Search

Enjoying widespread government support and encouragement for the digital projects of publishers and media industry. The Chinese publishing business continues to show steady development in the past year. At the same time, significant changes are taking place in the structure of the publishing industry. The content production, marketing, operating, and consumption are not linear upstream-downstream related any more. Instead, they have fused together, and thus formed a new industrial ecosphere. In this paper, we investigate the new technology research and practice in the digital publishing industry. There is obvious indication that new technology plays an important role in the structural change of the publishing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the e-book publishing industry in China and its changing business models. As the conventional publishing industry has continued to contract, digitization is becoming increasingly popular. Although China is an influential developing country undergoing rapid change, a dearth of research on its digital publishing industry exists at the present time. This article therefore explores two main research questions: (1) What are the recent trends and business models of digital publishing in China? (2) How might we evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of such business models? To this end, multiple case studies are employed, as is the paradigm of structure-conduct-performance (SCP). It is proposed that Content plus App and Content plus Device are the basic business models for Chinese digital content producers and distributors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon a recent review of the relevant literature in both English and Chinese, this paper assess the current state of and future prospects for digital publishing in China. It addresses developments both in the context of ongoing technological and organizational change and with regard to the wider social and cultural dimensions. Embodying a simulated SWOT exercise it considers the current and likely future state of digital publishing in China through the eyes of western publishers seeking to do business in that country. Digital publishing in China is still in its infancy, while perhaps remaining more opaque to western observers than was expected. Issues around ownership, industry structure, operating platforms, stakeholders, piracy and intellectual property remain critical. Perhaps more than anything, and certainly much more than in the West, the issue of culture, not only in terms of national values and perspectives but also in terms of how things are done, remains a potent influence on business relationships with foreigners. In the West this continues to feed perceptions of legal and commercial uncertainties, risks to intellectual capital and obstacles to the production and distribution of knowledge and ideas. Whatever the perceived downside to such phenomena however, China is still regarded as a major growth market for western publishers. It concludes that whereas there are many opportunities for both parties, and that both can learn from each other, the learning curve is likely to be much steeper on the western side, owing to the significance of the social and cultural dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]