Today, the development of a new product should involve the careful analysis of the supply chain management and needs the development of the accurate and effective marketing strategy. In this regard, the downstream and upstream analysis of EESP can uncover key issues that are essential for the implementation of the successful marketing strategy and elaboration of the effective supply chain. In this regard, the development and introduction of such product as books publishing may be challenging but, if the supply chain is well-developed, the business can be run successfully.
EESP downstream from the product to raw materials
The book publishing requires publishing of books on the paper or pulp and involves the use of ink and equipment that is essential for publishing. Therefore, the publishing will involve the use of ink and equipment for publishing. In this regard, it is possible to choose more than one supplier to ensure the stable performance of the company. For instance, it is possible to choose Canon as the main supplier of equipment and ink for publishing, and HP as an alternative supplier, who can supply the equipment and ink, if Canon fails to provide the essential materials and equipment in time or of the required quality.
Furthermore, the book publishing will need paper and pulp, which may be supplied by large manufacturers located in the US, for instance, Weyerhaeuser Federal Way, Wash., which is one of the largest manufacturers of paper and pulp in the US. Alternatively the company can use Potlatch Spokane, Wash, if Weyerhaeuser will not supply sufficient amount of paper and pulp or fail to match the required quality. The carton packaging of books may be also supplied from the companies that will supply paper and pulp. In such a way, the company will save costs on suppliers because suppliers of paper, pulp and carton may offer discounts for the company.
EESP upstream from the product to retail
As the product is manufactured and the books are ready for distribution, the company should define channels of distribution and supply its products to retailers. First of all, the company will contact promotes, who can advertise the published books and reached the target customer group. Furthermore, the company has to identify large retailers, who can sell large volumes of books supplied by the company. At this point, the company will need the stock facilities, where the books can be stored and the logistics which can help the company to deliver books to retailers fast and with minimal losses. In this regard, the company can use outsourcing to increase the speed and effectiveness of delivery. For instance, the company may use UPS services to deliver its published books to large retailers. Large retailers, in their turn, may distribute books to smaller retailers, who can sell the books directly to customers. In this regard, the target customer group of the company consists of students and educators mainly as well as other professionals, who use print books in their work or professional development.
Alternatively, the company may sell books online that will need the use of online services of book selling websites, such as Amazon.com or the creation of the specialized website of the company that will sell the books of the company to customers online. As for the shipping, the company can still outsource these services and use UPS, for instance.
Industries analysis and their location
The key industries involved in the supply chain of the book publishing are paper and pulp industry and ink and print equipment manufacturing industry. As for the paper and pulp industry, the top 25 paper and pulp companies in the US are as follows (Patrick, 2006 p.24):
1. International Paper Stamford, Conn.
2. Weyerhaeuser Federal Way, Wash
3. Georgia-Pacific Atlanta, Ga.
4. Smurfit-Stone Container Chicago, Ill.
5. MeadWestvaco Stamford, Conn.
6. Boise Cascade Boise, Id.
7. Temple Inland Austin, Texas
8. Abitibi-Consolidated Montreal, Quebec
9. Domtar Montreal, Quebec
10. Sonoco Products Hartsville, S.C.
11. Bowater Greenville, S.C.
12. Canfor Vancouver, B.C.
13. Tembec Montreal, Que.
14. Cascades Kingsey Falls, Que.
15. Graphic Packaging Corp. Marietta, Ga.
16. Packaging Corp. of America Lake Forest, Ill.
17. Rock-Tenn Norcross, Ga.
18. Catalyst Paper Vancouver, B.C.
19. NewPage Dayton, Ohio
20. Potlatch Spokane, Wash
21. Wausau Paper Mosinee, Wis.
22. Appleton Appleton, Wis.
23. Longview Fibre Longview, Wash.
24. Caraustar Industries Austell, Ga.
25. Pope & Talbot Portland, Ore.
The company may use any of the large suppliers of paper and pulp, for instance, Weyerhaeuser Federal Way, Wash or Potlatch Spokane, Wash. However, this is a bottleneck industry because growing concerns of customers in regard to the environment protection may provoke the consistent drop in the paper and pulp supply that will increase substantially costs of books publishing. As for ink and print equipment industry, the major suppliers, such as Canon or HP are reliable and the company can choose them to obtain ink and print equipment to publish books without delays and problems.