Morawa
Morawa is an Austrian press and book distributor. The company, which was founded in 1877 as a newspaper business and distributor, employs around 1,200 people and generates around 300 million euros.
history
The company's history goes back to 1877, when Hermann Goldschmiedt, son of a Bohemian businessman, opened a newspaper shop in Wollzeile in Vienna's first district . Sales of subscriptions to coffee houses, government offices and private individuals were added to in-store sales .
The company was later bought by the holding company Literaria . Emmerich Morawa had worked for this company since 1921 and was responsible for the newspaper distribution company of Goldschmiedt. He took over this in 1924 and renamed it Morawa & Co in 1934. After the company was taken over by Emmerich Morawa, the business was expanded to include press wholesaling, retailing and book wholesaling. The company gradually grew through the acquisition of Austrian regional wholesalers. In this way Morawa combined his function as an importer with that of a distributor who directly supplies the retail trade.
Since the company was majority-owned by Germany and sold many German newspapers and magazines, there was a conflict with the government of the Austrian corporate state, which had banned the import of most German print media in February 1934. In addition, Morawa introduced German National Socialist writings to Austria, which was already forbidden before 1934. Since the company was already the largest press distributor at the time, the company was able to ensure that this law was barely enforced. After the annexation of Austria in March 1938, Morawa was given responsibility for the distribution and delivery of all products from Eher-Verlag and Völkischer Beobachter . On the following day, March 13th, Emmerich Morawa received an edition of " Mein Kampf " personally signed and dedicated by Hitler with thanks for Morawa's "commitment to the Nazi press". This was followed by the award of the " Ostmark Medal ". Morawa was able to expand its market leadership in Austrian newspaper sales until 1945. After the end of the war from 1945 to 1948, Emmerich Morawa was temporarily relieved from the management of the company due to investigations and legal proceedings relating to the Nazi law.
Morawa relied on the most modern technology in information processing as well as in logistics at an early stage and was one of the first companies in Austria to use an EDP machine (Hollerith) as early as 1956. In the 1960s, Morawa also joined the reading circle.
Morawa expanded its sales network throughout Austria and took over several Austrian regional wholesalers. In the 1980s the book trade was expanded to all of Austria. Morawa is now represented with its own bookshops in almost every federal state.
Emmerich Morawa retired in 1970 and handed it over to his son-in-law Franz Selch. He in turn passed it on to his son Emmerich Selch in 1981. In 1992 Morawa merged with the book distributor Mohr-ZG, founded in 1889 . In 2005 Morawa took over the bookstores of Styria . In 2007 the company entered into a close cooperation with Mediaprint .
The company, which is now run by the 4th generation after its namesake Morawa, is still facing the new challenges as a result of the digital revolution in media. In addition to print media sales, the company's own logistics are also increasingly being offered as a service for other product groups.
In June 2018, the company announced its withdrawal from newspaper and magazine sales in Austria. In addition to Morawa, only PGV Austria is active in print sales (almost exclusively magazines), which should fill the gap at the turn of the year 2019.
Company details
Today Morawa is run in the fourth generation by Emmerich Selch and Wolfgang Rick. The company employs around 1,200 people. It has 2 dispatch centers as well as 32 logistics bases and carries around 3,500 different international press products to around 2,500 major customers and 12,000 retailers throughout Austria on 340 delivery tours.
In addition, since the merger with Mohr in 1992 , Morawa has also been a book wholesaler and has a chain of booksellers. The reading circle of Morawa is the largest in Austria and serves approximately 10,000 customers. The company is also active as a forwarding and parcel service.
In 2015, myMorawa, a publishing company and printing service, was added to the corporate range; the publishing house acts as a self-publishing service provider.
literature
- Murray G. Hall : Austrian Publishing History 1918-1938. Volume I: History of the Austrian publishing industry. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 1985, ISBN 3-412-05585-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Österreichische Trafikantenzeitung: Only efficient distribution guarantees freedom of opinion and freedom of the press ( Memento of the original from July 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 4.8 MB) 4/2006, p. 34 (accessed on October 4)
- ^ A b c Murray G. Hall: Denazification of the book trade. (PDF; 263 kB) 1986, p. 21
- ↑ a b c d The company history of Morawa. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- ↑ derstandard.at: High expenditure, declining sales - Morawa stops newspaper sales , June 11, 2018 (accessed July 31, 2018)
