Reflection on Monday's lecture

In Monday’s lecture we discussed the alchemy of business model innovation. We focused particularly on the fundamental principles and elements within business models, such as the value proposition, in an attempt to understand how they work together in order to create a profitable venture.

In his presentation on open-source economics, Yochai Benkler discusses the radical change that has occurred in the capitalisation of information production and distribution. Traditionally, information producers were forced to raise capital in order to fund such distribution and production, however, the means to carry out these processes are now in the hands of the population since there is a high percentage of the population that owns the necessary equipment e.g. a computer and access to the internet.

Whilst not necessarily affecting the value proposition, this can affect innovation within a company. Open-source economics can affect how content is produced and in the publishing industry specifically, this can be observed in the increasing trend of self-publishing.

Self-publishing has created a new set of opportunities for publishers. Benkler mentions the potential for platforms for self-expression and collaboration and some publishers have innovated precisely these tools in order to capitalise the content produced. This has taken various forms including support and advice offered by publishers e.g. Faber Academy’s self-publishing course, as well as platforms that act as communities for writers who wish to self publish. One example of such a platform is Penguin USA’s Book Country, which allows authors to ‘post their own work and receive critiques from other users’ (The Bookseller) as well as allowing them to self-publish online and in print.

However, Benkler warns that social production can be threatened by incumbent industry models and publishers’ attempts to innovate and monetise the opportunities available have led to widespread disapproval from the self-publishing author community (The Passive Voice).

It remains to be seen how this will develop, however, no doubt we will see more of such conflict, a Benkler points out, between the new model of production alongside the industrial model.

The Bookseller. ‘Penguin USA sets up home in Book Country for slush-pile.’ 27 Apr. 2011. Web. Accessed 10 Feb. 2012.

< http://www.thebookseller.com/news/penguin-usa-sets-home-bookcountry-slush-pile.html>

The Passive Voice. ‘Penguin Launches a Self-Publishing Service.’ 16 Nov. 2011. Web. Accessed 10 Feb. 2012.

< http://www.thepassivevoice.com/11/2011/penguin-launches-a-self-publishing-service/>