Note: some of you who read my blog have read this on the forums. Same thing, exactly. If you are in college, or have been in the last decade, you will recognize these names:
Reed Elsevier and Thompson Learning.
What you don't know is that this is a massive industry that literally controls who and what is researched and written and how much that information costs your college institutions.
Education should not be about commerce. Yes, in a free economy these coporations have a right to promote the sale of thier products, but have you thought as to why the prices of education have SOARED and in many places triped? Its not because your teachers and colleges are earning more money, it is because these companies control your education, which textbooks you purchase, and nearly all scholarly journals. Freedom of speech = freedom of education, and yet these companies are never criticised by the governments or education centers. WHY is that?
Because Reed Elsevier is everything:
directly from
http://www.reed-elsevier.com/index.cfm?articleid=65four of Reed Elsevier's divisions are global, and each of them focuses on a specific market for professional information: Science & Medical, Legal, Education and Business. We hold a number one or two position in all of our key markets, with strong brands, content and market reach in each.
Science and Medical
Elsevier is the world's largest provider of science and health information, Elsevier serves more than 30 million scientists, students, and health and information professionals worldwide. Elsevier is committed to making genuine contributions to the science and health communities.
*
Legal
LexisNexis is a leading provider of information and services solutions, including its flagship Web-based Lexis and Nexis research services, to a wide range of professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, accounting and academic markets. LexisNexis serves customers in 100 countries with 13,000 employees worldwide.
*
Education
Harcourt Education, Reed Elsevier's global Education division, is a leading international educational publishing company serving the Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education (pre-K-12) market. It also provides educational and psychological testing in the US, the UK and France.
*
Business
Reed Business, Reed Elsevier's global Business division, is a provider of magazines, exhibitions, online media, directories and marketing services across five continents. Its prestige brands serve professionals across a diverse range of industries.
Now, why isn't reed considered a MONOPOLY?????
Because they are smart enough to work with Thompson Learning.
Thomspon Learning controls the following
http://www.thomson.com/solutions/solutions/WAY TOO MUCH TO LIST HERE
So why is this a problem???????????
Simba Information shows the market reaching nearly fifty-five billion dollars in the 2002 US market, global information on the professional information sales market was unavailable at the time of this report (Simba 1999). Trends in information purchases, particularly in education, business and medical information markets increase each year (Simba 1999). Customer’s such as “ARL libraries spend well over $100 million a year on Reed Elsevier products” however, critics of the professional information market state that the larger online companies lead to a deterioration in customer service (Poyder pp 5 2001). Competition in the large-scale professional information market is limited to a few corporations, namely Thomson’s Learning (2006), although there are smaller competitors such as Dow Jones, Reuters, McGraw-Hill and Hoover’s (Poyder 2001). The market power exists between the two largest companies as Reed Elsevier and Thomson (Poyder 2001). So, while there are diverse professional information markets available, the largest amount of seller power rests with Thomson Learning and Reed Elsevier. Although Reed Elsevier is a competitor, it can not be included at a threat to Thomson. The companies have a history of bilateral communication that includes Thomson purchase percentages of Reed’s multiple businesses and have comparable price increase trends (Poyder 2001). The real threat to Thomson is the UK and US justice departments who believe the companies are purposefully creating and establishing a monopoly (Poyder 2001).
WHEN OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM BECOMES A CAPITALIST ECONOMY CONTROLLED BY A MONOPOLY, THERE WILL BE A LARGER DIVISION BETWEEN THE EDUCATED UPPER CLASS AND THE WORKING POOR CLASS.
Now here is something really, really scary. A simple PESTLE analysis of REED, I have bolded the important parts.
Political
Current political pressure for paid-per publishing professional market is increasing.
Critics of professional publishers like Reed Elsevier, Thomson Learning, and McGraw Hill state that “the scientific community should abandon seeking publication in journals of the type that Reed owns in favour of the “open-source” model, in which authors pay to have their research made public” (Sarbagh pp 2). Further criticism comes from Toulouse University and the Free University of Brussels for the EC, whose research criticises that
“Scientific research funded by the European taxpayer should be freely available to everyone over the internet” (Wray pp 1 2006). Other political pressure stems from the proposed monopoly,
where Reed has been accused of being unethical in its acquisitions and creating monopolies that charge high and possibly unjustifiable fees to libraries and researchers (Nicholson 2000).
Economic
Economically,
Reed is supported by government grants and educational facility purchases as well as private and corporate funds. The Science and Health markets are very strong, and proposed to increase as these industries expect continuous growth in research and publishing (Reed 2006). The corporate professional publishing market is also increasing, particularily in legal contracts, risk management and patent applications (Reed 2006). The education market has experienced a slump due to weak textbook markets stemming from supplemental publishers (Reed 2006). Business information markets are performing well with strong demands in online sales for business information, market trends, and other professional market analysis research papers (Reed 2006). The economic foundations are particularily strong, and expected to continue to increase as the world focuses on the science and heatlh markets, corporate risk management and business analysis markets as well as legal publication markets. B
ecause Reed is a global organisation with multiple approaches, they must focus (at the corporate level) on the globalised market. This is a mainstay of Reed’s viable economy, and the trends in production and profit continue to play a positive role in the company’s overall well being.Sociological
The global economy and global business societies are increasingly present as individuals from different nations with different cultural orientations rely on professional publications to analyse, research and develop.
For example, a company in China may want to gain a patent on a product, and research a US based medical facility, all of which are possible through Reed Elsevier. Reed can be considered to exist beyond country and continental lines because nearly all of their products are available online, which shows that Reed has envisioned a world view for their products and services. Reed is under external pressure to provide a consistently global and culturally accepting environment between various nations and differing peoples. Without the ability to do so, the company would be under fire from media, government and corporate stakeholders.
Technological
The use of information systems infrastructure by industrial and service companies may be a source of competitive advantage for innovative and knowledge-based companies.
The management of knowledge plays an outstanding role in any interdisciplinary actions of Reeds and in the development of technology-based companies. Reed must be prepared to address new technologies, innovate old technologies, while maintaining high quality of product and service.
Legal
Government regulations offer very weak mechanisms for value representation and virtually no support to communication processes that create win/win situations where multiple stakeholders—including shareholders—can successfully pursue their mutual interests. In addition to various national and international regulations, there are many more rules that stem either from regional or local governments or industry oversight committees. The end result is that Reed must juggle multiple sets of regulations on local and international levels while maintaining industry-specific regulations. To name a few of the regulatory boards must comply with SOX, GLBA, German Signatory Law, and the EU Data Protection Directive—not to mention industry-specific and SEC regulations.
Environmental
The globalisation of economic life has resulted in a highly mobile international business environment and a corresponding need for safe, transparent, efficient, user-friendly and reliable means to facilitate international business travel and temporary stay abroad. The environmental mobility of Reed’s business personnel on an international level for activities requires concerted international attention and co-operation to provide for a safe environment.
YOU WANT TO KNOW SOMETHING REALLY SCARY?????Reed Elsevier hosts arms fairs and gun sales to foreign countries, even those which are known to harbor terrorists.
www.reedexpo.com"It was announced on Friday 1st June that Reed Elsevier will pull out of the arms trade and will no longer organise arms fairs around the world. The decision follows a high-profile campaign, coordinated by CAAT, which highlighted the incompatibility of Reed's involvement in the arms trade and their position as the number one publisher of medical and science journals and other publications."
http://www.caat.org.uk/campaigns/reedelsevier.phpDO YOU BELIEVE REED? I DON'T.
