Open Access has come a long way, yet it did not change academic publishing fundamentally. The big publishers hold 50% of the OA market by now, and OA publishing is becoming a volume game just as subscription-based publishing is.
Why are large publishers successful in adapting to new business models and finally embrace them with high economic success? The presentation argues that smaller publishers can learn a lot from their large counterparts.
A clear understanding of processes within their target groups as well as customer-focused, efficient workflows as well as a deep integration with the ecosystem of researchers and librarians oftentimes makes the difference in getting selected as a partner for research institutions.The new business reality of startups gives smaller publishers the opportunity to interact with their customers through a lot of models by cooperating. The question about "build or buy" needs an extension - "cooperate." No doubt, this expanding mechanism offers new opportunities, and it needs an adapted skill set for all players involved. The presentation will lay out the field, giving a number of empirical examples.
