Customers
The STM marketplace is evolving and expanding to provide
products and services using new technologies. It is composed of several
market sectors and sub-sectors, each of which will utilize consulting
services differently. This section explains how Scheman Consulting
services can be tailored to each customer within each sector. The
services listed are broad categories of the type and level of expertise
available. |
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Publishers |
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Small, medium-sized, and (very) large commercial and non-profit
publishers are stretched for staff at senior and middle management
levels, and also at support levels, yet they must achieve aggressive
financial targets. Current, most pressing challenges for publishers
include:
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Electronic/print pricing models |
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Licensing models |
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Brand management |
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The Publisher as service provider |
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Electronic content versioning in various formats, to various
market sectors |
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Electronic content distribution globally |
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eJournals, ebooks, their portals |
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New product development – products new to the market,
or new to the organization |
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New title development – growing a quality list |
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Society journal RFPs and society relationships |
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Strategic business planning and analysis |
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Professional Societies/Associations/Colleges |
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Professional societies have recently moved into self-publishing
in larger numbers, only to face an increasingly complex market due
to electronic publishing and the subsequent business decisions that
arise. Many professional societies, colleges, and associations still
license their publishing rights via a lengthy and complex negotiation
process. Most will also license their content to large database
providers. Many are in a unique position of having a single, powerful
journal brand driving the business, with as yet unrealized opportunities
to leverage the brand into products and services -- and new revenue
streams.
Such professional bodies, even with professional business managers
on staff, will face the same or even greater pressures and resource
limitations as commercial businesses, and may find that interim
assistance at times of critical business decisions will suit their
needs better than hiring additional staff. A summary of services
geared to the needs of these organizations follows
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Journal and electronic licensing RFP negotiations |
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Contract negotiations |
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Brand management and brand list expansion (new product development) |
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Strategic business/financial planning and management |
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Advertising development and management |
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Market research/competitive intelligence |
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e-Publishing and pricing models |
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CME and CPD programs |
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Authors |
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Negotiating a contract has become a minefield because of the
complexities of electronic rights and versions of a book or journal.
Though medical and scientific publishing does not require using
an author’s agent, Scheman Consulting can help an author to:
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Find the right publisher for their title |
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Maximize the value of the manuscript |
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Negotiate the best contract |
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Understand the contract |
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Achieve a smooth publication process |
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Medical Communications Companies |
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Medical communication companies will span industry market sectors,
often creating original content targeted to healthcare institutions
and aimed at all clinical healthcare professionals, healthcare industry
professionals, doctors, patients, and consumers. It is frequently
a sector of innovation in product development, reaching across traditional
market sector boundaries and product types, providing a unique opportunity
for maximizing market penetration. Often, there is scope for collaboration
with other sectors. Services are offered in the following areas:
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New product development at the point of care |
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Editorial development |
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Publications process |
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Collaborative ventures - developing and managing the relationship |
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Brand development |
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Market research and business analysis |
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Electronic Aggregators |
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Most healthcare practitioners and scientists now have access
to their essential literature through one or more databases retrieved
through an institutional subscription. Maintaining a database of
content from many copyright holders is complex, whereby the advantages
of collaboration are still challenged by the traditional competitive
model. Services focus on:
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Content provider liaison |
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Market research and analysis |
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New business development |
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Collections review |
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Services review |
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Industry Associations and Think Tanks |
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More data is being collected than ever before and is disseminated
more easily than ever before via the web. Industry associations
are playing an increasingly integral role in providing forums and
data. Organizations that never before utilized market research are
now doing so because providing content is more complex, and good
research data is more readily available through more professional
sources. Expertise is offered to those organizations that provide
information for others, in the following areas:
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Research and data analysis |
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Survey design and management |
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Business writing and presentation |
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Client liaison |
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Mergers & Acquisitions/Venture
Capital Firms |
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The requirement for faster revenue growth and the popularity of
the publisher as service provider continues to drive mergers and acquisitions
of new properties and technological assets. Identifying a quality
product, how well it stands up in the marketplace, and how well it
fits into a company’s list will facilitate closing a deal, and
increasing requires industry expertise and experience to analyze the
relative market “value added” of products. Scheman Consulting
can provide expertise from an inside-the-industry perspective to the
specialist firm managing inter-company transactions, in the areas
of identification of properties/assets for purchase, matching buyers
with sellers, and analysis of assets and product lists to assist in
valuation. |
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IT Healthcare Sector |
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The merging of content provision expertise within the IT healthcare
sector can help drive the development of decision tools at the point
of care. Content development in this area is extremely complex, and
will require collaboration among various sectors of the healthcare
industry. Scheman Consulting can facilitate collaborations between
clinical information system providers, content providers, healthcare
workers, and healthcare providers for the purpose of developing decision
tool content and guidelines, as well as manage the content development
process. |
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Corporate Publishing |
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Corporations in all industries have the need to publish high quality
publications for internal and external use, whether they are for general
information, training and education, or annual reports. Scheman Consulting
can support internal staff with publications planning and implementation,
or manage an entire publications project, including organizing the
writing, design, production, and printing and/or electronic distribution. |
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