The Research Of Follow-the-leader Phenomenon In Book Publication Industry From The Perspective Of The Pigs Game

Research for the the phenomenon of following the trend of publishing books increased gradually in recent years.Access to research data, it is not difficult to find studies mainly focus on the following aspects. The first, to solve the "what", answer what is following the trend of books.The second, to solve the "why", answere the reason of copycat books.The third, to solve the "what are they", separate the kinds of following books.The fourth, to solve the "good or bad", answer the evaluation.The fifth, to solve "how to do", answer how to improve the disadvantages.To solve the problem is the research purpose.Researchers donnot avoid the shortcomings of the following books.How to solve the problems, researchers put forward opinions from their point of view.Some belong to the interdisciplinary research.Some belong to qualitative research, or comprehensive analysis, and so on.In a word, their research findings provides a very good reference on how to solve the problem of following the trend of publishing books.The Game theory was born in the last century forty’s, it have had a significant impact on the western mathematics, economics and other disciplines.Some people even think it is unified method to study all the social sciences. The author thinks, the game theory is valuable for the research of the market economy, because the theory is concerned with the selection of the state’s strategy in condition of scarcity of resources.The scarcity of resources is a major feature of the market economy. It is a realistic problem that many industries have to face.The phenomenon of following the trend of publishing books has complex causes.The level of domestic publications market is not high,at the same time, Imitation can profit.The author thinks that the research can use the game theory. This is the starting point of the article.Following the trend of publishing books is a typical pig game, the original press (the big pig role) put a lot of effort (pedal) in selection of a subject,then introduce its works to the book market. Through market choice the book become bestsellers (for food). Immediately it attracts a large number of presses (the small pig role)to follow,hoping to share a cup of a thick soup in the developed market.It will last for a time before the market become unprofitable.According to the "Clever Pig Game" model,obviously, CITIC Press which imported "who moved my cheese" from America played the big pig role, and listed in the above table, Chinese Zhigong Publishing House,21st century publishing house, The time literature and Art Press, Contemporary Chinese press, Shanghai people’s Publishing House, JINGWAH press, Shanghai literature and Art Publishing House, choosed to follow the trend.Nash equilibrium is an important concept in the game theory.In the "Clever Pig Game" model,the players are able to predict and maintain a balance in the case of fully grasping the information. The big pig choose to act,and the followers choose to wait. In the case of "who moved my cheese", the original press takes the lead in action to open up the market, when the book is popular with the readers, other publishers follow a number of books.According to the "Clever Pig Game" model, those presses choosing to imitate can avoid "stampede cost".So they can avoid the risk of market research and development. From micro economics point of view, it is an effective strategy to avoid the risk of publishing enterprises. From a macroeconomic perspective, following the trend of publishing books can reduce the waste of limited resources.Mention of the evils about the following the trend of publishing books, both publishing industry and academia studies said a lot. Some people think that it is a common problem in the publishing industry.The author made a summary during reading the relevant studies. There are three major hazards.The first is the infringement of intellectual property rights. The second is the damage to the reputation of the press.Thirdly,it can dampen the original enthusiasm, and it is also not conducive to the development of ethnic culture.Back to the "Clever Pig Game" model, to solve the problem,we need a specification game environment, the perfect game mechanism.It can increase revenue for the original "big pig" role,and reduce income of low quality copycat imitation "pig" role. Therefore, the key to solve the problem is to standardize the book market environment.At the same time, protection of original intellectual property rights is very important. We should improve the original ability, and let the original works obtain greater market share.