The future is unwritten. E-publishing in small nations of Europe: A comparative approach to policy frameworks and small business strategies

Digitisation, together with the spread of the internet, has initiated a transition phase in publishing. This transition not only affects the production process but also the way of communication, the product itself and its distribution. International corporations have entered the digital marketplace and transformed the whole publishing network. Research has shown from an industry perspective that digital disruption forces established firms to adapt in order to capitalise on new opportunities digital technologies offer and to survive in an increasingly complex and competitive global environment. However, whilst the impact of digital technologies and their potential for disruptive innovation in publishing has been studied in a wider industry context, there is a lack of comparative research focusing on smaller markets and how legal frameworks, language market and firm size affect the ability of publishing houses to adapt and the adaption process itself. Hence this thesis investigates the impact of digitisation on small trade publishing houses in three small nations in Europe with differing market characteristics: Austria, Scotland and Slovenia.

To investigate how strategies, mind-sets, market characteristics and policy frameworks shape the ability of publishers to innovate and adapt their publishing practices, the business model was chosen as a framework, which allows a study of this adaption to digitisation holistically, at the firm and industry level. Following an explorative approach, in-depth qualitative expert interviews were conducted and triangulated with market statistics and secondary sources.

The findings show that small publishing houses in small nations seem to profit from an international and multi-channel storytelling strategy with a focus on publishing in English online. Moreover, an entrepreneurial mind-set, especially when encouraged by adequate national cultural policies, is crucial for innovation while legacy procedures fail to encourage adaption. Hence extensive business model innovations originate at the fringes of the publishing industry while most established small publishing houses focus on incremental business model innovations.