Following World War II, the popularization of higher education in the United States produced a mass market for college textbooks. This opportunity attracted business concerns quite remote from book publishing. In a parallel move, large book publishers began to diversify their operations to promote growth and profitability. What impact has such diversification had on the college publishing process? The author studied a sample of twenty two U.S. college publishers, classified them according to four levels of corporate diversification, and identified the association of corporate diversification with the rationalization of the publishing process. The findings suggest that the more diversified a publishing business entity is, the more rationalized its college publishing operation is likely to be.
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