Question: What do Subway, Air Canada, and Gold's Gym have in common with University Press of Colorado?
Click here to find out!
Question: What do these businesses have in common with University Press of Colorado?
Answer: We are all having a birthday this year!
In an earlier blog post, I cited Arie de Geus's assertion that "the average life expectancy of a multinational corporation—Fortune 500 or its equivalent—is between 40 and 50 years" (The Living Company, Harvard Business School Press, 1997). Shortly after posting that piece, I received a phone call from the Museum of American Finance in New York alerting me to the fact that they had included University Press of Colorado in a listing of businesses celebrating their anniversaries in 2015. Naturally, I had to take a look.
The list—which breaks down the anniversaries in 25-year increments, ranging from companies celebrating 25 years to those who have been around 250 years—includes a substantial number of businesses that have now reached the average age of all multinational corporations according to de Geus. Included on the list are household names such as Air Canada, the Benetton Group, Dolby Laboratories, Gold's Gym, PepsiCo, Ponderosa Steakhouse, Ruth's Chris Steak House (I guess 1965 was a good year to establish a steakhouse chain), Subway (who is older, Jared or the restaurant chain?), and TGI Friday's. You've made it to business middle age—way to go!
There are also a good number of book publishers on this list, and I'd like to give a shout-out to our industry peers. These include Coach House Books of Toronto, Canada; Ediciones Universal of Miami, Florida; Kent State University Press in Kent, Ohio; Sage Publications in Thousand Oaks, California; and University of the Philippines Press in Quezon City, Philippines. Following the logic of my earlier post, I find encouragement in the fact that of the six publishers celebrating their fiftieth anniversary this year, four of them are scholarly publishers (UPC, Kent State University Press, Sage Publications, and the University of the Philippines Press).
Scholarly publishing is a tough business, no question, and the business is in flux. Scholarly publishers, though, have some advantages. First and foremost, whether commercial like Sage or nonprofit like Kent State, academic presses are staffed by individuals who love what they do and are committed to the success of their books and their business. In addition, the nonprofits among us—like university presses, association publishers, and others—have long enjoyed support that bolsters sales revenue in order to keep us publishing books and spreading knowledge far and wide.
As we celebrate our fiftieth year of publishing and disseminating important research, the University Press of Colorado is proud to be in such good company, and we look forward to our next appearance on the Museum of American Finance's anniversary list in 2040!
