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RSS feedsIWR: You spent 23 years at Elsevier, rising from editorial manager to board level, how are you going to cope in such a small company after scaling such heights?
Arie Jongejan: I often notice a tendency to overestimate the managerial heights from which big companies are being run! In any event, I feel very comfortable with my position at Swets and believe we are a good match!
IWR: What is your greatest challenge at Swets?
AJ: Positioning the company as a premier service provider in the electronic era.
IWR: You said about your new job: "It is truly exciting for me to explore a new side of this rapidly changing industry." What are your first priorities in getting to know this new marketplace?
AJ: In my first couple of weeks I visited our major locations in the US, UK, France, Germany, Scandinavia, and, of course, the Netherlands. I was often able to spend time with some academic and corporate customers as well. The sheer diversity in regional markets was very interesting, in particular. I am planning to visit our Asia/Pacific office this month. I also met with several of the main publishing houses in my new capacity, where I was greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm. Clearly, I have every intention of keeping the momentum and of staying closely in touch with our main markets.
IWR: With reference to Swets, you have said: "what hasn't changed is the need of institutional academic and corporate customers for one-stop-shop services that agents like Swets provide. I see great opportunities for Swets, a company that has both the right position and people, to extend its role into these new directions." Is this a declaration of transformational growth - either organic or through acquisition. What new directions do you plan to advance in?
AJ: Swets has just gone through a reorganization, one of the most successful ones I've ever witnessed. This, in and of itself, will contribute significantly to the repositioning of the company. I foresee a shift in emphasis to actually embedding the changes and carrying out our promises to the market. While we have divested some of our non-core activities in recent months, we are definitely keeping our eyes open for interesting acquisition opportunities that fit in with our core role.
IWR: Does Ebsco pose a serious challenge for Swets in Europe? Will Swets ever make serious inroads against Ebsco in the US?
AJ: Let's put it this way, we definitely keep each other on our toes which is good for both of us, and definitely good for the market. With the acquisition of Blackwell's Information Services, Swets moved from being a niche player in the US to that of a complete provider. Do we aim for a bigger role in the US? Yes. At any cost? No. The next question is of course, how do we plan to do that? Quite simply, by providing superior value (of service) for money.
IWR: Is open access really a threat, or is it on the decline?
AJ: I'd actually hoped to escape that question with my move. But seriously, I don't know! I wouldn't be surprised that after the initial buzz, the year ahead will show a cool-down. It's like journals, producing the first issue is never a problem, It's the second, third and sixty-seventh that count - and prove the ultimate viability of the idea.
IWR: Could OA ever be an opportunity for Swets?
AJ: Yes, perhaps even more opportunities than in traditional publishing where the intermediary's role involves matching the needs of 60,000 customers with the products of 60,000 publishers. With OA we have millions of authors at thousands of institutes who submit to thousands of publishers, and money flows that are vastly more complex than in the current system. Needless to say, Swets' expertise lies in facilitating such complex flows.
IWR: What threat do Google and Amazon pose to Swets' market?
AJ: Never underestimate Google. However, at the moment, it's not at the top of my threats list.
IWR: Swets has sold off operations (Extenza, Farrington) this year and continued to scale down. Would the company ever consider selling off the remaining operations?
AJ: Underlying Extenza were some really good ideas, but the execution was quite "dot.com" to use a much coined phrase. We have much better ideas now about where we can add value to the customer chain and most of this can happen within the scope of our current organization. Our "remaining operations" - Swets Information Services - represent some 95% of our pre-2004 business. In other words, and in financial terms, these divestments were minimal. If anything they signal the strengthening of our core business.
IWR: You'll be 64 in 10 years time, what is your greatest ambition in the next decade?
AJ: Live a happy and rewarding life, get Swets firmly on course, and run the marathon under 3 hours!
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