UPS: Making Air Package Deliveries Essay

In early August of 1997 the United Parcel Service (UPS) had a predicament on its hands, a teamsters strike. UPS, the world 's largest package distribution company was coming off a year [1996] in which they reported sales of $22.4 billion. UPS Employed 75,000 management and non-union employees compared with 185,000 teamsters who are part of the AFL-CIO that were going on strike. The teamsters rejected a contract extension offer from the company leaving the fate of millions of packages carrying everything from lobsters to laser printers up in the air (Johnson).

UPS's primary business is the time-definite delivery of packages and documents worldwide. In recent years, UPS has extended its service portfolio

UPS proposed a plan that would increase the monthly pension benefits for full and part-time employees an average of 50 percent. The current pension plan benefited thousands of teamsters retirees that never even worked for UPS . Basically, UPS wanted UPS dollars to go to UPS people (UPS vs Teamsters). Before the strike, in many regions UPS participated in multi-employer benefit plans in which several shipping employers jointly pay for employee benefits. If one employer goes out of business or gets behind on payments, the other employers must compensate for the loss. This explains why it is said that UPS pays for the retirement and benefits of people that never worked for them (Business News New Jersey).

The Company currently known as United Parcel Service, founded in 1907 by Claud Ryan and Jim Causey two teenagers with a big idea and not much money. They started the venture by running errands, carrying notes, and local deliveries by foot. As time passed and technology grew the company evolved into delivering packages. Very quickly “Merchants Parcel Delivery” built a strong reputation based on customer service and the care that they gave to each package. In 1919, they became “United Parcel Service”, and started domestic expansion. By the 1920s UPS was changing in response to their external environment. They soon started offering unique features such as daily pickups. During the time leading up to World War II, the United States suffered a major fuel shortage.

United Parcel Service (UPS) was founded in 1907 as a messenger company. It has grown into a multi-billion dollar corporation. Today UPS is a global company and one of the most admired and recognized brands in the world. UPS has become the largest delivery package company and leading provider of specialized transportation and logistics services in the world.

The United Parcel Services share of the marketplace commands attention: -400,000 (+) employees -$51.5 billion earned 2008 -14% profit margin -90,000 vehicles and 268 jets -Operations in over 200 countries (Thomas, Linder, & Dutra, 2006). Organization has allowed UPS to operate in financial, retail, technology and nonprofit markets as well as logistics. Management Leads with the philosophy of talent cultivation through long-term employment relationships, developing committed, aligned and experienced partners. 54% of full-time drivers started as part-time. 68% of management was promoted from within. 78% of Vice-presidents once held non-management positions with UPS (Thomas et al., 2006). Controlling within UPS develops around the standard of constructive dissatisfaction, the belief that all process can be improved on and all parameters may be extended. Constructive dissatisfaction, a culture of ownership along with continual training and market awareness keep UPS a pioneer. External Factors Globalization has empowered UPS to update their strategy to synchronizing global commerce: of goods, information and funds (Thomas et al., 2006). Once a local delivery service, now UPS is recognized globally, embracing diversity with owners and customers in from every nation. Concerned with environmental impact of big business, UPS has cut carbon emissions, from airliners, 22% since 1990, and plans to cut

In its quest for efficiency, UPS experienced several major strikes resulting from changes in labour practices and driver requirements.

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

UPS has announced that after more than 90 years as a private company, it was planning an initial public offering to become a publicly traded company. In response to this, we will first analyze UPS¡¦s business strategy and it¡¦s sustainability of its current performance. Then we will look at key factors to estimate the UPS¡¦s market capitalization value using FedEx¡¦s multiples as well as ¡§best in breed¡¨ company premiums. From this, we concluded that UPS¡¦s IPO should create a market capitalization for UPS between $17,520 million and $30,415 million.

UPS also offers many services, including UPS Capital, UPS Consulting, UPS Logistics, UPS Professional Services, UPS Supply Chain Solutions, and UPS Mail Innovations.

UPS is a global package delivery business that specializes in not only managing the movement of goods, but the information and funds that moves with those goods in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. UPS’s target market is primarily U.S. companies that ship business to business via ground delivery and whose delivery time is not

Timely, accurate and competitively priced services are the key success factors for UPS. Moreover, the ability to provide low cost

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

UPS is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of supply chain solutions including transporting packages and freight, facilitating international trade, and deploying advanced technology to more efficiently

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