On profit and speculative tipping points

[Heather Morrison <heatherm@eln.bc.ca>]

Sandy Thatcher wrote, in respect to a speculative "tipping point" 
in which the STM industry would simply abandon scholarly 
publishing:

"it is not a matter of whether the STM business could be run 
profitably with NIH-type restrictions in place, but instead the 
expectations the companies most invested in this business have 
about profit margins and their willingness to continue in the 
business at a lower level of profit when their funds might be 
redirected to more profitable uses elsewhere"

To clarify, Sandy, are you saying that the concern is not with 
maintaining costs, or even profitability, with a mandatory NIH 
Public Access policy, but rather that these highly profitable 
businesses might suddenly lose interest at the prospect of LOWER 
PROFITS, and abandon the business, suddenly, collectively and 
entirely?

Are you saying that this would be a bad thing?  It seems to me 
that if, as you say, "Since the commercial companies do not have 
a "mission" to serve scholarship" and might just abandon 
scholarship at the mere thought of making less money - wouldn't 
scholarly publishing be more stable without them?

Sandy's original post:

http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/ListArchives/0709/msg00085.html

Any opinion expressed in this e-mail is that of the author alone, and
does not reflect the opinion or policy of BC Electronic Library
Network or Simon Fraser University Library.

Heather Morrison, MLIS
The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com