Rightscom undertook a major analysis of the competitiveness of the European publishing industry for the European Commission’s Directorate general for Enterprise. We provided high-level analysis and recommendations to help the EC and the publishing industry identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the future. The objectives of the European Publishing Market Watch were: - Increasing the knowledge and understanding of the European Commission about the publishing industry
- Informing future policy formulation within the European Commission with respect to publishing
- Improving knowledge and understanding of competitiveness issues in European publishing among a wider constituency, particularly within the publishing industry itself.
Rightscom was the lead contractor and project manager, as well as providing much of the analysis. Our work included liaising closely with the European Commission and the European trade associations for publishing. We carried out extensive research that provided the basis for our analysis and recommendations, and combined this with the statistical analysis generated by the Turku School of Economics and Business Administration (Media Group). Rightscom reported on the business issues for each sector of the publishing industry, developed a SWOT analysis and considered all aspects of its social, economic and environmental sustainability. We were advised by a small panel of external experts in publishing and economics of competitiveness. The primary outcome of the Publishing Market Watch was the identification of the main issues affecting the publishing industries’ competitiveness and ability to modernise and innovate at a time of enormous change in the technical, commercial and social environments within which publishing operates. The principle conclusions are summarized in the main report. The project covered the industry in four detailed sectoral reports - Newspapers
- Magazines and journals
- Books
- Directories and databases
In addition to the sectoral reports two special issues reports were delivered looking in more depth at specific topics relating to regulation and competitiveness as these apply to publishing. These covered - Corporate social responsibility
- Innovation
All of the resulting reports may be accessed through the related links section opposite. |