Dhl: Past, Present and Future

UPS had a previous attempt at entering into India. During a period of neglect, they allowed DHL to partner with Blue dart. Together, Blue dart and DHL had three times the market share of the next largest competitor. With a renewed global strategy, UPS is now trying to enter India again but faces competition. India has a lack of infrastructure which makes in hard to streamline the distribution and supply chain.There are some issues with delivering packages to India. There are second mover issues, perception of UPS, a highly regulated economy, and service to rural areas. I think UPS needs to invest in India so they create a positive presence in India. This will allow them to gain market share there

In 1975 UPS reached a milestone in that it could promise to deliver a package to every address in the US. The same year the company expanded outside the US with its first delivery to Ontario Canada. The following UPS began service in West Germany with 120 of its trademark delivery brown vans.

DHL is also the specialist for services that include fast shipments to the far and hard to reach corners of the world, with hubs situated in Nairobi and Bahrain. TNT’s focus lies on international markets as well, however focuses its efforts on Europe. Another second tier player is BAX Global who specialized in business-to-business heavy cargo. Earlier BAX Global was focused on the market for overnight letters, which resulted in large losses, till the strategy was shifted towards heavy cargo. The company RPS does not offer overnight delivery but focuses on two-day delivery and a cheap group network with a sophisticated information technology, targeting price-sensitive business customers.

United Parcel Service, a logistics company has established itself through its strong corporate culture, continuous ability to innovate, and its far-reaching global network. The company has maintained a competitive advantage over the years by implementing continuous growth strategies—the first was geographic expansion, next the early adaptation of electronic tracking technologies, and then came a series of acquisitions. Although UPS is financially strong and is able to maintain its role in the courier and delivery industry—it is vital that UPS continue to act strategically as to strive for long-term success. UPS is heavily dependent on the U.S. economy and it is important that it find greater and more profitable ventures

Throughout the 1990s UPS shifted from a national delivery company to a global company, this is credited to their entrance into the air delivery business. In 2001 United Parcel Service acquired Mail Boxes Etc. This led to the largest re-branding campaign in history and also initial entrance into the India Market.

UPS had been in existence for over one hundred and seven years. It was initially started by two individuals. These men started the company inside of the United States and it was initially a messenger company. Over the years, the company has experienced a tremendous amount of growth. It has evolved from a very small operation to a multi-billion dollar company. The amount of growth is attributed to how the company has concentrated its efforts and focused upon helping good to transported and shipped around the world.

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.

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.

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 was first established in 1973 as a logistic company with the name Federal Express that be created by founder and first CEO Frederick W Smith. The Headquarters is in Memphis, Tennessee in the US. The company became well known for its fast and reliable delivery service around the world. On its first night of operation FedEx delivered 186 bundles to 25 urban locations in the US with only 389 employees and a 15 Dassault Falcon aircraft. In 1980 FedEx purchased a system for live updates on the packages. In this system, FedEx drivers share the current locations from the trucks to provide updates of the packages to the customers. This information was sent to a central computer of FedEx then the company improved the update system by introducing FedEx.com webpage. This webpage allowed the tracking data to be easily accessible. However, recently, FedEx uses Savvy bundle for packing and tracking the products across couriers. (Baldwin, 2016)

Following considerable investment in new warehouse and carrier management systems the number and quality of delivery options had increased. Now delivery options include: same day, next day or standard delivery options that normally takes around 2-3 days. Also customers can set delivery date by themselves and if wanted can be notified via email or text alerts of delivery status. In addition 85% if orders are tractable

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.”

Delivering goods such as gifts, files, and documents has always been essential for businesses and personal purposes. Before internet marketing and technological innovations, sending parcels to another location wasn 't so simple. However now days, there is a constant increase of internet users which according to The World Bank, around 38.1 billion people surf on the cyberspace. This boosts online shopping and services increasing companies to aim to send their products to different places. Because sending packages, nationally or internationally, have been a consumption of great time and money, both enterprises and clients hope for faster and affordable ways which lead to the popularity of courier

UPS did not venture their business outside the United States until the mid-1970s. Canada and Germany were two of first locations UPS decided to expand their business (Rodrigue, n.d.). There were several cultural and logistical challenges that UPS faced when embarking on the expansion of their company into Germany. However, they maintained their core values and operating principles of UPS. Globalization wasn’t very profitable in the beginning of this expansion but UPS stay the course with their strategy and looked at

The biggest part of DHL 's businesses run in intracontinental and intra-Europe. DHL gain good position also in Pacific Asia, where has around 40 per cent of logistic market. DHL has only 7 per cent in US and where face to competition with major competitors FedEx, UPS and on this market also US Postal Service. DHL lost their customers during the complex air and hub consolidation investing millions of dollar in this market and this market will be not profitable until 2009.