Introduction
The Small Package Express Delivery Industry is one of the industries where transportation and logistics giant, FedEx, is heavily involved in. Small Package Delivery pertains to a service wherein a company, which in this case would be FedEx, would accept payment from customers and other business owners in exchange of guaranteeing that their small packages would be delivered on or within a specified amount of time or a given schedule to their specified destination. Door to door small package delivery services have been a common service offering in this industry.
During the early 70s, at a time when electronic methods of sending and receiving packages and other things such as information were not yet discovered or at least popularized, people had to rely on something to get their messages and packages across. It turned out that that something was the package delivery industry. The objective of this paper is to discuss how the Small Package Express Delivery Industry evolved, focusing on how the American company Federal Express participated in its growth and evolution, and how it survived a decades-long battle with its competitors such as the United States Postal Service (USPS), the United Parcel Service (UPS), and the already dormant company in the small package delivery industry, DHL.
Analysis of the Federal Express’ Value Creation Frontier
The United States-based Company Federal Express is a package delivery and logistics company that has been one of the biggest players in the local and international industry for almost three decades. Reports and evidences suggest that FedEx’s strategic competitiveness, resilience, and large-scale and continuous growth in the industry have been largely fueled by its obsession with, a...
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...ved company outcomes at least over the long run and so there should be no reason why the company should not try to use such strategies again.
Works Cited
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The following case describes FedEx’s transition from a single segment Express shipping company to a fully integrated, multi-faceted corporation. At the beginning, Federal Express was an air express transportation system designed specifically for shipping time-sensitive items like urgent documents or medicines. After receiving a large investment, Federal Express began its first night of operations on April 17, 1973. Within the first 10 years, Federal Express became the first U.S. start-up to achieve $1 billion in revenues. Nevertheless, in the late 1990’s with the development of technology, FedEx began to express concern in some areas of business. E-mail, its competitors (UPS), new innovative supply chain strategies with low production
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UPS started delivering packages by air as early as 1929 with United Airlines operating ford Tri-motors. UPS’s first airline venture started as a 50/50 partnership with DHL in a company called International Parcel Express (IPX). IPX hired a group of former Transamerica employees to gain the air carrier certificate. With 60 aircraft in the fleet of IPX by 1987, it was becoming difficult to manage with all the different contract carriers and aircraft. UPS announced it would be taking over all air operations in 1988 and using the IPX certificate as the basis for UPS airlines. UPS Airlines started on January 28th 1988. Ten months after receiving the operating certificate from the FAA, UPS Airlines had grown to an operation of 94 aircraft. UPS airline was the fastest growing airline in FAA history.
The decision to open in Louisville was no mistake: the city of Louisville, Kentucky, serves as a major transportation hub for supplies and center for logistical support throughout the United States. Possessing an international airport with customs access allows UPS to be centrally located in t...
UPS is performing better than FedEx in financial performances. From 1997-1999, UPS reported average net profit margins of 6.5% while FedEx¡¦s was 2.8% and ROE of 25.2% for UPS and 10.6% for FedEx. Although UPS¡¦s net income in 1999 dropped significantly, it was result of a tax dispute, which should not affect the sustainability of the UPS financial performance. One of the factors driving this performance is the growth in the international delivery business. International operations in 1999 has accounted for 13% of the UPS¡¦s revenues and 5% of the operating profits. International package revenue grew 50% since 1994 and international...
The organization is able to build a barrier to new entrants in parcel industry. It is very expensive to set up the services that are equal to the existing organizations. There is high fixed cost associated with establishing the required international transport network. This includes ground transportation vehicles, depots, plants and a retail
A switch from premium overnight services to lower – margin deferred services and ground delivery services is an advantage to Airborne Express. With existing assets including trucks, tracking systems, regional hubs and sorting facilities, they only need minor initial investments to develop fully these kinds of services. They should use these assets wisely and effectively.
The trucking industry over the years have changed the type of services and the quality that it has provides to its customers. In today’s industry the focus is on efficiency with the overall beneficiary being the American consumer. Majority of today’s freight is being transported by truck during sometime in the distribution chain. Some of factors the trucking industry is facing today include hours and earnings and safety issues.
Through the extensive use of technology UPS is no longer only a package delivery company. The technology driven growth model has not only helped UPS strengthen its current business, but also allowed diversification into varied business arenas. UPS’ subsidiaries now provide and supporting other services such as venture capital management and aviation equipment and professional services according to the client requirements.
Founded in 1907 as a messenger company, United Parcel Service has grown into a world renowned provider of specialized transportation and logistics services. This multi-billion corporation enables and manages the flow of goods, information, and funds to over 200 countries and territories around the globe (UPS.com, 2013). Air, freight, oceanic is just a few of the modes that UPS uses to move the flow of goods around the globe. The company structure of UPS entails operations in three segments: U.S. Domestic Package operations, International Package operations, and Supply Chain & Freight operations. It’s just about an everyday occurrence to see an brown UPS truck on the road as we go about our everyday lives, the U.S. Domestic Package operations are comprised of delivery of documents, packages, and letters around the United States. The International Package operation delivers specifically outside the United States. Providing deliveries to the world’s major business hubs up to three times a day, UPS can deliver packages to at the best time possible for their customers. UPS has teamed up with the U.S. Commercial Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, to help customers get started exporting or increase their sales to new global markets (UPS.com, 2013). Partnering within a supply chain can prove to be very important in the success of the overall supply chain. Communication within a supply chain that flows freely between partners reduces in-efficiencies such as excess inventory (bullwhip effect), and lost profits. The Supply Chain & Freight operation within UPS entails forwarding and contract logistics operations and UPS Freight. As a freight forwarder they organize shipments from various sources to their final p...
Porter, Michael E. "From competitive advantage to corporate strategy." Harvard Business Review (1987): 43-59. Print. May 2014.
Business depends very critically upon Fed Ex. If Fed Ex had a major disruption to their delivery system, flowers would not be delivered on time, resulting in dissatisfied customers. For example, if Fed Ex employees went on strike, there would be no alternative equivalent to Fed Ex to deliver flowers to customers. UPS, although an alternative, did not deliver perishable products in the same timely fashion as Fed Ex.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The suppliers who provide the boxes and envelopes most likely sale the products in bulk, this is economies of scale and allows UPS to sale them at a cheaper price.
This rating as well as many others factors have lead to the success of the United Parcel Service. The current status of the company reflects the strength of the their competitive position. The leaders of the current which include James Kelly, Michael L. Eskew, and John A. Duffy have set an example for anyone who is interested in management as a career. Their tactical maneuvers are first rate. This company succeeded because of the drastic communication advances. The customer is ultimately satisfied with the reliability of UPS to deliver on time. This is the marketing factor that sets UPS a step above the competition All decisions were made in the respect that the company would continue to bring the customer more than they expected. In turn United Parcel Service is an extremely profitable corporation. The environment provided by UPS keeps customers, employees, and managers working hard to keep up the high standards set by todays’ customers.
All choices made by Seven-Eleven are structured to lower its transportation and receiving costs. For example, its area-dominance strategy of opening at least 50 to 60 stores in an area helps with marketing but also lowers the cost of replenishment. All manufacturing facilities are centralized to get the maximum benefit of capacity aggregation and also lower the inbound transportation cost from the manufacturer to the distribution center (DC). Seven-Eleven also requires all suppliers to deliver to the DC where products are sorted by temperature. This reduces the outbound transportation cost because of aggregation of deliveries across multiple suppliers. It also lowers the receiving cost. The information infrastructure is set up to allow store managers to place orders based on analysis of consumption data. The information infrastructure also facilitates the sorting of an order at the DC and receiving of the order at the store. The key point to emphasize here is that most decisions by Seven-Eleven are structured to aggregate transportation and receiving to make both cheaper.