Integrated Case Study

Robin Ash & Printzhoff Press

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 Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: ORIENTATION......................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................................2

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM...........................................................................................................................2

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS......................................................................................................................................2

1.4 RESEARCH AIM..................................................................................................................................................3

1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES.....................................................................................................................................3

1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT..............................................................................................................................4

CHAPTER 2: CASE BRIEF.............................................................................................................................. 5

2.1 BACKGROUND OF THE CASE..............................................................................................................................5

2.2 CHALLENGES OF THE CASE................................................................................................................................5

2.3 STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES OF THE CASE........................................................................................................6

2.4 COMPETITORS OF THE CASE..............................................................................................................................7

REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................................. 8

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 Chapter 1: Orientation

1.1 Introduction

This case study involves Robin Ash the newly appointed COO at Printzhof Press which is a

Philadelphia-based company (Kinzie [Link], 2004). Printzhoff Press was established in 1848 by

Eric Nygren and since then promotion of educational excellence became the core goal of the

company. Printzhoff started off very well and was able to give quite good competition to its

other counterparts in the marketplace considering its USP of focusing on narrow disciplines

(Smith, 2009). However, as competition increased over the years Printzhoff started struggling

with various issue which required change in order to ensure continuous growth and sustain in the

market. Throughout this analysis the problems faced by Printzhoff will be identified and possible

solutions will be highlighted to overcome the problems faced by the company (Kinzie [Link],

2004).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

In this case Robin Ash, the newly appointed COO at Printzhoff needs to figure out the possible

way to effectively implement change along the organization (Hutcheson, 2007). The challenges

for Printzhoff has been affecting its market share, profitability, sales & revenue. While

technology has improved drastically in the textbook market, Printzhoff has not made any

advances which has led to lowering sales (Kinzie [Link], 2004). The core problem at Printzhoff is

the managements reluctance towards change and shifts in organizational culture which is non-

adaptive. Furthermore, no product development strategy is applied by the company to cope up

with the competitors (Smith, 2009).

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 1.3 Research Questions

Q1. How can an effective change management strategy lead to the success of Printzhoff
press?

Q2. What impact will an Adaptive Culture strategy have on the progress of
Printzhoff in the market?

Q3. How can Printzhoff use product development strategy in line with organizational
change to ensure overall organizational effectiveness?

1.4 Research Aim

The core aim of this report is to identify key issues faced by Printzoff, understand the reasons

which caused the issue and come up with possible solution to deal with the issues faced.

1.5 Research Objectives

O1. To identify the advantages of change management at Printzhoff in order to attain

success.

O2. To analyze the impact of adopting to an adaptive organizational culture at

Printzhoff.

O3. To ensure effective implementation of Product development along with chnage at

Printzhoff Press.

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 1.6 Structure of the Report

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Research Questions
1.4 Research Aim
1.5 Research Objectives
1.6 Structure of the Report

Chapter 2: Case Brief

Background of the case
Challenges of the Case
Weaknesses of the Case
Competitors of the Case

Chapter 3: Problem Statement & Plan of Analysis

Problem Identification
Plan of Analysis
Analysis & Findings
Application of Tools to the Case

Chapter 5: Conclusion
Propose Solution to Problem
Recommendations
Limitation of the Study
5.4 Conclusion
5.5 Scope for further Research

Figure 1 Structure of the Overall Report

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 Chapter 2: Case Brief

2.1 Background of the Case

Printzhoff is a publisher of college level textbooks and was one of the most important wings of

EEH as 35% of the company’s overall revenues in 2010 was generated from Printzhoff

(Hutcheson, 2007). However, Printzhoff has been reacting very slowly to changing market

demands in the textbook industry which led to lower growth of the company. In recent times the

textbook industry become very competitive as new market leaders emerged and the rise of digital

era completely transformed the overall market. Ash was appointed in such circumstances to

ensure sustainability and growth of Printzhoff in the competitive industry (Smith, 2009).

2.2 Challenges of the Case

Ageing Employee
Resistance to Increased
Base & Lack of
Change Competition
Innovation

Figure 2 Critical Challenge Identification for Printzhoff Case

The most crucial challenge for Ash was to change the non-adaptive corporate culture at

Printzhoff which slowed down the growth of the company (Abu-Jarad [Link], 2010). During the

meeting with the Product Development head, marketing head and HR head Ash got to know that

these people where resistive towards change and thought previous procedure will still be

effective, overall, it can be said that the company lacked innovation. Furthermore, the increasing

competition and emerging market leaders such as Pearson poised critical threat to the existence

of Printzhoff in the market (Costanza [Link], 2015).

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 2.3 Strengths & Weaknesses of the Case

Strengths Weakness
1. Printzhoff is one of the most 1. Ageing Workforce Population
prestigious textbook publisher in resulted in greater resistance to
the country. change.

2. Printzhoff focussed on limited 2. No product development was

group of diciplines which enabled done at Printzhoff which made it
them to understand their product less competitive in the market.
offering precisely.

Figure 3 Strength & Weakness for the Case of Printzhoff

Strengths

Printzhoff is known to be one of the most prestigious publishers in the country which provides

the company to gain more traction from customers and also authors (Smith, 2009). Furthermore,

the company’s focus on limited disciplines such as liberal arts & social sciences also enables it to

get a better understanding of their product and specialize on that segment (Costanza [Link], 2015).

Weakness

The most vital weakness of the case is that most of employees at Printzhoff are retained since a

long time and have become old which causes them to be resistive towards change (Kinzie [Link],

2004). There has been no product development strategy applied by Printzhoff to deal with

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competitors and changing market demand which is very unhealthy for the company (Smith,

2009).

2.4 Competitors of the Case

Figure 4 Competitor Comparison for the case of Printzhoff.

The main competitors for Printzhoff are Pearson, Cengage and McGraw-Hill as they had better

revenues compared to Printzhoff in FYI 2009-2010 (Smith, 2009). Pearson can be considered as

the most powerful competitors in the industry considering its growing sales from 2009-2010 as

shown in Figure 4. Whereas Cengage and McGraw-Hill also followed as 2 nd and 3rd ranked with

$668 and $477 worth revenues compared to Printzhoff’s $327 revenue. Other competitors

included Wiley and Macmillan who were behind Printzhoff but if not acted properly they can

become superior in the industry soon (Hutcheson, 2007).

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 References

Abu-Jarad. I, Yusof. N & Nikbin. D (2010), ‘A Review Paper on Organizational Culture and
Organizational Performance’, International Journal of Business & Social Science, Vol 1, No 3.
Available at: [Link] , [Accessed on 19th February
2021].

Costanza. D, Blacksmith. N, Coats. M & Severt. J (2015), ‘The Effect of Adaptive

Organizational Culture on Long-Term Survival’, Journal of Business Psychology, Vol 30, No 3.
Available at:
[Link]
Term_Survival , [Accessed on 20th February 2021].

Hutcheson. A (2007), ‘The Truman Commission’s Vision of the Future’, Thought & Action,
Page 107-115. Available at: [Link] , [Accessed
on 19th February 2021].

Kinzie. J, Palmer. M, Hayek. J, Hossler. D, Jacob. S & Cummings. H (2004), ‘Fifty Years of
College Choice: Social, Political and Institutional Influences on the Decision-making Process,
Vol 5, No 3. Available at: [Link] economy, [Accessed
on 20th February 2021].

Smith. S (2009), ‘How the GI Bill Changed the economy’, American Public Media Market Place
Economy. Available at: [Link] economy, [Accessed on
19th February 2021].