Airborne Express 9

During the 1980s, the air express industry was a medium to attractive industry to already be a major player in, but not a very attractive industry to try and break into. The industry can be characterized by high rivalry from competitors who compete on the same services with very little differentiation, medium power from suppliers who supply the resources necessary to run the business, high buyer power because customers can basically find an equal service from any firm in the industry, low substitution threat from other means of shipping transportation, and low threat of new entrants due to the high initial capital outlay and need of management

The industry is defined as the Domestic US Express Mail industry. This includes overnight and second day delivery. In order to assess the attractiveness of the industry, a Porters' Five Forces analysis has been conducted as follows.

Horizontal analysis allows side by side comparisons on a year to year basis to determine the performance from one year to the next. The company decides on standards to compare the results of the analysis. Standards are researched by checking competitors, internet research of general industry guidelines or standards created from past experience in the company.

In this report we focus on the two main competitors in the package delivery industry: Federal Express Corporation (FedEx) and United Parcel Service of America, Inc.

What was Airborne’s long term strategy to address low willingness to pay among its target customers?

Simply put, the horizontal analysis compares specific line items on a financial statement to a base year and computes a percentage change for the year in question. Our horizontal analysis here uses 2013 as the base year and looks at subsequent change relative to that. On the income statement, we should be cheered Amazon’s strong 43.72% growth in net sales between 2013 and 2015, which

Rivalry among established companies: This industry is highly consolidated with only 3 major players - somewhat an oligopoly. The industry is also characterized by numerous price wars between the 2 giants, namely, UPS and FedEx. Rest of the companies generally follow the trends set by these two firms or fall out. The exit barriers to this industry are high. This is due to the investments in hubs, vans, jets and other capital extensive infrastructure.

If these companies were to gain first-mover advantages, then Airborne could be shut out from the international market. The final threat stems from UPS’ next move to recoup its losses experienced during strikes. Airborne must be cautious in order to sustain its customer base, by adjusting accordingly to UPS’

Airborne Express has long differentiated itself in the market by structuring itself as a big business only carrier. They have specialized in large unit deliveries through metropolitan areas. Everything they do is aimed to optimize the delivery process and slash cost where ever possible. However, Airborne is now faced with a huge decision. They must decide whether to step away from their differentiation strategy to match the new pricing tactics of the market UPS and FedEx or to continue the old norm of delivery pricing. The new distance-based pricing strategy threatens Airborne’s consistent strategy to cut prices. Clients will seek to ship packages at the lowest cost. The short distance deliveries will be ruled by UPS and FedEx since they are the once who are

Launched just 8 years ago, today, the Jetstar Group consists of a network of value-based air carriers that deliver high quality air passenger services for budget-minded travelers across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region. Beginning with just 400 employees, the company currently employs more than 7,000 people and carries about 20 million passengers a year. To gain some insights into how the Jetstar Group achieved this impressive growth in such a short amount of time, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature concerning the air passenger industry in general and the business strategy used by the Jetstar Group in particular. A summary of the research and recommendations for this company are provided in the paper's conclusion.

Fourthly, The Airborne maintained low prices, provided tailored services and achieved higher efficiencies and lower cost in order to long run and remain competitive in the market. So, Airborne targeted business customers who shipped frequently and was able to better serve them through repetition and experience including using customization codes to provide tailored service to specific large business accounts. Moreover, Airborne had a high concentration of customers in metropolitan area and a high percentage of afternoon and second day deliveries, permitting it to use ground shipping more often than its competitors and save up to two-thirds the cost of air shipping (Exhibit 8). Finally, Airborne had total control of its airport hub, which is design as per the needs and expand to enclose warehouse space for its business customers. Furthermore, Airborne achieved greater efficiency in its shipping by utilizing 80% of shipping space therefore; Airborne lowered cost not having retail service centers, using independent contractor van services and it was more efficient by picking up and delivering more parcels per stop than FedEx. Hence, Airborne becomes a stronger competitor in the market due to low prices and provided excellent service to the customers.

FedEx has not fared as well as UPS in financial performances. FedEx¡¦s total revenue has grown 60% from 1996 to 1999 while their net income has doubled in the same period. FedEx¡¦s acquisition of RPS will challenge UPS for the ground delivery business and affect the sustainability of UPS¡¦s advantage in the ground deliver business. FedEx has been competing well in the higher-end, high-service segment of the package delivery market. Although, digitations of documents and emergence of electronic signatures is threatening the express business which FedEx has the advantage over UPS.

In conclusion American Airlines continues to be the epitome of what utilizing all the knowledge and technology advances that one has to conquer success in the given field. And is the ideal example of what best practices

Airborne Express has many options available for sustainable growth and success in the coming years. After the recent 29% increase in revenue over the past year, there are opportunities to take into consideration that will boost this growth for the fourth quarter. This company should join the “industry trend” of distance-based pricing. This will result in higher revenues, and will give Airborne Express a more substantial budget to merge with Roadway Package System in order to create a more technologically advanced tracking system. This

Horizontal analysis is also known as trend analysis. It is a financial statement analysis method that demonstrates changes in the amounts of equivalent financial statement items over a period of time. Moreover, it is a useful tool in order to assess the trend situations in an effective and a more comprehensive manner. It involves the statements for two or more periods to evaluate trend situations. This analysis may be conducted for income statement, balance sheet, schedules of current & fixed assets, and statement of retained earnings of an organization (Wainwright, 2012).