Routledge as a Global Publisher

Abstract

This is the unspecified version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link AbstractA case study of the commercial history of the academic publishing company, Routledge, between 1980 and 2010, with a focus on its global activities and structures. During this period, Routledge experienced changes in ownership, branding and location as well as in its subject disciplines and publishing formats. The company was also an early and continuing innovator in digital publishing. The study presents findings drawn from interviews with past and current managers, and supporting content analysis of documents and web pages. It concludes by identifying the continuities that underlay the many changes in academic publishing over the period, and by suggesting possible future research, including to test the explanatory value of Ohmae's theories of globalization.

When is a Publishing Business Truly ‘Global’? An Analysis of a Routledge Case Study with Reference to Ohmae’s Theory of Globalization

“…Sales and marketing companies were common, such as the historical Routledge office in the US from 1834 to the early 1900s; Associated Book Publishers' Canadian and Australian subsidiaries from at least the 1960s; and the purchase in the 1990s from Ashgate Publishing of the Singapore distribution company, now T&F Asia Pacific, by T&F (Kernan, 2013). This study also confirmed the degree to which the industry's business structures relied, and continue to rely, on a series of relationships with agencies, distributors and licensees -and establishing these requires time and cultural sensitivity:…”