Article | An Ecosystem Model of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Publisher 'Tiers': Publisher Size, Sustainability and Cultural Policy

Article

An Ecosystem Model of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Publisher 'Tiers': Publisher Size, Sustainability and Cultural Policy

Details

Citation

Squires C & Markou H (2021) An Ecosystem Model of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Publisher 'Tiers': Publisher Size, Sustainability and Cultural Policy. Publishing Research Quarterly, 37 (3), pp. 420-438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-021-09811-y

Abstract
This article establishes a quantitative and qualitative model of SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) publisher ‘Tiers’, in order to enable researchers and cultural policy makers to have a more granular understanding of the impact of publisher size. Through an aggregated set of case studies deriving from the UK, the article also develops an understanding of how to build a cultural support model for publishing based on publisher size, sustainability and company life cycle. What the Tiers model underpins in terms of cultural policy funding for publishers is a rigorous and developmental sense of a publishing ecosystem, offering a framework which is attendant to industry and broader contexts, and enables cultural policy funding to take into account publisher development, challenge and growth.

Keywords
Cultural policy; independent publishing; SME publishing; Tiers model; support models

Journal
Publishing Research Quarterly: Volume 37, Issue 3