Lulu.Com Case Briefing

Lulu.com is a company founded by Bob Young in 2002. Bob Young, a lifelong entrepreneur, had a vision of building a new model to distribute intellectual property and allow creators and consumers to come together. Young believed to old system was flawed and thought he had a much better way of approaching the distribution of intellectual property. While the company became an important company in the POD industry, Young wanted to create a marketplace where all types of intellectual property could be found. The POD industry is a fairly recent industry. It allows customers to order a product, and that product will be printed specifically for that customer. The culture at Lulu.com has allowed it to excel in its industry.

Lulu.com focuses on both the creators and the consumers. Creators are favored because they do not need traditional publishing. Lulu.com is a great alternative for creators who would most likely not get published somewhere else. The downside to this alternative is the lack of publicity or reviews that would allow customers to find out about certain books. The creator also retains complete control over his product. Creators have no fee to start up or minimum order to publish and sell on Lulu.com. Lulu.com simply charges a percent of each sales transaction. Customers are pleased because Lulu.com offered intellectual property they would be unable to find anywhere else.

Lulu.com had only 35 full-time employees, each with no formal job title. The company focused on a growth strategy, trying to move quickly into new markets in order to prevent another company copying it business model. Lulu.com created a culture of creativity. Management encouraged employees that innovation and new ideas were welcome, as long as fairly few resources were used and the success of the idea was measurable. The office layout was open and informal. Every employee, including Young and Gart Davis, the president of Lulu.com, worked in a cubicle that allowed easy...