PUBLISHING: APPLYING THE BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY
DOMINADOR D. BUHAIN
Head of Philippine Delegation
ASEAN Book Publishers Association Forum
Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair
April 29-May 4, 2007
Greetings from the Philippines!
Based on my superficial reading of the book entitled “Blue Ocean Strategy” by William Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, the red ocean is the other extreme of blue ocean.
Educational publishing in the Philippines is the red ocean. With the miniscule share of ten (10%) comprising the student population of the private schools, cutthroat competition appears to exist. Competitions are not predominantly bsed on the merits of the textbooks but on the ability to provide other considerations like trips abroad, etc. to our target markets.
Eighty five percent (85%) of the student population is supplied by government. Although textbook publishing has been liberalized under Republic Act No. 8047 or the Book Publishing Industry Development Act, the same has over the years been circumvented by the Department of Education together with the conditionalities of the World Bank which would allow only a handful of titles to be used by the student population.
The blue ocean strategy would apply more appropriately to nontextbooks like tradebooks. Instead of tapping the intellectual inputs of the neighboring Asean or Asia Pacific countries, it is a fact that in our countries, western publications are preferably being adapted or translated into local settings.
In fact, after several attempts in the past to come up with a formalized organization which would strengthen regional book publishing cooperation which include the formation of the ASEAN, the holding of Singapore Book Convention in June 1994, we are fortunate that ABPA was finally established in 2005.
Thanks to the dynamic leadership of the first ABPA President in the person of PUBAT President Thanachai Santichaikul, the best of each member-country’s publications are accommodated during bookfairs of the individual member-country. Taiwan during its recent international bookfair followed suit by accommodating the display of ABPA publications.
Another effort of ABPA was the attempt to bridge understanding among Asean countries. In view of the diversity of languages, a resolution that aims to adopt a common language among members has been passed. In additional, some committees with various functions have been created such as the following:
- TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
The committee which is currently chaired by Dr. Mataim Bakar of Brunei shall carry out the following objectives:
- To exchange ideas among ABPA-member countries through scholarships, trainings and exchanges of personnel engaged in publishing, printing and other related activities
- To promote better understanding and goodwill among Asean countries through cultural exchanges and other activities.
- To promote improvements in editorial and production standards through training and the use of new publishing technology, and to develop more efficient distribution channels; and
- To perform such other functions as necessary to carry-out the objectives of the Committee.
- LEGAL, COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING COMMITTEE
This committee under the chairmanship of the Philippines represented by yours truly shall carry-out the following objectives:
- To emulate the best business practices and legal infrastructures among ABPA members;
- To work toward securing the right of publishers to publish and distribute the works of the mind in complete freedom, provided that in so doing they respect all legal rights attached to these works within their own country and internationally;
- To promote and protect by all lawful means the principles of copyright on which depend the encouragement and authorship, publishing and dissemination of creative works and to defend copyright against all infringements which may restrict the rights of authors and publishers;
- To seek the abolition of all tariff and restrictions, as much as possible, on the importation or exportation of books and raw materials therof and all present and future forms of electronically retrieved information in order to strengthen the enforcement of the Florence Agreement on the free flow of information;
- To conduct preliminary investigation of disputes or controversies affecting member-countries, if any, and present findings to the Association; and
- To perform such other functions as necessary to carry out the objective of the Committee.
(Note: presently, the Committee is collating the National Book Policy, the copyright law and related documents with the view of coming up with the proposed uniform document which would embrace the best practice.)
The Committee is also thankful to receive a communication from the Philippine Ambassador to Brunei Her Excellency Virginia B. Benavidez stating in substance the following commitments:
- That the Ambassador is officially communicating with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Office of ASEAN Affairs regarding the accreditation of ABPA with the ASEAN Secretariat;
- That the Ambassador believes that the local publishing industry holds a valuable key to the development of the nation’s human resources; and
- That the publishers are indeed vital and indispensable partners in upgrading the knowledge and skills needed by the people in the global village.”
- CO-PUBLISHING, TRANSLATION AND DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS COMMITTEE
The Committee is under the chairmanship of Mr. Raymond Yeo of Malaysia. It shall carry out the following objectives:
- To expand co-publishing programs, translation and distribution rights among ABPA members;
- To overcome illiteracy, the lack of books and other educational materials through exchanges of acceptable and suitable books and other educational members among ABPA-member countries;
- To publish books, educational materials and other documents as needed by the Association; and
- To perform such other functions as may be necessary to carry out the objectives of the Committee.
A resolution creating the Bookfairs and International Affairs Committee is hoped to be adopted in tomorrow’s meeting. The Committee shall carry out the following objectives, to wit:
- To have a better representation in international forum/fora, booksfairs and other related international publishing activities;
- To establish such bodies, conventions and other types of meetings and organizations as a necessary for dealing with all problems affecting publishing;
- To provide endorsement and support to the Asia Pacific Publishers Association (APPA) and International Publishers Association (IPA) with the expectation that the said Associations shall give reciprocal recognition to the ABPA;
- To represent the Association in international book fairs, international fora and to be in charge of ABPA pavilion or mini-library in said fairs and fora as the case may be; and
- To perform such other functions as necessary to carry out the objectivesa of the Committee.
The Asean’s market potential to be tapped by ABPA comprising of at least five hundred million inhabitants is so vast that it could be categorized as the blue ocean market.
The distinct cultural heritage of each country could even help satisfy the blue ocean requirement of focus, divergence and tagline. The collective efforts of the ABPA member-countries could help member-country(ies) through a communication(s) appealing to the government(s) concerned to adopt the desired course of action like legislation, similar to what is happening in the International Publishers (IPA) and the Asian Pacific Publishers (APPA) Associations.
If the country’s legal and bureaucratic infrastructures are placed into proper perspective, there would be more room for creativity and innovation – therefore the blue ocean strategy has a greater chance to prosper.