Supply Chain

Business Textbook Supply Chain

Supply Chain for Publisher

Figure 1. This figure illustrates the textbook supply chain from the viewpoint of the publishing company.

[pic]Customers

There are multiple customers when it comes to textbooks. These customers include students, teachers, primary schools, secondary schools, and universities. The teachers and schools want a product that provides relevant and up to date information on the topics being taught. They also want the flexibility to modify the information contained in the text to tailor fit it to their programs. Students expect a product that will be interesting enough to keep them engaged while providing them the information required for the classes they are in.

While most of the time the end consumer, in this case the student, is considered the critical customer, it is not true in this case. A student is required to use the book that the school or university suggests. This may lead to the thought that the school or university is the critical customer, but again this is not true. It is ultimately the teachers that research the materials available and make recommendations to the school and university regarding what textbooks to user. Therefore, the teacher is the critical customer and the one that the publisher should be most concerned with making a sale to.

Supply Chain Players

There are multiple players in the supply chain of a textbook publishing outfit. On the supply side, there is the producer of the raw materials such as paper and binding as well as the printing company that puts these raw materials together into the final product. These players are important because without quality paper and binding, the end customer can become unhappy when the books they spent good money on end up falling apart. It is also important that the materials are printed correctly so that the text and graphics are readable.

On the other side of the supply chain are the services provided by the...