Emerald Group Publishing
| emeraldbanner.jpg | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 1967 in Bradford, England |
| Headquarters | West Yorkshire, England |
Key people | John Peters; CEO, Martin Fojt; Chairman |
| Products | Publisher of print and electronic products |
Number of employees | 180+ |
| Website | www.emeraldinsight.com |
The Emerald Publishing Group are a primary publisher of management and business journals. Based in the UK, they operate worldwide with offices in Malaysia, Japan, China, India and the United States.
History
Modest Beginnings
Emerald was originally formed in 1967 as Management Consultants Bradford (MCB) by a group of academics who were dissatisfied by the publishing outlets of the time. The premise was to focus on niche management disciplines including strategy, change management and international marketing.[1]
The first journal was acquired the next year, when 'Management Decision' or the 'British Journal of Management', as it was then known, was acquired for £1.
Working from one building on Keighley Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire, 50 academics from the Management Centre each paid £100 for a share in the company in 1969 to allow the company not only to own this building, but also to acquire the adjacent properties and begin the companys expansion.[2]
1970 saw the first employee come on board, MCB becoming a 'service company' for individual journal companies. As the company continued to grow, by 1977 it was decided that the individual journal companies would be merged into one company, MCB Publications Ltd.
Steady Growth
In 1979 the company attended the Frankfurt Book Fair for the first time which led to various business developments, specifically the acquisition of journals. By 1980 the company had grown to 20 employees and were publishing up to 15 journals including the International Journal of Social Economics and the Journal of Management Development.
An agreement was reached in 1982 to become the Official Publisher for an independent action learning business school (International Management Centres), a relationship which remained in place until 1997. Continued expansion saw a move to Toller Lane, Bradford in 1984 and then four years later the company celebrated its birthday with special celebrations attended by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Bradford. The year also saw the acquisition of Anbar which later became 'Emerald Reviews'.[3]
Throughout the 1980's the number of journals steadily increased and by 1990 sixty five journals were been published. The technological revolution began to impact on the work at MCB which led to the first marketing database being introduced and gradually the introduction of Apple Mac's within the production department until all artwork was eventually being produced in electronic format as oppose to the traditional hand drawings. More importantly, there was the introduction of electronic data transfer of journals to printers and the possibility of much closer interaction with customers through the world wide web. This was followed by the creation of Library Link which was launch in 1991 and marked a significant shift in the attitude of the company when assessing the relationship between publishers and librarians.
The Electronic Revolution
In 1992 Floppy Anbar (CD-ROM) was launched becoming the first product to be offered in an electronic format. This was accompanied by Literati, a database and net work of authors and editors which was the first of its kind in terms of building and nurturing relationships. The company continued to expand on its Toller Lane site, and offices were beginning to sprout up throughout the world with one being opened in Japan in 1993 followed by Kuala Lumpur in 1994 while the number of journals raised to 127.
For such a technology based company, it is ironic that it wasn't until 1994 that PC's were commonplace throughout the organisation.[4] But with this revolution also came the digitization and launch of the Electronic Management Research Library Database (EMERALD) on CD-ROM. The achronoym used for the database was liked and it was decided that it should be used as the name for the company going forward, therefore in 2001 MCB became Emerald Publishing Group.
Since then the company has constantly updated and evolved its products with Emerald Fulltext becoming available in 1995. This comprehensive online database gave internet access to Emeralds various journals and included a host of associated resources and was rebranded as Emerald Management Extra in 2004. Building on this idea Emerald launched the ManagementFirst website in 2000 (which later became Emerald Management First in 2007), aimed specifically at corporate customers providing management with an easily accessible database to find the latest developments and articles from the world of business.
In 2006 Emerald announced a partnership with iParadigms, the developers of the Turnitin anti-plagiarism detection product. [1]
Emerald Today
Various agreements with consortia throughout the world has meant that Emerald is now one of the world's leading publishing distributing to institutions and businesses worldwide. Emerald works with over 60 consortia worldwide including Nelinet, Solinet and Palinet in the United States, OCUL in Canada[2], COSALC in Africa and CAUL in Australia.
The company's expansion meant it necessary to appoint various regional directors to look after the development and management of business throughout the world. This has led to further growth with an estimated 6,000 institutions worldwide now subscribing to Emerald content.
In 2007 Emerald signed an agreement with the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemainschaft) which was a licence covering 339 Universities throughout Germany and was therefore quite a significant development in the European market.
This re-structuring of the workforce led to a move to Howard House on the outskirts of Bingley, West Yorkshire where brand new offices are the companies new home.
Future Developments
The company continues to grow through the acquisition of new journals and the development of new products. In 2008 it is hoped that a digital archive will be released featuring the full Emerald collection dating right back to 1899. The earliest recorded article comes from the British Food Journal, and the collection features is expected to feature some interesting content such as articles from 'Internet Research' (1991), the first journal on record of the internet age, and believed to contain the first reference to the term ‘world wide web’ in a landmark exploratory paper by Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
Emerald Award Winners
Notable writers for Emerald publications include Edmund Phelps who in 2006 won Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2006 ‘For his analysis of intertemporal tradeoffs in macroeconomic policy’. Phelps wrote 'A Review of Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market' in the 'Journal of Economic Studies' in 1993.[3]
Emerald has also taken a lead role in presenting many of the most prestigious awards to their authors. Each year the Emerald Literati Club Awards acknowledge the strongest contributions to Emerald journals, and the company also sponsors and supports many other awards.
Emerald itself has also won various awards and accolades, for example thirty six of their journals are currently ranked with Thomson Scientific including Management Decision and the European Journal of Marketing.
Press Releases
- Emerald signs new agreement with Cilea
- Emerald sees strong gains in Thomson Scientific Impact Factors
References
- ^ "About Emerald: History". Retrieved 3 September 2007.
- ^ "40 Years in Publishing 1967-2007". Retrieved 3 September 2007.
- ^ "40 Years in Publishing 1967-2007". Retrieved 3 September 2007.
- ^ "40 Years in Publishing 1967-2007". Retrieved 3 September 2007.