As part of the Reed Elsevier plc group, Elsevier has grown into an information provider of global proportions with offices around the world. Elsevier has become the undisputed market leader in the publication and dissemination of literature covering the broad spectrum of scientific endeavours.

Elsevier has taken a leadership role in advancing the technologies necessary to create a seamless electronic information delivery environment. This is today's Elsevier: innovative, experienced and uniquely positioned to lead scientific publishing in the 21st century.

The paradigm of buying and selling of scientific information has changed significantly with the advent of the digital library. Issues once so familiar, like archiving, interlibrary loan, delivery and pricing have become sources of uncertainty, while new issues have come into play requiring new expertise. Elsevier strongly believes that building close relationships between libraries and publishers is essential to finding mutually satisfying solutions.

Therefore, in 1996, Elsevier launched its Regional Sales Office (RSO) structure. In order to meet the challenges of selling, delivering and supporting electronic products, four RSOs were established in key geographic areas to address the needs of their respective regions: Amsterdam, New York, Singapore and Tokyo. The RSO Japan in Tokyo has since become a part of Elsevier Asia Pacific.

The Account Management approach to its RSO operations builds relationships with its customers. Increasingly important in this process is the role of new specialists in the areas of IT consultancy, training, marketing and communications, customer support, helpdesks as well as product specialists (e.g. for bibliographic databases).

With offices in Singapore, New Delhi, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo and Beijing, Elsevier Asia Pacific has been successful in introducing new digital library initiatives to its markets. Most notably is the great uptake of ScienceDirect across the whole region. The approach towards building customer relationships is characterised by a high degree of customisation/localisation. For example, 'satellite' offices have been set-up in Seoul, New Delhi, Sydney and Beijing in order to get even closer to our markets. In order to support our customers even further, most promotional materials, like user manuals and quick reference guides have been developed in the local languages. Furthermore, freelance trainers, speaking the local language, are employed in the various parts of the region for on-site training sessions.