WSOY celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2003. WSOY’s consumer products sold well during the year, but the market for business products continued to be weakened by the downturn in business activities. In 2004, WSOY will focus on its strategy and seek new opportunities for expanding in Europe.
WSOY’s General Literature unit is the market leader in Finland, and aims to be the forerunner and promoter of creative literature in Finland. WSOY Educational Materials is the market leader in all forms of education and related product groups, and WSOY Business Information offers products and services targeted at corporate customers. eWSOY focuses on e-learning, developing the internet-based Opit service for schools. Weilin+Göös publishes multi-volume books, and Bertmark publishes and markets annual books and multi-volume books across the Nordic region.
2003 was a particularly good year for Finnish fiction. Both the Finlandia Prize for fiction and the Tieto-Finlandia Prize for non-fiction were awarded to books published by WSOY. The Finlandia Prize went to Pirkko Saisio’s Punainen erokirja (‘The Red Book about Separation’) and the Tieto-Finlandia Prize to Elina Sana’s Luovutetut (‘The Extradited’).
Other Finnish fiction did well as well: Many of WSOY’s Finnish authors broke sales records in 2003. The popularity of translated fiction, however, declined. Weilin+Göös decided to publish the first Finnish multi-volume encyclopedia for many years. The first two volumes of the Factum series were published in 2003 and had a positive reception.
The Opit learning portal has about 75,000 users. Long-term, large-scale user agreements were made with the cities of Tampere and Espoo. Both cities decided to introduce the Opit service for all their schoolchildren.
WSOY has an interesting publishing programme for 2004, which is expected to be a good year for books. The operations of the Educational Materials unit will be affected by the decade’s largest curriculum change, which will affect materials at all school levels and poses inspiring challenges for development.
WSOY’s printing company, WS Bookwell, is one of the largest book printers in the Nordic region, and 50% of its production is exported. Lönnberg Painot Oy specialises in printing advertising material, annual reports, in-store displays, and gift packaging. Dark Oy is a digital printer.
In 2003, WS Bookwell developed its bindery lines and enhanced its operating efficiency. Dark invested in printing multi-colour manuals, which strengthened its position as Finland’s leading digital printer. The first year of operation at its new Sanomala premises also improved Dark’s productivity. F.G. Lönnberg was nominated the best printing house in Finland for the sixth time.
Competition in the printing business is expected to continue to be intense in 2004. Printing Operations aim to retain its market share by developing customer service and improving the profitability of investments.
WSOY’s Calendar Operations unit, Ajasto, is the leading Nordic time management company, with operations in Finland, Sweden, and Norway.
Calendar Operations reduced its fixed expenses and made production more cost-efficient during 2003. The market for consumer calendars remained stable in Finland, and the company’s position on the market was strengthened.
In 2004, Calendar Operations will streamline its structure. As the market leader, the unit aims to maximise economies of scale and improve profitability.