British Columbia Innovation Council

This case analyzes Etraffic Press, an education publisher with an online focus and their development of a strategy to establish market share. In spring 2008, learning and teaching methods were changing in Canada and opportunities were opening up for companies that could respond to those changes. The three major Canadian publishing firms had thus far been unsuccessful in creating quality online resources, but they were eager to gain a share of the market.

In addition to interest in changing education, the public expected suppliers to be more eco-friendly. The upcoming 2010 "Green Olympics" in Vancouver, the public's rising environmental consciousness, and national attention to climate change all contributed to a sense of urgency among businesses and public organizations - with the notable exception of educational publishing. Despite consuming 20 million trees and transporting over a million tons of books each year, textbook suppliers had demonstrated little if any innovation in the past century.

Victoria B.C.-based Etraffic Press seemed poised to revamp educational publishing with its low-priced and cutting edge online and flash-drive learning resources, as well as its print-on-demand textbooks. There was no shortage of arguments in favor of Etraffic's innovative new models, but schools seemed slow to respond. Etraffic had a head start on the online learning world and needed a strategy to distinguish them and grow their current market share. Michelle Jeske, VP of Business Management, knew that it would take more than visionary ideas to bring real change to traditional K-12 educational resources. Her problem was to determine which of many options would move Etraffic forward.

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