global business structure of AVA publishing

   AVA Academia (also known as AVA books, AVA publishing) is a very niche and relatively modest textbook publisher based in Switzerland. In so far as its primary consumers are of the English language, its English-language support offices are based in West Sussex, England. It has its production facilities based in Singapore.
   AVA’s niche, what the acronym stands for, is the applied visual arts. Very smart and graphic rich, AVA's publications are deconstructed to its most samurai expression. From the smart perspective, AVA's texts are researched and vetted by subject matter experts, and are regularly updated with the latest industry technologies. From the graphic rich perspective, beyond the obvious, AVA uses quality printing and paper; modeling the behavior of the quintessential industry professional.
   One might say that AVA has a domestic structure with two foreign subsidiaries. As a base brick-and-mortar, this is certainly true. However, its reach intends and expresses itself as truly global in structure (traveling representatives), functional structure (offshore and production) and product (in that its target audience is anyone anywhere affiliated with the related industries).
   Any rationale for the structure would seem obvious in the moment. It was not so many years ago, however, when such a relatively small publishing house would likely never embrace such a structure. So many moving parts and so much lack of control (seemingly), would have felt prohibitive. Equally so, such a global reach, would have likely seemed similarly presumptive.
   Yet here, at the turn of the first decade in this new millennium, there has been enough precedent, enough trailblazing, that the global realities find this as a most appropriate structure and reach. Bear in mind, this is a very small player in the publishing industry generally with a highly specialized audience. AVA advantages itself by leveraging the globalization dynamic in just the right measure. It does not have an office on every continent; it does not need to. Wholly localized, as it might have found itself a generation ago, would be economically disadvantageous, given in particular, the production overseas.
   Much like Goldilocks’ porridge, AVA is intelligently poised; not too much, not too little, but just right.

Reference

AVA Academia. (2010). http://www.avabooks.ch/