FedEx: Question 1

Q1. Company Overview of FedEx

Company background

FedEx Corporation is an American global courier delivery services company headquartered in Memphis, founded in 1971. It is one of the world's largest express transportation companies which provide a wide range of shipping service for documents, packages, heavy freight shipment and e-commerce services worldwide with annual revenues of $45 billion. Being the world’s most admired and trusted service provider ranked by customers, FedEx now employs over 300,000 workers to offer safety, ethical and professional service to satisfy customers’ needs, for instance, FedEx Express creates a global air-and-ground network to increase the speed of time-sensitive shipments within one to two business days with guaranteed delivery time.


Business Model

FedEx had invested heavily in IT system to help customers to take advantage of international markets, for example, it is the first transportation company to launch website for customers to conduct business via the Internet. Besides, advancement in IT promotes the globalization of commerce which enhances the trend for online shopping. In this way FedEx had offered a service called FedEx Home Delivery to catch up the needs of business-to-consumer market.

The followings are types of E-commerce model FedEx are now using:
1. Business-to-business (B2B)
2. Business-to-consumer (B2C)
3. Consumer-to-consumer (C2C)

Customers

FedEx Express provides fast and reliable delivery to every U.S. address and to more than 220 countries and territories around the world. It needs to handle more than 3.9 million packages and 11 million pounds of freight volume every day2. Here are some examples of FedEx’s customers:

Dell Computers

FedEx has designed a system which assists Dell to pioneer the direct selling model of personal computer. FedEx cooperates with Dell to allow customized, built-to-order products to be delivered within days after placing an order by a customer. In this way, Dell can reduce the risk of producing too much obsolete products and gain competitive advantage in computer industry.


National Semiconductor Corp.

National Semiconductor Corp. has outsourced its warehousing and distribution to FedEx. After controlling the goods, warehouse and dispatch of orders completely, FedEx can pack and fulfill orders automatically which helps NatSemi to reduce the average customer delivery cycle and distribution cost.


Omaha Steaks

FedEx would help Omaha Steaks to generate tracking and shipping label after receiving the order from its computer system and then deliver to FedEx’s regional hubs for onward delivery.

Cisco Systems

FedEx created a unique system to Cisco to reduce its shipping and warehouse cost. The system automatically selects routes and picks the most effective and economical mode of transportation to ship the parts to the customer site once each part was manufactured.

Comparison of competitors

	UPS	DHL	TNT
Founded	1907	1969	1946
Headquarter	United States	Germany	Netherlands
Area serviced	Worldwide	Worldwide	Worldwide
Service provided	1.Express service, 2.Freight Transportation, 3.Supply Chain Solution, 4.Specialty Services (technical repair and configuration etc)	1.Express service, 2.Freight Transportation, 3.Supply Chain Solutio	1.Express service, 2.Freight Transportation, 3.Industry Solution, 4.Outsourced service (project management etc)
Revenue	$US 54.1 billion in 2012	$EUR 13.5 billion in 2013	$EUR 6.7 billion in 2013
Employees	397600	285000	65000

 

Reference:
FedEx, n.d.. Who is FedEx?. Available from: <http://www.fedex.com/hk_english/about/who.html>[14 Mar 2014]

FedEx, n.d.. FedEx Facts. Available from: <http://www.fedex.com/hk_english/about/facts.html>[14 Mar 2014]

UPS, n.d..Worldwide. Available from: <http://www.ups.com/content/hk/en/about/facts/worldwide.html>[14 Mar 2014]

DHL, n.d.. Company Portrait. Available from: <http://www.dhl.com/en/about_us/company_portrait.html>[14 Mar 2014]

TNT, n.d.. About TNT Express. Available from: <http://www.tnt.com/express/en_hk/site/home/about_us/about_tnt_express.html>[14 Mar 2014]