Maritz, LLC

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Maritz
Type Private
Industry Incentives, Travel, Research
Founded 1894 by Edward Maritz - began as a jewelry company
Headquarters Fenton, MO
Key people Steve Maritz (CEO)
Website http://www.maritz.com

Maritz is a sales and marketing services company that designs and operates employee recognition and reward programs, sales channel incentive programs, (including incentive travel rewards[1]) and customer loyalty programs. It also plans corporate trade shows, meetings and events, and offers traditional market research services such as customer satisfaction tracking and the creation of product launch campaigns. Its programs are designed to help its clients improve workforce engagement and customer satisfaction. Subsidiaries and segments include Maritz Motivation Solutions, Maritz Research, Maritz Loyalty Marketing, the Maritz Institute, and Maritz Travel.[2]

History

  • In 1894, Edward Maritz started the E. Maritz Jewelry Manufacturing Company, a wholesaler and manufacturer of fine jewelry and engraved watches.[2]
  • By the 1920s, the company was concentrating on wholesaling imported watches and became one of the first in the nation to sell wristwatches.[2]
  • When the stock market crashed in 1929, the company nearly failed. The crisis forced Maritz to look for a new direction, and it began to sell watches, jewelry and merchandise to large corporations as sales incentives and service awards for employees.[2]
  • Over the next three decades, the sales incentive business flourished. Each year, Maritz produced an increasingly elaborate merchandise awards catalog and added services to promote and administer sales incentive programs.[2]
  • With the purchase of a small Detroit travel company in the 1950s, Maritz branched out again, adding group travel as an incentive award.[2]
  • As the 1960s ended, Maritz began to diversify with new divisions that laid the groundwork for ventures in communications, marketing research, training and meeting production.[2]
  • The 1970s ushered in an era of growth and further diversification. Maritz built communications and marketing research businesses, established a presence in Europe and opened a travel office in Mexico City.[2]
  • Through acquisitions starting in 1981, Maritz became a major supplier of corporate travel services. Maritz also became a leader in automotive marketing research, formed Maritz Canada and added offices throughout Western Europe.[2]
  • During the late 1990s and into the new millennium, Maritz continued to establish itself as the leader in loyalty reward and incentive travel through strategic partnerships with companies such as American Express.[2]
  • Today, under the leadership of Steve Maritz, Chairman and CEO, Maritz is the largest source of integrated performance improvement, travel and market research services globally.[2]

Generational family problems and internal struggles

In the late 1940s, two sons of company founder, Edward Maritz – James A. Maritz, Sr. and Lloyd Maritz – were at odds over the business model for the company. As sales rose after World War II, they differed in opinion over how to manage the business. In 1950, they divided the company and went their separate ways. Lloyd, who had mostly run the incentives business, surprised observers by picking the traditional, wholesale jewelry operation. James was left with the incentives business. They soon were competing for a project with General Motors, both under the name, “Maritz”. James Maritz’s company won the project. "After that, the James Maritz and Lloyd Maritz families no longer spoke with one another," Bill Maritz wrote in his memoir.[3]

In 1982, the sons of James Maritz, Sr. – Bill Maritz and Jim Maritz, Jr. – were in a similar situation as their father and uncle Lloyd had been in 1950. They each controlled one third of the stock, as did their sister, Jean Maritz Hobler. The two brothers were struggling with each other for control of the corporation. At their urging, Jean chose a consultant to pick the best leader. The brothers signed undated resignation letters and the consultant set about studying the company. On May 31, 1983, he announced his decision to the brothers in the Maritz boardroom in Fenton, MO. He had chosen the plans made by Bill Maritz. Jim Maritz and his son, James Maritz III, left the company and the two brothers never spoke again.[3]

Several years later, Jean Maritz Hobler, with fifty percent ownership of the company (following Jim Maritz’s divestiture of assets) questioned Bill Maritz’s leadership of the company. In a very tense series of negotiations, the Hoblers agreed in 1994 to sell their stake in Maritz, Inc. for $62 million.[4]

With Bill Maritz and his immediate family sole owners of the company, he began planning for the eventual change of leadership at his retirement. In 1998, he promoted his middle son, Steve Maritz, to chief operating officer. There was dissent from Steve’s brothers, Peter and Phillip Maritz (their sister, Alice Maritz Starek, had sold her interest in the company two years earlier). Bill Maritz, ill from cancer, drafted a will that made it impossible for the brothers to resist Steve’s leadership without jeopardizing their stock holdings in the company (Bill Maritz and his wife, Phyllis, divorced in 1991). After Bill Maritz’s death in 2001, Steve Maritz exercised the terms defined by his father and demanded the surrender of stock owned by his brothers Peter and Phillip. They sued Steve over valuation of stock, and the legal process dragged on for several years, ending in a settlement in 2007.[3][4][5]

Facts

  • Maritz does business with 30 of the world’s FORTUNE 50 companies[6]
  • Ranked 305 in the most recent Forbes listing of the “500 Largest Privately Held Companies”
  • Ranked 26 on the 2008 InformationWeek Elite 100 and Top Innovators 250 Award[7]
  • Selected for the 2007 InformationWeek 500 List of "Masters of Technology"[8]
  • Revenues for fiscal year 2008: $1.49 billion
  • Number of employees worldwide: 3,658
  • Number of employees in the United States: 3,063
  • Ranked as a Top 15 finalist in the 2008 St. Louis Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work”[6]
  • Maritz has a worldwide presence, with wholly owned offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany, and associates, alliances and preferred suppliers in Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas.
  • World Headquarters: St. Louis, Mo.
  • St. Louis campus: 174 acres[9]

References

  1. ↑ White, Martha C. (2007-03-13). "Bon Voyage as a Bonus". The New York Times (Travel.nytimes.com). Retrieved 2010-02-18. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 "Encyclopedia of Company Histories". Answers.com - Hoover's Corporate Profile. Retrieved 2010-02-18. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jeff Bailey-Wall Street Journal, Fierce Feud Threatens Strong Family Venture, SuccessCare, retrieved 2010-12-06 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Maritz, Inc., Funding Universe, retrieved 2010-12-06 
  5. ↑ Greg Edwards, Steve Maritz Moves On, St. Louis Business Journal, retrieved 2010-12-06 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Greg Edwards (2008-04-11). "In Depth: Best Places to Work - Category 5 - 2nd: Maritz Inc.". St. Louis Business Journal (Stlouis.bizjournals.com). Retrieved 2010-02-18. 
  7. ↑ "InformationWeek 500 Ranked 2008 List". Informationweek.com. 2009-11-18. Retrieved 2010-02-18. 
  8. ↑ "InformationWeek 500 Ranked 2007 List". Informationweek.com. 2009-11-18. Retrieved 2010-02-18. 
  9. ↑ "Maritz at a Glance". Maritz.com. Retrieved 2010-02-18. 

External links

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