Jorge Cauz
Jorge Aguilar Cauz is an American businessman of Mexican descent and the president of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., the publishers of the Encyclopædia Britannica, a position to which he was appointed in November 2003.
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Education
Cauz is a graduate of the Kellogg Graduate School of Management of Northwestern University, and prior to joining Britannica, served as a management consultant for Andersen Consulting and A.T. Kearney.[1][2]
Britannica career
Cauz was hired by Britannica as a consultant in 1999, and then would later serve a variety of executive positions (including senior vice president of international operations, and chief operating officer of Internet operations) prior to his appointment as president. During that time, he played a key role in the company's marketing strategies, including the publication of all-digital editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica.[1]
One of the key aspects of Cauz's tenure is the emergence of the Internet as both an opportunity and a threat in the encyclopedia business. In a 2000 interview, Cauz remarked that in an Internet-dominated market, "you have to be free to be relevant".[3] Britannica has, in that time, introduced a free (albeit abridged) online version of the encyclopedia, as well as online subscriptions for readers willing to pay for unabridged content. Since his tenure, it is believed that Britannica has succeeded in transitioning its business model into that of a digital publisher and while its revenues are lower, Britannica has been profitable since 2004.[4]
Britannica and Wikipedia
During Cauz's tenure, officials from Britannica have become outspoken in their criticism of Wikipedia, which many (including critics) view as a significant competitive threat to Britannica,[5] a threat which Cauz has downplayed.[6] In July 2006, Cauz personally entered the fray in an interview in The New Yorker, in which he stated that Wikipedia would "decline into a hulking, mediocre mass of uneven, unreliable, and, many times, unreadable articles" and that "Wikipedia is to Britannica as American Idol is to the Juilliard School."[7]
In 2008, Cauz stressed that in EB new efforts to participate in online collaboration of encyclopedic content are made, and that recognizing experts are a requirement in order to achieve objectivity and high quality.[8] In April 2008, EB started a project called WebShare, which would "listen to experts" to document knowledge.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Encyclopædia Britannica News Releases: Jorge Cauz named president of Encyclopædia Britannica
- ↑ Britannica Blog profile
- ↑ How Dot-Communism Is Driving Encyclopædia Britannica Out Of Business
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- ↑ Collaboration and the Voices of Experts June 3, 2008
