TASK PERFORMACE

FOR

-THE ENTREPRENEURIAL MIND-

Encyclopædia Britannica’s President

Killing Off a 244-Year-Old Product

Angeles III C. Tablante

Izy May Yabut

Gerycho Gio Gagarin

Mitch Arao Romo

Mika Bacaycay

Joshua Batobalonos

BT 101

10 / 11 / 21
 Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………1
Summary of Case Study………………………………………………………….2
Statement of the Problem………………………………………………………..3
Reference……………………………………………………………………………5
 Introduction
This case study is about how a 244-year-old Encyclopedia was affected by the disruptors it was
facing. Encyclopedia Britannica has been around since the 1770s, and it was printed and
hardbound. Since internet peaked somewhere around the 2000s and the end of printing and
hard binding of the books were coming too close to an end.
The Encyclopedia Britannica has made a great impact on people that have purchased it
especially during the times when internet wasn’t yet a thing. Since the internet was first
introduced, book sales has begun to decrease due to the fact that most of the information that
we’re looking for are already on the internet, just search and it will appear unlike books where
you have to manually flip through pages just to find a specific thing you’re looking for.
 Summary of Case Study

Encyclopædia Britannica's president stated in the spring of 2012 that the firm will no longer

produce bound volumes of the classic reference work. Some were surprised, and many thought

that EB had succumbed to the internet, particularly Wikipedia. The content model used by EB

was regarded as "vintage." Many people were unaware that sales of the print set accounted for

just 1% of the company's revenue at the time. According to the author, the decision to discontinue

publishing was "a non-event." The encyclopedia's famed door-to-door sales force peaked in 1990,

with over 100,000 volumes sold. But then the company went bankrupt. Busy families were less

patient with personal queries, and PCs were equipped with CD-ROM drives, generating a need

for multimedia and interaction that was unknown terrain for print-minded product and editorial

teams. Sales had dropped to 3,000 units by 1996, the year Cauz joined the business. This is the

tale of how the Encyclopædia Britannica came to be: first with CDROM, then with the Internet,

and ultimately with the learning industry. The success of Wikipedia validated EB's strategy choice

to minimize reliance on consumer referrals and increase participation in the K-12 sector.

Britannica Online material is currently updated every 20 minutes, thanks to the company's

proactive overhaul of its publishing processes. According to the author, company is expanding in

all areas: sales, margins, personnel, and so on.

 Statement of the Problem

1. Would you consider Encyclopedia Britannica’s decision to discontinue the printing of

hardbound volumes a strategic move? Why or why not?

• Yes, since almost everyone is now moving into a more technological advancement

and most of the things that we search is on the internet. Encyclopedia Britannica has

a real editorial staff, and also has high quality articles. Discontinuing the printing of

hardbound volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica and transitioning into digital was a

great move for the company, for me, because by this, it helps the people that are

using the internet to look for things that they need, like articles, website, images and

many other things that you want to know more about. Since Encyclopedia Britannica

transitioned into an online site, many people have had access to it and is using it to

this day.

2. What were the disruptors that made the company arrive at this decision? Research if

necessary.

• The disruptors that made the company arrive at their decision are:

o The rise and the increasing popularity of the internet since its first introduce to

people.

o A lot of people becoming more focus on technology.

o “The printed version was difficult to maintain and wasn’t the best physical

medium to deliver the quality of our database and the quality of our editorial”

(Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., told Reuters.)

• These disruptors impacted the company in good and bad way since they were

printing for 244 years, and its their first time shifting from hardbound to a website.
3. Do you think that people will still use Encyclopedia Britannica even if it is not in

hardbound anymore?

• Yes, because of its history and the good impact it made on people that has

previously used it.

a. Provide points that will prove that people prefer Encyclopedia

Britannica over Wikipedia and other websites.

- 1st point is that having a physical copy means that you won't have to

search the web to find what you are looking for.

- 2nd point is there would be no problem browsing information if you

don't have access to internet.

- 3rd, the encyclopedia is easy to search through for a user as it is used

as a work of reference.

b. Provide points that will prove that people prefer Wikipedia and other

websites over Encyclopedia Britannica.

- The First point to make that would have people prefer the Wikipedia

instead of the encyclopedia, is that it is very easy to have access to

different kinds of knowledge in Wikipedia as it highlights many words

that might confuse someone and said person is able to click on the

word to learn its meaning.

- Second is that you won't have to carry such a large book in order to

learn, You, can just access the information you need about

Encyclopedia Britannica via your phone or desktop with internet.

- And third in which, is that you won't have to purchase the

Encyclopedia Britannica every new edition to know what has been

updated, you can just look at Wikipedia or any other websites to learn

about these changes.

 References
• Christine, K. (Mar. 14, 2012) Encyclopedia Britannica ends print, goes digital -

reuters.com/article/net-us-encyclopediabritannica-idUSBRE82C1FS20120314

• Cauz, J (March 2013) Encyclopedia Britannica’s President on killing off a 244-

year-old product - https://hbr.org/2013/03/encyclopaedia-britannicas-president-

on-killing-off-a-244-year-old-product

• Drew, O. (Mar. 13, 2012) Wikipedia and the Internet just killed 244-year-old

Encyclopedia Britannica - thenextweb.com/news/wikipedia-and-the-internet-just-

killed-244-year-old-encyclopaedia-britannica