based on our project experience and discussions with the industry ’ s thought leaders , we believe that the right strategic decisions may allow publishers to adopt and potentially thrive while their competitors struggle . However , the elementary basis for effective and thoughtful decision making ( in any business discipline ) appears to be especially rare in book publishing : a comprehensive overview and assessment of all relevant data and information .
02
Status quo of book publishers : Information deficit along the value chain
As described above and confirmed by our survey , publishers must create focused lines of books that can compete with all other types of consumer entertainment : The book sales process and the lines of books published should be tailored to meet customer preferences and their individual content taste .
A total of 68.1 % of our survey respondents expressed their agreement with this statement as they are interested in personalized book recommendations , and 60.6 % would permanently prefer a certain sales channel if personalized book recommendations were
8 ) offered .
However , this kind of strategic decision , an issue that belongs at the top of industry executives ’ agendas , requires the most detailed consideration and analysis of consumer and market data and insights .
goetzpartners conducted expert interviews to further analyze this topic . These discussions surprisingly revealed that almost every step in publishing houses ’ value chains is characterized by a ( more or less severe ) information deficit ( figure 2 ).
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