1. From the point of view of the industry incumbents, is the express mail industry attractive? How has Airborne survived, and recently prospered, in its industry? Is its success attributable to its capabilities, its position, or industry attractiveness?
The express mail industry can easily be considered an inherently tough industry to operate within given the myriad of factors that come into play, such as unions, government regulations, cost of technological advancement, and international borders to name a few. Despite this, the industry could be seen as offering opportunities, which could be seized by attracting customers based on the quality of the service being offered. Consequently, this also encouraged mimicking between
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Conversely, they could be shipped to hubs (which passengers did not do like today) where they would be sorted during the night and then sent onwards to their final destination from there thus offering overnight services.
Fred also benefitted from being a first mover in the express mail industry. UPS that had been offering delivery services since the beginning of the 20th century. However, they had only relied on their ground network and did not establish their own fleet of aircraft until the early 80’s, after RPS had shook their existence and after seeing how fast Fedex’s business was growing. Being a first mover enabled Fred to start small and grow the business in line with demand. Fedex did not have to catch up to an industry incumbent since he was the one inventing the express mail airfreight business. If not, it would have called for a much greater investment and made it more difficult for him to penetrate an existing market. UPS on the other hand was able to enter the market since they were an established company with means to invest heavily in this new service. It is also likely that by being an early entrant, it also made it somewhat easier for UPS to start their own fleet than it would be for anybody to make that same attempt today, not omitting the fact that they had great experience in delivery services at that point as well.
3. Quantify Airborne's sources of competitive advantage.
a) First, explain in detail the cost position
If I were the current CEO for the United States Postal Service, I would be gravely concerned about the future of my business, as it has recently taken a steep plummet from its success and popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries. The USPS is now faced with the decision to renovate itself due to the extreme loss of business as technology takes over the 21st Century. Some say that the USPS should be entirely reconstructed because the business is only headed further downhill, while others say that paper mail is still very practical, more so than e-mail, and we must each write more letters to do our part in reviving the business to profitability again. Because the USPS has been such a vital part of our country through
r market by entering into strategic code-sharing agreements with international carriers, such as Cathay Pacific , and American Airlines
The $45billion US domestic delivery market could be categorized into 2 segments. These consisted of letters weighing 0 to 2
Q1. How and why has the express mail industry structure evolved in recent years? How have the changes affected small competitors?
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
Air Canada has been in the business of air transport for an extended period of time. Due to the experience and the exposure of the carrier in the field, it has made a commendable progress through many strategies as well as customer proximity. One of the approaches taken by the airline involves the identification as well as an implementation of cost reduction initiatives in a bid to increase revenue from its operations (Air Canada, 2016). It is also attempting to connect with the existing carriers across the world to connect the current customers to the international world. This approach has been adopted to increase its competitive advantage over other existing airlines.
For over two centuries, people relied on the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way to receive their letter and packages from people around the country. It is their only way where a person can obtain a parcel when there are no technologies to assist them. Nowadays, in the modern world, there are different kinds of ways where one can receive a package or a letter, from an email or other companies. This results in the USPS decreasing its values. In order for the USPS to keep up with the fast-paced society, it should consider changing their ways of working.
Royal Mail is the largest provider of postal services in the United Kingdom and one of the largest postal service providers in the world. This paper analyzes
For instance, Canada's federal government has delegated the responsibility for airports to local authorities. As a result, many Canadian airports have transformed into brighter, cleaner, and more modern facilities that have become more expensive to operate 3. Canada’s airports have spent more than $9.5 billion on improvements since 19922. According to the CEO of Transat A.T. Inc, “it costs three times as much for an airline to land in Pearson Airport in Toronto as at Charles-de-Gaulle in Paris” 2. Such high landing fees have made Pearson and other major Canadian airports less desirable landing destinations; increasing costs for airlines, and as a result, often increasing prices for consumers. Pearson Airport is West Jet’s “second-largest hub and main connection point in Eastern Canada” and almost half of its destinations are to Canadian airports2, Such high costs of landing in major Canadian cities require that WestJet finds more ways to cut costs and remain the cost leader in its industry.
For the US Express Mail industry, the overall threat of new entry is very low. The following list and explanation captures the difficulty an entrepreneur might face in trying to penetrate the express mail market:
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.
1. How would you describe Boeing’s approach to project management? What are its strengths and weaknesses?
Airborne Express the current underdog in the express mail business has been able to compete with market leaders due to innovation and optimization strategy. The company built on cutting cost and emphasizing reliability now faces pressure from the leaders UPS and FedEx to change their pricing strategy. This change from standard rate pricing to distance-based pricing puts Airborne in a dilemma in which they must choose to match the competition which will make them lose what sets them apart in the market or stay with the current strategy. Changing will increase their flexibility and could open them up to new consumers while staying the same
4. Fixed Costs: This is an industry with high fixed costs (hub operations and airplanes) and these costs have already been incurred by Federal Express. To establish economies of scale it is sensible to continue offering a profitable product such as Courier Pak.