Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Finance - Essay Example The interstate and intrastate deregulation of the trucking industry in 1980 and 1994 that helped expand the industry from mere trucking of goods to lifting them by air that paved the way of the modernization of the package and parcel industry. UPS (United Postal Service) One of the companies that were established early was UPS (United Postal Service) which was known as UPS Air Operations back 1929. It closed shop during the recession and resumed operations in 1953 albeit its air operations were only limited to East and West coasts. By 1978, it was already operational in every state and was granted an authorization by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration to have its own aircraft. Fedex The second player to follow UPS in the package and parcel industry is Fedex which was incorporated in 1971 but only became operational on April 17, 1973. The name Fedex was derived from Fedreal Express at a time when its founder Fred Smith was in the process of securing a contract with Federal Reser ve Bank. Fedex begun international operations by 1975 and grew rapidly when it acquired Tiger International Inc. in 1989 and Caiiber System in 1998 which is now known as Fedex Ground. It also went early in the Chinese market when it acquired Evergreen Internation Airline’s cargo authority to deliver in China. Perhaps the multitude of services that delivery and package industry now offers to its customer can be attributed to Fedex because it first introduced services that we are now familiar today such as same day and next delivery, delivery guarantee, etch. DHL and TNT The other two competitors in package and parcel industry are DHL and TNT. DHL however differentiates itself from Fedex because it is more focused on the international market unlike UPS which caters to both. Its customer bases are located in Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Australia and Africa. Due to its focus on the international market, DHL was also the first company to provide China an express transporta tion service. TNT is also player in the package and parcel industry that like DHL is more focus on its international market. II. Evolution of the company's competitive position   Although Fedex’s entered in the industry later than UPS, it was however the pioneer of the many innovative services that are now practiced in the industry. It also started in the US domestic market but has geographically expanded its operation in a short period of time. It only started operations in 1973 but already had an international presence 16 years later (1989) with the acquisition of Tiger International Inc and Evergreen International Airlines. But perhaps it is Fedex’s innovativeness that revolutionized its competitive position. Many of the idea and the many options that customers enjoy now about parcel and package delivery were Fedex’s ideas. Fedex introduced the same day, next day delivery, deferred time specific delivery options, delivery guarantees and even the idea of tra cking numbers on monitoring the movements of packages and parcels. In addition to the traditional parcels and packages, Fedex also transcended its services to logistics and financial services. Having said this, it would be safe to conclude that the Fedex’s competitive position is brought and hedged on its innovativeness. III. Competitive position