E-Book’s Case

Table of Content
Introduction ..……………………………………………………………………………… 2
Crafting a Strategy………………………………………………………………………... 3
The Business Model ………………………………………………………………………. 3
The Platform ……………………………………………………………………………… 4
Key Success Factors (KSF) ………..……………………………………………………… 4
Evaluating a Company’s External Environment ……………………………………….. 6
The Five Forces Model of Competition ………………………………………………….. 6
The Industry ………………………………………………………………....……………. 7
The Four Test of Resources Competitor Power ………………………………………… 8
SWOT Analysis …………………………………………………………………………… 9
Product Attributes …………………………………………………………...…………… 11

Introduction
The case begins with Professor Harry Lindsol who noticed a trend in 2012. What he noticed was a rapidly changing environment with advancements in technology that led to the internet taking over how americans purchased things. He also began to see big internet retailers like Amazon taking out brick and mortar style companies like Barnes & Noble and local bookstores. The one market that had not been penetrated yet by these large internet retailers was the college bookstores. Lindsol also observed that even though students all owned electronic devices and e-readers, they still preferred the convenience of buying hardcopy textbooks from student stores. Lindsol recognized an opportunity but had to analyze the business models of the current large scale textbook publishers like McGraw-Hill and Pearson who had years of experience and deep pockets to back them up. The original strategy for textbook publishers was that they got acquisition editors who recruited professors to write the textbooks for them. The incentive here for the editors was that they were paid based on commission with a bonus on top of that if sales were exceptionally high. So basically,