Title: Management and organisation of the publishing companies in the knowledge age: statistical analysis from the Greek publishers

Authors: Petros A. Kostagiolas, Christina Banou, Stelios Zimeras

Addresses: Department of Archive and Library Science, Ionian University, Ioannou Theotoki 72, Corfu, 49100, Greece. ' Department of Archive and Library Science, Ionian University, Ioannou Theotoki 72, Corfu, 49100, Greece. ' Department of Statistics and Actuarial-Financial Mathematics, University of the Aegean, Karlovassi, Samos, 83200, Greece.

Abstract: The publishing industry in Greece and worldwide is deeply influenced by the changes resulting from globalisation, the ever-increasing competition and the rapid introduction of novel information technologies. Book production, promotion and distribution processes have been altered and, hence, influence the way publishing companies are managed. Thus, new departments, activities and roles are indeed emerging. This paper initially discusses issues concerning the management and organisation of publishing companies in conjunction with an overview of the Greek publishing industry. Thereafter, the result of a survey concerning the structural organisation of the Greek publishing houses is presented. The survey is based on a specially designed semi-structured questionnaire and has been conducted during the second quarter of 2007. In the study, 123 representatives of Greek publishing houses participated, of all sizes and categories, from a total of 239 publishing houses that took part at the Pan-Hellenic Book Exhibition organised by the Athens Book Publishers Association.

Keywords: book publishing; knowledge age; globalisation; competition; new technologies; information technology; book production; printing; marketing; promotion; distribution; statistical analysis; top management; printed books; categorical data analysis; discrete PCA; principal components analysis; Greece; company organisation; learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2009.031510

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2009 Vol.5 No.5/6, pp.472 - 489

Published online: 08 Feb 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article