Full stop
5 replies (most recent on top)
There's nothing worth saving at Cengage. It's an already failed business model kept alive by nothing but grit from a lot of us on the frontlines. We do what we can to make worthwhile products – without systems, workflows, infrastructure, or any real resources to support us. Lots of us track our projects in Excel spreadsheets – it's ridiculous, and only one example of the amateur-hour that Cengage is. "Pod" teams constantly reinvent the wheel for every title because training and information-sharing is virtually non-existent. The tech fails as much as it works. Leadership exists in a dream world of its own spin, continually congratulating each other on their industry-shifting genius. The best-case scenario is that McGraw Hill absorbs Cengage and turns us into them. But I guess that's not where we're headed.
the lay offs are true people. about 40 inside sales let go today after receiving an email and invite from HR. lots of tears and hugs today. it was heart breaking right before the Holidays. up until today i thought i worked for a half way decent company. this is horrible. i work up stairs & none of those managers have said anything about this. the silence is terrifying but also very unethical to let us wait on the edge of our seats for the chopping block to hit our floor. i definately clocked out today with an entire different outlook on this company. this is a scary time for me & my family. there isn’t much opportunity like this in NKY. i hope everything works out well for the families.
@1209vMjH-pcz The industry isn't dying. That is the excuse people from Cengage and Pearson give for why their companies are tanking.
The industry is not dying, it's just changing.
How a company adapts to change makes all the difference between sinking or swimming.
McGraw is actually hanging in there. Their tech products, while far from perfect, are the best in the industry and they adapt quite well to the specific needs of an adoption or department. Had they not been sold off to private equity, McGraw would actually be doing okay right now.
Norton, Routledge, Oxford, Sage, Cambridge, Macmillan, Goodheart-Wilcox and a list of smaller companies as long as my arm, these places are doing just fine, too. It is true that the industry is changing for them too and everyone must work harder and smarter, but these companies are surviving and at times thriving. They certainly not laying people off in massive waves! They also tend not to be massively corporate and are better able to navigate the waves of change.
Pearson and Cengage? They both made the same, simple mistake: they stopped selling what consumer wanted. Instead of publishing great content and developing great technology options to enhance the book experience, both companies decided that books were no good and they began preaching this "conversion to tech" - as if technology was going to replace print 100% in the near future. That may happen someday, but it hasn't happened yet and Pearson/Cengage have suffered for it. Cengage in particular has been almost offensively out-of-tune with the needs of the educational committee. Cengage still publishes its books at $300, $400 each and then they turn around and call CU at $120 a bargain! Professors saw right through that scheme, obviously. Pearson, too, is just as deaf, actually DENYING faculty the right to adopt print, if that is what is wanted. Sorry, if customers want SUVs and you insist on producing only smaller economy cars, your business is going to suffer and eventually go under. That is exactly what is happening right now with Cengage and Pearson - and BOTH CEO's are too far removed from the marketplace to realize it.
The irony, of course, is that Michael Hanson is about to take over the one remaining competitor among the "big guys" . . . it's not going to take a rocket scientist to predict what is about to happen to McGraw Hill over the next five years or so.
The industry is not dying. Cengage has simply failed the industry.
Thomson was a great company. They sold at the right time and Cengage took the bait and bought a company in a dying industry. Cengage and the other big publishers all have week products except for LearnSmart.
It used to be a great company. If Thomson hadn't sold them, it probably still would be great.