Research On China's E-book Publishing Industrial Organization

In E-book publishing industry,competition from communication operators,suppliers of software and hardware technology,platform service and terminal equipment providers,whose business scope varies nevertheless,is a challenge for traditional publishers.And expansion of the business to the upper as well as lower reaches of the industrial chain and the overlap of different businesses lead to the constant innovation of the technique,the expansion of the business,and the variation of the market boundary in E-book industry.As a result,the boundary of E-book publishing industry is blurred,and market structure,market activity,and market performance of publishing industry are influenced.The present study on E-book publishing industry is carried out against this kind of background.The dissertation aims at an exploration of the problems existing in E-book publishing industry within the SCP framework.The three core elements in this industry,market structure,market activity,and market performance,and the relationships among them will be explored,and industrial organization theories of different schools will be employed to solve the central problem of the thesis proposed above.The discussion and the definition of the concept of E-book is still under way and there is no uniform standard for the definition of E-book at home and abroad,even though it has become more and more popular.Besides,there is no uniform standard for the classification of E-book publishing industry.Therefore,the dissertation attempts to clarify the concepts of E-book and E-book publishing industry and trace the developments of E-book and E-book publishing industry and propose an adequate answer.The paper holds that the research concerning E-book should be carried out to analyze the connotation and extension of if form the perspective of the whole industrial chain of E-book,covering the content of E-book,reading software,and reading devices.To define the concept of E-book publishing industry,content production,circulation,sale platform,reading devices,copyright protection and trade concerning E-book should be studied.On this basis the thesis maintains that the content producers,platform managers,technique suppliers,providers of terminal device,and communication operators of E-book should be covered in the study of E-book publishing industry.To trace the development of E-book publishing industry,the dissertation manages to study it against the background of the appearance of digital publication and the transformation of traditional publishing industry.However,not every link or element of the whole industry is studied.According to the principle of 'from one small clue one can see what is coming',what the thesis undertakes to do is to examine the categories of E-book,market classification,and the elements of the industrial organization,in order that the outline of the development of E-book publishing industry in China can be presented.Using the tripartite division of E-book proposed by BaiDao New Publishing Research Institute for reference,the thesis categorizes the market and carries out case studies of the industrial elements in typical enterprises.The dissertation tries to analyze the elements influencing market performance of E-book industry from the two aspects of market structure and market activity on the basis of microeconomics theory,industrial economics theory,and industrial organization theory,with the help of the classical SCP analysis paradigm adopted by Harvard School.To be specific,first,market centralization degree,the level of scale economy,product differentiation,and barriers to entry and exit will be analyzed to explore the present market structure of E-book industry in China;second,forms of performance,price behavior,non-price behavior,and improper market behavior of market activity of E-book industry will be examined to investigate the market behavior of many E-book enterprises in China and the elements influencing it;last,supplying ability of E-book publishing industry and its ability to contribute to digital publishing industry will be evaluated to analyze and estimate the performance of E-book publishing industry.The regulation policies and laws concerning publishing industry in China is to be improved in China,and there is even a lack of those policies and laws involving E-book publishing industry.Major elements of regulation by government concerning E-book publishing industry in China,entry and exit,the law of exit,content review,and regulation policies of market conduct are studied through contrasting and analyzing the different regulation policies in the era of mechanical reproduction and the era of digital publishing,and those in developed countries and in China respectively.After comparatively analyzing traditional publishing organizations and E-book publishing organizations,E-book publishing organizations in developed countries and those in China respectively,the improper factors in E-book publishing organizations in China are identified,such as much reliance on E-book 2.0,imbalance of market structure,the imbalance of interest distribution of different groups,complicated copyright protection,high threshold for traditional publishers to take on E-book industry,and inability to convert to digital publishing industry.And the thesis proposes the ideal mode of E-book industrial organizations in China as a result,besides,it suggests the way to optimize E-book industrial organizations from the three aspects of laws,regulation policies and industrial development.