FedEx's Successful Strategies In Asia: Acquisitions, Rebranding, And IT Implementation Essay.

1. Briefly discuss why FedEx been so successful in Asia?
2. Can competitors imitate FedEx’s approach in international markets and take market share away from the company? Critically evaluate?
3. Is the FedEx move to close its hub in the Philippines and build a new one in China a good decision for its Asian operations? Critically discuss.
4. Identify the application of the managerial functions of planning, organizing and controlling in FedEx activities? With reference to key literature, please explain. 

Understanding Customer Needs in Asia

1. FedEx had been successful in understanding the changes which have taken place in the needs of customers and further has developed strategies which can be helpful for the company to fulfil their needs. The organization is known to implement successful strategies in Asia which have further played a major role in the position which it has developed in the industry. The organization had become a premier carrier providing its services in Asia. The potential of Asian region was identified in an effective manner by FedEx. The company had taken a risky decision of acquiring an organization named Tiger International Inc. in order to operate in the Asian market in a profitable manner (Beall and Morris 2015). This was a major decision which proved to be a turning point for the organization.

FedEx was thereby able to gain immense levels of success in the industry and had control over the Asian market as well. The organization further expanded its operations by buying its partner organization in China, Tanjin Datian W Group. FedEx had been able to gain complete control over the entire operations in Asia. The services which were offered to the customers in different Chinese cities were controlled by FedEx after the company took control over its partner in China. The Asian hub of FedEx was also shifted to China so that the company is able to gain ultimate level of control over the area (Cannavale 2017).

The main aim of FedEx behind shifting its Asian Hub in China was based on the seamless services which the company expected to provide to its customers in the country. In the year 2004 FedEx had rebranded different businesses which operated under the company with the aim to increase the awareness of its operations among the customers. The proper implementation of different IT based systems had also played a major role in the ways by which the company is able to provide tough competition to the other organizations in the industry. The IT systems that have been implemented by FedEx have provided effective opportunities to the company to connect with the customers and ensure its success in the industry as well (Cavusgil and Knight 2015).

2. According to Clark, Kim and T. Fujimoto (1991), the major approach which was undertaken by FedEx was mainly based on the ways by which the company increased its Asian operations by understanding the potential of the market. The organization aimed at providing best levels of services to the customers by moving its operations closer to the areas of services. The organization has been providing a wide portfolio of services to the customers including, transportation, business solutions and e-commerce. The various services that are provided to the customers are based on various businesses of the company that include, FedEx Express, FedEx Freight, FedEx Ground, FedEx Services. These services provided by FedEx cannot be imitated by other organizations easily.

As discussed by Ebata (2018), the major reason behind the lack of effective competition that can be provided to FedEx is based on the levels of resources which are gained by the companies. FedEx had been able to develop its customer base before the advent effective competitors in different Asian countries. The organization has not been affected in a huge manner by the entry of different competitors. The competitors of FedEx will thereby not be able to succeed in affecting the revenues and profitability based levels of the company. The sector of freight and package based services is highly competitive in nature and the organizations which are able to provide major levels of competition to FedEx are Amazon and United Parcel Service.

Acquisitions and Expansion in the Asian Market

According to Fayos Gardó, Calderón García and Mollá Descals (2015), FedEx has however gained a competitive advantage in the industry due to the duration of its operations as compared to the other organizations. This advantage has been quite helpful for the company in order to maintain the levels of its profitability in an effective manner. The organization has been expanding the solutions which are provided to the customers in order to maintain its position.

The competitors are not capable of imitating the approaches which have been taken by FedEx in order to provide them the competition to the company. The ways by which FedEx has been able to develop the customer base in different areas of the world and mainly Asia has made the company quite strong. The strength of its operations in the industry has been based on the understanding which the management of FedEx has about the changing needs of the consumers (Hamel 2007).

3. According to Child (1976), FedEx had taken the decision of closing its hub in Philippines and moving it to China in order to develop its Asian operations effectively. The organization has been able to develop its operations in the Asian market with the help of effective levels of resources. Most important part of the operations conducted by the company were analysing the demands of the customers. The organization also aimed at increasing its fleet in order to increase its reach and speed of services as well. The development of a hub closer to the areas of operations enabled FedEx to reach the smaller cities of China as well. The reach of the company was thereby increased in an effective way with the help of the movement of its hub.

As discussed by Chiva, Ghauri and Alegre (2014), the company aimed at reaching a higher number of customers within less time with the proper location of the hub. The distribution and supply based activities of an organization are able to affect their profitability and revenues. FedEx had aimed at increasing the revenue levels of the company by developing the hub within China itself. The costs based on services which are offered to the customers are thereby reduced effectively by the reduction in the distance of location of the hub. FedEx had been able to analyse the growth opportunities which are provided by China related to different services offered to the customers. The decision made by FedEx based on movement of its operations to China had proved to be helpful for the company.

4. According to Hotho, Lyles and Easterby?Smith (2015), the process of management is based on different functions which are an important part of the social process of the organizations. This process is based on the responsibility which needs to be fulfilled by the company for the effective and economic planning of the operations of the organization. The different fundamental functions of the management include, planning, organizing, actuating and controlling. The new model based on the managerial functions of organizations depict different functions like, planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.

IT Implementation and Rebranding

As discussed by Knight (2015), the case study of FedEx has been able to depict the three major managerial functions that include, planning, organizing and controlling. Planning is considered to be the most important part of the management process and different actions which are required to be taken by the companies. Another major managerial function which is performed by the companies is termed as organizing. This function is able to bring different aspects of the organizations together which include financial aspects, physical aspects and the human resource aspects.

As discussed by Chiva, Ghauri and Alegre (2014), the organizing based function of the modern companies include different parts like, the identification of different activities, classification based on the grouping of activities, assigning the duties, delegation of the authority and coordination of authority. The controlling based function on the other hand is related to the ways by which the management tends to set standards based on performance of employees and to ensure that they achieve the goals or standards.

According to Child (1976), in the case of FedEx, the planning based managerial function had been depicted when the company had started its operations in Asia. The organization was successful in recognising the growth based opportunities which are provided by the Asian market which was quite less competitive in nature. The planning process includes different decisions which were taken by the company based on the implementation of effective strategies. The acquisition of different organizations by FedEx was also an important part of the planning function of managerial process. The organization has been able to maintain the levels of its profitability with the help of different acquisition based activities. The implementation of IT based systems is also considered to be a part of planning related functions of FedEx.

According to Fayos Gardó, Calderón García and Mollá Descals (2015), organizing based functions of FedEx are based on ways by which the company has developed different organizational processes. The international growth of the company had been facilitated by the implementation of proper technologies in different processes. The proper process of organizing the hub by shifting it close to the area of operations is considered to be a major part of the operations of FedEx in the industry. The managers had also been able to recognise that there was an immense level of need for providing immediate response to the needs of consumers. The proper development of organizing based functions had been helpful in formation of an effective supply chain of the company.

The controlling based function which has been undertaken by FedEx is based on the ways by which the organization is able to maintain its profitable operations in the industry by maintaining the levels of customer service. The case study based on FedEx has thereby been able to depict the different types of managerial functions of FedEx including, planning, organizing and controlling (Hamel 2007).

References:

Beall, A.J. and Morris, J.L., 2015. Internationalization of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Barriers and Economic Incentives. The Exchange, 4(2), p.47.

Cannavale, C., 2017. Post-Bureaucratic Firms' Internationalization: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. In Evolution of the post-bureaucratic organization (pp. 126-151). IGI Global.

Cavusgil, S.T. and Knight, G., 2015. The born global firm: An entrepreneurial and capabilities perspective on early and rapid internationalization. Journal of International Business Studies, 46(1), pp.3-16.

Child, J., 1976 Participation, organisation and social cohesion, Human Relations, vol. 29, No. 5, May

Chiva, R., Ghauri, P. and Alegre, J., 2014. Organizational learning, innovation and internationalization: A complex system model. British Journal of Management, 25(4), pp.687-705.

Clark, Kim B. and T. Fujimoto., 1991 Product Development Performance, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.

Ebata, M., 2018. The internationalization of the Extreme right. In The Extreme Right (pp. 220-249). Routledge.

Fayos Gardó, T., Calderón García, H. and Mollá Descals, A., 2015. Internationalization of SME retailer: barriers and the role of public support organizations. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 43(2), pp.183-200.

Hamel, G., 2007 The Future of Management, Harvard Business School Pub., Boston.

Hotho, J.J., Lyles, M.A. and Easterby?Smith, M., 2015. The mutual impact of global strategy and organizational learning: Current themes and future directions. Global Strategy Journal, 5(2), pp.85-112.

Knight, J., 2015. Internationalization brings important benefits as well as risks. International Higher Education, (46).

Mudalige, D., Ismail, N.A. and Malek, M.A., 2018. Exploring the Role of Individual Level and Firm Level Dynamic Capabilities in SMEs’ Internationalization. Journal of International Entrepreneurship, pp.1-34.