A STRATEGI C ANALYSI S

Team Fusion:
Christopher Even
Jennifer Hollister
Ram Munjuluri
Milka Punungwe
Cynthia Studrawa
Teri Wheaton





Global Competitive Strategy
PMBA 8820
July 16, 2014

Appendix C
Competitor Analysis: HarperCollins
OBJECTIVES

HarperCollins strives to remain consistently at the forefront of innovation and
technological advancement . . . meet consumer demand, and generate additional business
opportunities by expanding its target markets through acquisition (HarperCollins
Publishing). It seeks to use technology to create an experience for the reader beyond the
book (HarperCollins Publishing).

STRATEGY

Acquisitions
Currently, HarperCollins publishes 99% of its books in English but with its planned
acquisition of Canadian-based Harlequin Enterprises in 2014, the company will be able to
expand into 11 new countries and several foreign languages. Harlequins website states
that it publishes titles in 34 languages in 110 international markets on six continents
with half of its books being sold overseas and 95% of sales being outside of Canada
(Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd).

HarperCollins also used its acquisition of Christian publisher Thomas Nelson in 2012 to
further expand, creating the successful HarperCollins Christian Publishing. That
acquisition earned the company $172 million during the 2013 fiscal year.

I nnovative Marketing Strategies
One innovative marketing strategy that the company utilizes is the HarperCollins
Speakers Bureau. This organization is an agency that represents HarperCollins authors
from all of its imprints as lecturers. It provides support to meeting and event planners in
selecting a speaker and making arrangements for that individual to attend their meeting.

The BookSmash Challenge was a competition launched for developers to create
applications using HarperCollins OpenBookAPI (Challenge Post). The idea was to create
technology that would that would enhance book reading. The company is interested in
apps that would transform how books are discovered . . . as well as in apps that would
transform the book-reading experience itselfan app that might let readers directly pose
questions that an author could answer or an app that might even weave different books
together based on some common thread (Zax).
ENDGAME: THE CALLING is a cross-media project between HarperCollins, Googles
Niantic Labs, 20
th
Century Fox and author James Frey. This project, available in October
2014, will combine the ENDGAME novel trilogy by Frey, related novellas, YouTube
videos, a reality game, and other interactive aspects. Brian Murray, President and CEO of
HarperCollins said of the project, This is a spectacular story that embodies the future of
publishing great content, interactivity and a multimedia experience (McIntyre).

Appendix C (continued)
In a partnership with American Airlines and Hudson News during the 2013 holiday
season, HarperCollins provided every first class and business class passenger on over
2500 flights, a Samsung device that was preloaded with HarperCollins best-selling
novels. The passengers were also able to download free samples of the books onto their
own electronic devices and could receive a discount on the promoted books at the
Hudson News outlets at several airports (Loria). Unlike Hachette who partnered with
Qantas Airlines to create an inflight paperback book for its customers (Diaz),
HarperCollins chose to capitalize on the changing industry, utilizing technology to
provide more value to its customers.
HarperCollins was also among the first to make its titles part of an e-book subscription
service. The company signed a deal with Scribd late in 2013 and another deal with the
childrens ebook subscription service Epic! in 2014. These services allow readers to
subscribe to the service and read as many available titles as they would like. Scribd and
Oyster, another service, pay a fee to publishing companies for each title read. Simon &
Schuster is the only other Big 5 publisher that provides content to either of these services.
Unbound by HarperCollins was released in November 2013. It is an app that allows
readers to scan particular pages in a print book to gain access to additional, related digital
material. This could include videos, interviews, or quizzes. Herbert Bay, CEO of Shortcut
Media AG, producer of the app, said, "Shortcut is all about a better reader experience and
connecting readers to the digital world directly from print, and the Unbound app offers a
new dimension for HarperCollins books" (Crum).
Human Resources
HarperCollins further differentiated by creating new positions within the organization to
support the companys move into the digital arena. The new positions created include a
vice president of digital innovation, a chief digital officer, a chief marketing officer, a
vice president of product development, two digital product development executive
directors, digital publishers and other positions including the development of apps,
social gaming, video products and work on any relevant emerging technologies (J.
Greenfield, HarperCollins Makes Series of Hires, Promotions to Bolster Digital Strategy,
Execution). The vice president of marketing position is an older position with a fresh
face.

Angela Tribelli, Chief Marketing Officer
Previously Sr. VP, Digital of NYC & Company
Chantal Restivo-Alessi, Chief Digital Officer
Previously Head of Media Corporate Finance, ING Bank, London (J. Greenfield,
HarperCollins Makes Series of Hires, Promotions to Bolster Digital Strategy,
Execution)
Carrie Bloxson, Vice President of Marketing
Previously oversaw planning and execution of digital marketing products, NYC &
Company (Weinman)
Adrianna Dufay, Executive Director, Digital Product Development
Previously Sr. Marketing Manager, Product Development, JPMorgan Chase
Brian Perrin, Executive Director, Digital Product Development
Previously Director of Digital Development, NBC Publishing (J. Greenfield,
HarperCollins Makes Series of Hires, Promotions to Bolster Digital Strategy,
Execution)

ASSUMPTIONS

Currently, HarperCollins holds the assumption that technology is the future of publishing.
Research and development, data and metrics have become a large part of the companys
operations. It uses analytics to determine the best way to operate and support strategies
and acquire resources (R. Greenfield). The company is also making the transition from
print books to digital. Victoria Barnsley, former CEO of HarperCollins UK said, We
cant think of ourselves as book publishers any longer. We have to see ourselves as, you
know, . . . multimedia content producers (Garside). Part of the rationale behind the
acquisition of Harlequin was to increase the HarperCollins digital platform (News Corp).

However, Angela Tribelli says that foreseeing the future of the industry is impossible. I
could make a dozen predictions about that, and my hope is that half would be wrong. If I
knew what our world looked like 10 years from now, building the path to get there
wouldnt be nearly as fun (Loria).

RESOURCES & CAPABILITIES

Products/Services
HarperCollins publishes in a variety of genres. It publishes general fiction and non-
fiction, childrens, religious, educational, illustrated and poetry books in the US and its
five international divisions. It offers digital and audio books as well.

HarperCollins services include a Speakers Bureau, library services, academic services,
and desk and examination copies. A book blogger program, charitable giving, a church
source and self-publishing are available in the US Christian division.

Company Culture & Image
Corporate social responsibility remains a priority within the company. HarperCollins uses
green practices to reduce paper consumption and pollution. It also incorporates its
employees in its initiatives through HarperGreen, a campaign that strives to reduce
carbon emissions throughout the company. HarperCanada donates old computers and
office equipment to charitable organizations and schools while HarperCollins Australia
won awards for investing in energy-efficient equipment (HarperCollins).


Appendix C (continued)
Financial Data
According to News Corporations third quarter results for the 2014 fiscal year,
HarperCollins saw an increase in revenue of $43 million or 14%. There was also a 46%
increase in e-book revenue, which was representative of 26% of all of the companys
book revenue.

HarperCollins earned $354 million in the third quarter. For the first nine months in the
third quarter, the company earned over $1 billion (Appendix C). The company attributes
this growth to the increase in print and digital book sales, particularly the sales of the
Divergent series (News Corp).

Brand Awareness
HarperCollins is recognized as a leader in the publishing industry. It is listed as #16 for
2013 on the Livres Hebdo/Publishers Weekly annual list of Worlds 56 Largest Book
Publishers, 2014 (Publishers Weekly). Its authors have won the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer
Prize, the National Book Award, the Newberry Medal and the Caldecott Medal.

The companys honors include having 194 titles on the New York Times bestseller list.
HarperCollins Childrens Books had 53 titles on the bestseller list. HarperCollins
Christian division won eight Christian Book Awards and nine 2013 Christian Retailing
Best Awards. That division also had 13 titles on the bestseller list. Each international
division had over 50 titles on bestselling lists.

Predictions
HarperCollins is making strides in the digital age of publishing by adding value to the
customer by expanding the reading experience beyond the book. The company will excel
in regards to the switch to digital because it has taken proactive steps to put itself in the
forefront of the changing industry. The acquisition of Harlequin and the addition of
eleven new countries in its market will bring it nearly equal to Penguin Random House in
size and scope and will secure its continued success.

HarperCollins will continue to recreate itself as a multimedia company by creating
multimedia ebooks and its Unbound app. Other multimedia offerings and partnerships
will help it to continue to add value to the consumers experience (Mudarri).
HarperCollins has also created a direct-to-consumer e-commerce site that allows readers
to purchase directly from the company. This move will allow HarperCollins to compete
with Amazon and give it more negotiating power with it and other booksellers (J.
Greenfield, Publisher HarperCollins Fortifies Defenses Against Amazon). If
HarperCollins continues to aggressively market print books, their sales will continue to
thrive as still 52% of Americans only read print books and only 4% read only e-books
(Rainie).