Travel Magazine Case
Our business is simply developing and distributing a magazine whose topic is centered on travel. Our target audience is the middle-income population, and therefore proper consideration must be given to pricing of the product. Through our business models, we have established that this can best be accomplished through low production/overhead costs.
Keeping true to our model, and with the help of a struggling economy, we will now be able to hold true to these objectives.
The recession has forced our hand in the consideration of outsourcing specific processes. This, coincidentally, has brought us to a consideration which possibly should’ve been considered from the beginning, as business process outsourcing is a great way to help us exact our primary objectives. Having said that, the core processes have been identified and are centered around the production of the main body of the magazine. This would consist of the articles, photography, advertising (space sold in the magazine), and editing of our product.
Therefore layout/design, publishing, printing, accounting, and distribution can all be considered for external processes.
Fortunately enough, there are many potential vendors who can provide many of these services within the scope of a single contract. This allows us a negotiating tool with regard to bundling. Our preliminary research has indicated that layout/design, publishing, and printing are typically bundled through various organizations. There have been enough reputable vendors reviewed to make this a requirement from our standpoint.
Details will follow. Accounting and distribution will likely remain separate processes, however these are some of the least expensive processes to consider.
* LAYOUT/DESIGN, PUBLISHING, AND PRINTING: As mentioned above, our goal will be to solicit assistance with these three functions as a bundled service from a reputable publishing house. * PERFORMANCE TARGETS/LEVEL OF SERVICE * Performance criteria for this particular group of services is somewhat difficult. There are some intangibles, with regard to the artistic and design qualities of the work.
Sufficient consideration and due diligence will be required in order to develop a method of gauging the “design” of the production. Refer to timeline..
. * Publication should be free of error by printing to within ;X per XXX. Co-editing will likely be a function negotiated as an addition measurement of quality. * Units will be produced at the rate of XXX per month, and must be ready for distribution by the 7th day if OCONUS, 21st day if CONUS, of any given month
Due to our time constraints, this decision will have to be very closely monitored in the coming week. We need to keep our processes in place until a decision, acquisition, and transition can be made.
If, in the coming weeks, we determine that it is not feasible to outsource this process at this time, we can potentially go live with the other processes are re-visit this business process later. This would obviously lend more time to due diligence, and ultimately choosing the right relationship. Accounting is not to be decided hastily.
Overall, our decision to at least consider arranging business process outsourcing has great potential. The overall cost of producing this magazine is staggering.
We are familiar, with the research conducting throughout formulating our business model, that this venture requires a great deal of capital. Now with the recession, we must explore other options. In the last twenty years, outsourcing has become a popular way to alleviate some of these financial burdens, allowing for more focus and resources on the core processes.
