FedEx is considered one of the most successful companies in the world. When founder Fred Smith was in college, he wrote a paper that outlined a system that would deliver time-sensitive items quickly (fedex.com). In 1971 his idea came to life and FedEx was born in Little Rock, Arkansas (fedex.com). In the 45 years they’ve been operating they still keep their “Purple Promise.” That’s the nickname of their motto to make every FedEx experience outstanding (fedex.com). Innovative services such as overnight shipping needed to match with excellent customer service.
Their website, which was founded in 1994 (wired.com), allowed customers to track their packages within seconds. Package tracking allows a customer to follow their packages and gives peace of mind that important items have met their destination. Prior to the inception of their website, a customer would have to call to track their package. While still an option, many people prefer the ease of tracking from their computers or smartphones. Their application Ship Manager can be installed on a customers’ website so they can determine shipping charges and print labels from home or the office (textbook, p. 22). Instead of nurturing an isolated environment from business owners, FedEx looks to integrate their services within a businesses’ management information system. "We allow customers to drag and drop names from their address books into FedEx Ship Manager," says FedEx CIO Robert Carter. The integration provided "makes the
Fedex is the fastest delivery service. Faster than me, faster than cheetahs, faster than god… I will let the decisions arise out of mental thought. All my life I have been blind to the facts, FedEx can deliver before they even know they delivered. Only when I walk in the distribution centers, I will understand the velocity at which these valiant men and women work to get the services one desires. Like a beehive on speed, the boxes and products are alive. Each with the their own story, a brave and exquisite on the path to satisfaction.
From the beginning UPS and FedEx both had very different strategies in the delivery industry. UPS was focused on ground transportation, as more of a substitute for United States Postal Service. UPS has over 100,000 ground transportation vehicles compared to only 20,000 ground vehicles in service at FedEx. The focus of FedEx has always been to be an air delivery company that is trying to pursue a strategy of being able to deliver a parcel the next day. FedEx proves this focus with nearly 700 jets in service compared to only 300 at rival UPS. FedEx and UPS both say the market of overnight delivery as the direction to pursue. UPS was able to accept this and move forward allowing its ground department to absorb the expense, while FedEx suffered a great deal and we hit with higher cost do to them having to hire independent contractors. Over the years, these two companies have changed their overall positioning strategy in the domestic delivery industry. As
By capitalizing on this strategy, FedEx was able to boost its average delivery volume in 1976 to 20,726 packages per day via its three services, Priority-One, Standard Air, and Courier Pack, compared with an average of 10,521 delivered daily the prior year. Clearly the company’s calculated use of strategically-located hubs, nighttime flight routes, and limited package size allowed the company to carve out a niche by reliably delivering packages on an immediate, overnight basis.
FedEx’s new product Courier Pak makes sense because of its’ high profit margin and potential to generate new volume. Out of the 3 services that Fed Ex provides, CP yields the highest profit margin at 66% while Priority-One is at 55% and SAS is only at 27%. In addition to this, the company believes that it will be able to boost up sale of CP from 1300 to 6000 packages per day. This shows that CP is the most profitable and huge potential for growth.
I chose FedEx, formerly Federal Express, as the company that I will be reporting on this semester. FedEx’s presence in my text books is quite frequent as an example of entrepreneurship and I hope to learn more about the business brain of Frederick Smith, the founder, chairman, president and CEO FedEx. I have several family members employed by FedEx and I have always been impressed on how they treat their employees even though they are not unionized. As a global enterprise, FedEx embraces and reflects the diversity of the communities they serve. Their culture fosters an environment where a person 's performance matters. FedEx is consistently recognized for its progressive and innovative policies, programs, benefits, and stimulating working environment.
Fred Smith, is the founder CEO of FedEx, the first overnight express delivery company in the world, and the largest in the nation. To really grasp the concepts that he used in the formation and launch of the company, we really should examine the story in his own words. A former Marine Aviation pilot in Vietnam, Smith founded Federal Express. In 1973, the company began offering service to cities, beginning with small packages and documents. The focus was upon developing an integrated air-ground courier system something that had never been done before. What guided Smith more than anything else according to his own words were the leadership qualities that he developed as a Marine officer in Vietnam that have guided his company from the beginning. These principles, plus his days at Yale came together in FedEx. In his philosophy, he tells his managers to rely on their subordinates, delegate and to praise in public for a job
Mark Twain once said, “The man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds”. This phrase could be applied to Fred Smith and Federal Express. From their beginnings in Little Rock, Arkansas in the early 70’s delivering 186 packages overnight to 25 U.S. cities, to three decades later parlaying it’s $20 billion dollar corporation into no less than five major operation companies. FedEx has become the world’s leader in global express transportation, providing fast delivery of documents, packages and freight shipments worldwide. As a result, the name “Fed Ex” is used in much the same manner as name “Band Aid” has today. Many use this term generically
The evolution of the express mail industry had become a quick on-time shipping and delivery of packages. The service had become effective, reliable, and prompt, which most of the top companies could deliver on these guaranteed promises 96-99% of the time. But, delivery services were only a portion of the services being offered to their customers. Carriers had mastered information management that they shared with their customers. Customers were now able to fill out labels, track the route of their package, and assisted in billing using both via carrier provided software or the Internet.
These are their daily volumes for those services. FedEx has many service areas. They service over 220 countries, territories and every single address in the U.S. FedEx tends to make more than 6 million package tracking requests daily. This is an outstanding number for a company dealing with packaging and locator with tracking numbers. Their express facility has 1,057 stations, and 10 air hubs. While their ground services has 32 hubs and over 500 pickup/delivery terminals. Freight has approximately 355 service centers and nearly 2,000 office locations. Despite all their services FedEx has a mission. Their mission is to produce outstanding financial returns for their shareowners. However, all customer requirements will be met while providing high value logistics, transportation and related business through operating companies. According to FedEx website, “FedEx will strive to develop mutually rewarding relationships with its employees, partners and suppliers” (About FedEx). Safety is their number one concerns and first considerations in all operations. However, all their corporate activities will be conducted according to the highest ethical and professional standards. FedEx values their people, service, innovation, integrity, responsibility, and most of all loyalty. This company strategy consists of three levels; compete collectively, operate independently, and manage collectively. These strategies will help the company accomplish their goals. Standing, as
Amidst Smith’s college days, he began to descry that the United States was conforming itself to become a service aligning economy.
In the case file for FedEx, Fred Smith the founder of FedEx mentions how business were having trouble figuring out how to get urgently needed packages to the right places quick and Smith knew that the need for business to move packages fast would only grow with time. From the beginning, FedEx was built on a foundation of obsessive customer focus (“FedEx,” 2015). Needs in marketing is the state of self-deprivation (Vander Schee, 2016). The tenacious pursuit of fulfilling customer needs in FedEx’s early days led to developing what is known at the company today as the purple promise, a
FedEx Corporation, situated in US, is one of the leading supply chain management solution providers in the world. With annual revenues as high as USD33 billion, the company offers incorporated business
FedEx is a logistical service company specialized in transportation, e-commerce and business services. The success of FedEx lies on an efficient information system. The business process is as follows:
Trends and opportunities of the parcel service industry include globalization, e-commerce, and supply-chain management. Internet logistics was FedEx and UPS’s fastest growing business. The internet enabled customers to link directly to retailers and their manufacturers. In 2001, parcel carriers served almost all of the online market. They were able to provide information on packages to customers through tracking systems on the web. This allowed customers to plan ahead and decrease delays in deliveries. It also allowed for faster transactions and lower communication costs. Parcel companies created partnerships with large Internet retailers. These partnerships allowed parcel service companies to expand its overall delivery volume. Parcel companies improved tracking by implementing several technological innovations. These included “laser scanners and bar codes, state of the art software programs, satellite and cell phone communication equipment, electronic information interchanges, and the Internet.”
Studying FedEx, UPS and their competitive relationship in the decade from mid - 80's to mid - 90's gives a good insight for the companies' and industry's future. The two companies have different strategic goals and are operating in the same industry but in different main markets: FedEx is working on "producing outstanding financial returns" and focuses on the overnight air market while UPS is looking for "earning reasonable profit" and its core business is the two-day ground delivery. However, by 1981, the two companies started to have a strong sense