If you haven’t had a chance to read ‘The Long Tail‘ it could well be time to do so.

Why? Well at its core lies the concept that the web has killed the 80:20 rule. (Hope that’s accurate please let me know if it isn’t!).

What does that mean? Well it means that with the case of Amazon, there will always be someone, from somewhere wanting to buy a book, also, there is enough of these one off purchases to actually make up more than the peak profits from the the best seller list. In other words there is more value in the tail of the bell curve that there is in the peak. Startling!

Now why the Long Tail should be an imperative part of your knowledge base is that Angus and Robertson right here in Australia have just launched their print on demand service.  For the first time, books that are out of print and are hard to get are no longer that!

This is a great piece of dirsuptive innovation and has long been mooted, so it is good to see that it has finally arrived.

What makes this fascinating is that we are starting to see other areas where a similar attack on the traditional supply chain is starting to get traction. There is about to be a massive revolution in 3D printing that will totally change the way manufacturers, retailers and designers work. And significantly, the impact will revolutionise working capital.

Michael R Johnson