Monday, April 26, 2010

Organizational Structure and Control

FedEx investments in competitive market research is high, systematic and constant. They are continuously tracking competitor movement in the market. They are a centralized organization with annual business planning processes that are initiated by their corporate headquarters in Memphis and Atlanta. Through all the integrators driven by the long term global growth in trade and economic productivity, FedEx has been able to maintain their independence. They have adopted a strong centralized command and control structure from the beginning and this has given the corporation ultimate success.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Corporate Governance

Organizational Chart- FedEx

Fred Smith- CEO, Chairman
Robert Carter- Chief Information Officer
Alan Graf- CFO
Kenneth Masterson- General Counsel
T. MIchael Glenn- VP Corporate Communications

The board of directors sits in conjunction with the vice presidents and is responsible for any array of activities such as auditing, executive compensation, information technology oversight, and governance. Although FedEx Corporation is the parent company of the six independent business units, it still offers strategic leadership at corporate level and they operate on their own and therefore are solely responsible for their decisions and ultimate success. There are 12 people on the Board of Directors at FedEx.

Strategic Alliance

In 2007, FedEx Corp. and the National Basketball Association (NBA) extended their U.S. strategic marketing alliance, which made FedEx the "Official Air and Ground Delivery Service of the NBA." In support of its NBA alliance, FedEx formed endorsement agreements with five international NBA players to help their marketing strategy as well. In my personal opinion, I don't think there is a better way to advertise than to take a NBA star ,who many people admire, and advertise with their association. It is just brilliant! “When you combine the global reach of FedEx with the international diversity of our game, it presents us with an enormous platform to jointly market the NBA and FedEx to our fans.” By using strategic alliances and internal expertise, it ensures their value added products and services will integrate into "the best of the trades."

Friday, April 9, 2010

Global Strategies

FedEx definitely purses a global strategy. Giving that they are a delivery services this strategy fits them well. The FedEx global network spans 210 countries, broken down into 4 Express networks. FedEx does need to customize their service since it is standardized. This is consistent with their low cost structure approach that ties into a typical global strategy. Since they don’t have to raise costs for customizing their service, they are able to use their cost advantage for a successful aggressive pricing strategy. They are able to spend their resources on technology instead, maintaining their focus on the cutting edge and ability to deliver, rather than on customization. FedEx is correctly using a global strategy because they have a low cost structure , a global standardized service, and a few key locations in 210 countries.

FedEx Acquisitions

The most famous and well know merger and acquisition FedEx had acquired is Kinko's (FedEx Kinko's). Kinko's would fuel the retail out let expansion and driving growth of its transportation services. FedEx claimed that Kinko's would give them access to individuals and businesses lacking regular pickup from a FedEx driver. Most of us know it is no longer called FedEx Kinko's... It is now FedEx Office. The FedEx way of integration has proved itself over the years. The 1998 acquisition of Caliber System Inc. is just another example. Its subsidiary, the less-than-truckload carrier Viking Freight, formed the basis for FedEx Freight. FedEx is always testing its own mastery of the art of integrating new companies!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Corporate Level Strategy

FedEx is made up of six independent business units: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, FedEx Custom Critical, FedEx Trade Networks, and FedEx Services, each compete in different sectors of the transportation industry in order to tailor the entire FedEx service to best fit each customers needs.The business model that is followed at FedEx Corporation is "Operate independently, compete collectively." The vertical integration strategy is very aggressive for FedEx. Due to the amount of infrastructure they have, their competitive position is extremely strong. FedEx has great control over the over most of the distribution channels for their service. Although their vertical integration strategy is aggressive, FedEx still buy from independent suppliers and company owned suppliers. Most of these independent suppliers provide maintenance services to the air crafts, facilities, and ground vehicle support equipment.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Competition

The competition in the package delivery service is very global. FedEx Corporation's number one competitor is UPS (United Postal Service), but also competes with DHL, USPS (United States Postal Service) and a host of other smaller companies at home and abroad. Competition is not becoming more global due to the fact that companies are merging and the industry is consolidating. FedEx must make enormous investments in hubs, air and ground fleets, and trucking technology to stay on top of the competition. They try to stick out from their competitors by offering better quality shipping service. They continue to offer faster deliveries and expand their global network.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

FedEx- Cost Leadership or Differentiation

All corporation are constantly thinking about the different types of business-level strategy to help their business gain competitive advantage. FedEx has more of a differentiation strategy than a cost leadership. Cost leadership strategy is a set of actions taken to produce goods or services with features that are acceptable to customers at the lowest cost, relative to that of competitors. UPS is generally cheaper than FedEx. In this industry customers are very price sensitive. They are willing to go to the producer who will provide at the cheapest cost. FedEx is much more differentiated from its competitors on a global aspect. They stand at the top as far a global express delivery is concerned. FedEx offers the most support, money back guarantee, and the capability to pick up packages from the customers home. The also have differentiation in quality. They have spent a large amount of capital on their logistic and operations for its transportation system. This assures smooth coordination and deliveries which results in high levels of quality service.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

FedEx Sees Disruption Due to the Harsh Weather

FedEx said the company's Memphis hub and flight operations experienced disruptions due to the winter weather storm that rolled through Memphis Monday night. Although they still had staff on the ground and operating, there are some packages that might be delayed. According to FedEx, they have suspended "money-back guarantee for U.S. packages and shipments inbound into the U.S. from international locations with a delivery commitment of Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010," consistent with the provisions of the FedEx Service Guide. Logistic company's such as FedEx and UPS can see substantial losses in revenue due to the implements of bad weather. It is hard to deliver packages on icy roads and this causes FedEx to shut down operation in the areas that are not safe. Washington D.C. was hit hard by the winter storm and a FedEx spokesmen said, " we will hold the packages until they can be delivered." A good thing is that FedEx has been recently trading up nearly 3.5% at $79.22.

Federal Express: Business Summary

This is just a basic business summary of what we do and specialize in at Federal Express located in Memphis, TN. FedEx Corporation provides transportation, e-commerce, and business services in the United States and internationally. It operates in four segments: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, and FedEx Services. The FedEx Express segment offers various shipping services for the delivery of packages and freight. This segment also provides international trade services specializing in customs brokerage, and ocean and air cargo distribution; customs clearance services, as well as global trade data, an information tool that allows customers to track and manage imports; and international trade advisory services, including assistance with the customs-trade partnership against terrorism program, as well as publishes customs duty and tax information in various customs areas. The FedEx Ground segment provides business and residential ground package delivery services. It primarily serves customers in the small-package market in North America. The FedEx Freight segment offers less-than-truckload freight services, as well as shipment carrier services. The FedEx Services segment provides sales, marketing, information technology support, and customer service support; document solutions and business services, as well as provides access to copying and digital printing, professional finishing, document creation, signs and graphics, direct mail, Web-based printing, Internet access, computer rentals, videoconferencing, and a range of day-definite ground shipping and time-definite global express shipping services; and supply chain solutions, including critical inventory logistics, transportation management, fulfillment, and fleet services. (finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=FDX)