Business Is Confusing!
The CEO of Fender and a platform’s executive show disdain for their customers
Juan Pablo Alperin is the Scientific Director of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), which produces the OJS software some OA publishers use. PKP’s revenues depend on selling this software, and revenues are a function of sales volume and price. In a competitive and mature market with multiple options and little room to expand marketshare, price is a good lever to have in hand. This means the more money OJS’ customers make, the more these customers might be willing and able to pay, boosting revenues from existing OJS installations and potentially enticing others to switch to a platform that can help them achieve revenue growth.
Yet, Alperin is launching a lawsuit in the US claiming that high APCs amount to extortion, costing taxpayers and others more than the minimal necessary costs.
There are myriad business reasons why Alperin’s lawsuit is baseless, frivolous, and dumb — authors are willing to pay these prices, so obviously they are viable prices representing selection, not extortion — but the biggest mistake is that he is shooting himself and his company in the foot simply to pursue some low-cost McGuffin.
His customers are receiving the message that they’d better keep their margins razor thin, or they might also be sued. Both marketshare and price ceilings are likely to shrink when you show your customers you’re not on their side.
- With business leadership like this, it’s no surprise that the PKP is barely scraping by . . .
Lettuce agree that dumb is this summer’s fashion choice. With that said, Alperin’s illogical move brought to mind the CEO of Fender, who in his brief stint has also managed to baffle and infuriate the customers he was hired to serve, all for no good reason.