Market Opposition
The publishing industry in Brazil thrives as it is the fifth most populous country in the world. The culture is varied and political reformation takes place on a regular basis due to the ability of its citizens to access information through means of electronic and hard copy retrieval; the flourishing publishing industry in Brazil makes this so. However, illiteracy rates of close to 85% and high distribution costs make it difficult for most Brazilians to benefit from the free flowing knowledge presented by newspapers, magazines, and books covering any topic (http://www.pressreference.com/Be-Co/Brazil.html). Due to heightened press and information distribution laws and periods of black out of freedom of the press, coupled with a tradition of high poverty levels, the distribution of books in Brazil has historically been tumultuous at best. Education at a university level, access to a daily newspaper, and books in general are still often reserved to the country’s elite. Censorship has only been completely abolished since 1985. It is not a surprise, then, that reading books has been slow to gain popularity as it is still considered a recent development that they are available to the country’s lower socio-economic statuses (Wieschenbart, 2011). Obviously, government and poverty provide many barriers to a successful publishing presence, especially from foreign companies such as Pearson Education. However, technology is thriving and global online retailers of books and information continue to gain popularity in Brazil. The number of homes with internet access grows exponentially and has more than doubled in the past 5 years due to more accessibility and the drop in cost to have in the average home. Because of this fact, ebooks will make a very viable solution to any opposition created by governmental regulation or publishing and distribution