Here’s a succinct article that helps explain the “Unrealized Promise” of digital textbooks that I’ve been writing about: “Steve Blank on Why Big Companies Can’t Innovate” by Ron Ashkenas, Harvard Business Review, 2/19/13.
I particularly like the correction offered by Prof. Steve Gordon of Babson College, who suggested instead, “Why Most Big Companies Don’t Innovate.”
This is at the heart of my argument as to why we haven’t seen broad uptake of digital textbooks yet. The big players have virtually unlimited funding with which to build a better product, yet instead they govern the pace of change, keeping their core traditional product viable for as long as they can.
This is not surprising; you see it in any industry with a lot of established players. But as I said in my last post, “you shouldn’t expect change from those who are rooting against it.” Innovation will be controlled, meted out in small increments.
What of the new players trying to fight their way into the conversation? Mr. Ashkenas makes the comparison:
Finding a viable business model is not a linear, analytical process that can be guided by a business plan. Instead it requires iterative experimentation, talking to large numbers of potential customers, trying new things, and continually making adjustments.
But with little tolerance for risk, established firms want their new ventures to produce revenue in a predictable way — which only increases the possibility of failure.
Someone will ultimately sneak into the palace and dethrone the king. There are a number of new players who are doing the “iterative experimentation,” getting closer to the sought-after “viable business model.” [See: Inkling, Kno, Knewton, Soomo, etc.]
And no, it won’t be a dethroning. Companies like Pearson are big enough and smart enough to withstand an assault from the outside. Having near-unlimited capital doesn’t hurt, either. But it will force change upon them, and make them do their business differently. Then you will see some real innovation out of them, once the control is redistributed.
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FOR MORE:
Here’s a link to my piece in Publishing Perspectives on 2/22/13:
Digital Textbooks: Publishers and the Unrealized Promise
And a follow-up piece on 2/26/13:
More on the “Unrealized Promise” of digital textbooks