The Use of Technology to Increase Efficiency of Services in UPS Company - Case Study Example

Case study about the UPS Company Name Professor Course Date Introduction This case study is about the UPS Company. The company deals in freight services, chain supply, and management. The business has been in service for decades and is currently among the major players in the market. The institution has experienced a number of successes and failures over its decades of existence in the market and is currently among the key players in the market. At the initial formation of this company, it only engaged in dealings with traditional package delivery. With time, it has expanded is wings in to a global commerce. The transition from the traditional small-scale services to offering of global services needed much considerations in terms of information, capital and goods (Brewster & Dalzell, 2007, Pg 23). The company since was among the key players in the industry, had a competitive advantage over the rest. This factor also compelled the administration to offer competitive services to its customers. The aim of this research is to find out the means through which this company can survive during these times when the economy is under toil and technological advancements rapidly taking place. The research materials used in this study was got from a number of sources. Such included the internet, library, magazines, articles and from people who are knowledgeable about the services offered by the UPS Company. Due to the popularity of this company, there are any sources of information regarding the nature of its services as well as its operations and reliability. Many people for over years have been living in doubt of the nature of services received from these people. Similarly, people were interviewed on their knowledge regarding this company. In this way, most of information regarding the operations of this company was collected. The library was also useful in collecting information regarding the nature of business this company is engaging in and the various concepts that the company can put in place to discover the best out of the company. All these research sources proved to be very effective in the provision of adequate information regarding these. Background of the UPS Company Founded on august 1907 as American Messenger Company by James Casey, at its initial stages, the company encountered a variety of challenges and competition hence making growth very difficult. Due to this influx of competition, this company decided to merge with another hence forming Merchants Parcel Delivery. Consequently, consolidated delivery was also introduced. This meant that all deliveries targeting a specific region or area were transported using a single vehicle. The name United Parcel Services was adopted in 1919 after introducing their services to California. Later on, these services were introduced to other cities like the New York and others more in the Midwest. In addition, the company had several vehicles that were used in delivery of these services. In the mid 1940s, the company acquired a common carrier charter; a kind of rights that enabled them to deliver these services to individual addresses, customers and other commercial and private institutions. This led to great profits and expansion, which made them compete favorably in the market against their competitors. Their logo, which greatly signifies their market existence and identity have also undergone a number of changes. These included constant changes that aimed at making it very competent. In 1970s, UPS services were extended to other states in the US and then relocated its headquarters to Greenwich. This move extended their boundaries in terms of market coverage and penetration. Their scope of operations also relatively increased hence making them among the best. In the late 80s, the company introduced airline services then moves its headquarter offices to Atlanta. This was followed by a series of aircraft acquisition, which signified a great expansion and cultivated many profits due to the large scale service delivery. The airlines acquired included sonic air and challenge air. Alongside these airlines, the company also merged other companies like the carryfast and Haul fast to make them compete favorably in the market. In 1999 November, UPS acquired a public company charter and began operating independently. This made them acquire many mailboxes to facilitate the nature of services offered. The subsequent years witnessed this company venturing heavily into commercial services and further purchased Menlo Worldwide Forwarding. They also acquired LYNX express, one of the major players in delivery services in the US (Gaughan, 2011, Pg 44). The company is currently among the most competent in the market and capable of offering excellent services. Plans are underway to purchase acquire the TNT Express company, a move that is likely to expand their scope and nature of services. This will also make it compote effectively against many firms that are venturing into the market. Major factors that led to transformation of the company The ever-changing trends in the economy have led to transformation of the company from one stage to another. This factor greatly made the management of this company to begin thinking critically about the ways of ensuring that the company embraces the emerging business trends. The company had to reposition itself to a point where it handled key issues in the market. These included Capital, goods, and adequate information regarding the nature of the market and customer needs. All these emerging trends enabled the organization to experience growth that made boost it to higher heights. The management of this company drew drivers of change from a few perspectives. One of the chief issues for transformation is taking a point of view from the perspective view of the united parcel Services company client; this involved developing and maintaining competitive advantage over its competitors. This also involves providing quality products for customers. Another point of view for the company transformation is from the internal united parcel service’s perspective. This involved approaching it from the internal factors. This in return boosts business productivity and making them have a huge market chunk in terms of shares. Most businesses and individuals need the services offered by logistic service providers irrespective of their services. This is majorly attributed to the fact that they lack adequate knowledge and expertise regarding supply chain management. Actually most business ideally posses the knowledge that their parcels are collected and delivered using trucks; they only have this literal meaning rather than the in depth processes involved in supply chain management. It is therefore paramount that they posses more knowledge of this bottom line processes to help improve the services of the company towards its customers as well as improvement of management services. For this reason, many businesses prefer outsourcing services from companies like the UPS. At the same time, they strive hard to maintain their positions and objectives. The UPS Company saw the need for a positive correlation for customer satisfaction and innovation through its experiences with customers. This prompted the company to perform its major operations to achieve its goals. The management of the company has laid down strategies that incorporate its mission statement and make it achieve the very best results. This has in turn positioned the company to meet the targeted needs of its employees efficiently. They have achieved this through constant and consistency in customer service provisions; adding value to the customer services and continually strengthening the leadership position. They have also ensured investment on new opportunities and key markets to ensure they expand their wings and achieve their desired market share. The company has laid down a strategy that enables it to maintain strong relationship with its clients as well as increasing return on investment for the shareholders alongside increasing market share. However, achieving this has not been the bread and butter for UPS Company, especially with the presence of its fierce competitors like the DHL and the FedEx companies, which also deal with similar services. The transformation process For every company, change is an inevitable factor and the strength of a company to stay ahead of their competitors in the market greatly determines their collapse or victory. The company therefore needs to stay ahead of their customer requirements always to make them more effective in their operations. They must be capable of moving the direction that their customers want. In this regard, they need to closely understand the market vis a vis the customer needs to enable them accomplish their desired tasks efficiently. This strategy rejuvenates the key objectives of this company, which is described in three lines, i.e. creating value for customer, ensuring business transformation, and making investment for growth. The company thus ends to analyze its internal competencies both strengths and weaknesses to facilitate the achievement of these goals (Hill & Jones , 2007, Pg 4). These are the only factors that led to expansion of the company from simple packaging to delivery of global packaging services. The company has analyzed its level of competence and ability to meet customer needs. They also had to form focus groups to assess their external environment to establish the factors that could easily make them achieve their goals. This analysis enabled the company to combine its strategies effectively, capabilities and the available resources to enable them compete favorably in the dynamic and ever changing environment, at the same time increasing value for goods for the customers (Kotler & Michi, 2009, Pg 37) UPS internal analysis majored mainly on its processes, capabilities in terms of physical infrastructures as well as its operations, which greatly constitutes it. The external factors that forced the UPS Company to change involved the manner in which businesses managed themselves as well as other economic changes that accrue in market place. All these compel the company to respond promptly to its market needs to make them maintain the competitive advantage in the market. Technological advancements are among the parameters that have led to the development of this company. The use of internet to do business has enabled UPS to have customers around the globe. They can thus place their orders and just give their location to have their items shipped to them. This globalization has greatly facilitated the growth of UPS since its major objective is to access many markets that have not been discovered by their competitors. Information technology has therefore provided a yardstick through which most companies can set their targets. The processes that the company has undertaken are majorly reflected in its corporate strategy. For instance, the UPS Company has engaged in various expansion services to provide a solution to its customers and increase its value to customers. In this context, value is perceived as the benefits accrued to the use of the company goods and services in regards to the amount the customers are willing to give for the same (Fernando , 2009, Pg 16). The latest developments in customer satisfaction like the introduction of UPS Customer choice. This allowed customers to have a large control of their service delivery in terms of time, place, and authorization. In addition, they have also stepped up a plan to allow customers access these services via their mobile phones. The company has invented cost effective ways to enable its clients manage their finances efficiently. Examples of these include accelerated payment services. The process of transformation is not a one-time affair. It entails a series of developments and refinements continually to make it attain the preferred and the most desirable elements. This in turn makes the company adapt to the ever-changing environment as well as capitalizing on new opportunities in the market. In addition, the company invested in healthcare by acquiring a warehouse that is compliant to its demand. This greatly affected its global operations making it very attractive to customers and attracting a wide market for the goods. This also enhanced great efficiency and customer service at the same time facilitating global trade in many countries globally. It is noteworthy that they have advanced their vehicles and other fleets to meet the current technological demands and standards. These include the incorporation of sensor technology to facilitate safety and efficiency of the services rendered. Other transformation elements include growth. Here, the business majorly seeks to find solutions to the various customer needs in the market. The growth strategy applied here demands that the company gains access to a number of markets to ensure that they gain a large market share as well as develop growth rapidly in the highly competitive economy (Rushton & Walker, 2007, Pg 13). For instance, after expansion of health facilities in Brazil, they accepted to make a trade with other parties like the US, a factor that greatly increases the depth of market coverage. More markets in the Asian continent have also facilitated the expansion of UPS. These markets have ensured introduction of these services to many countries. This has thus made it possible to deliver the very best results. Key Milestones of the Transformation From the time of its opening, UPS has used creativity as well innovation to create the best environment for customer operations. These major contributors made the company to be strongly rooted in the market and capable of delivering professional services. Certain results have been known to effectively affect the various aspects of the company operations and are the major basis for transformations. These innovations have made it become a global business from a mere US based business. Throughout their history, this company has been on the run to ensure that they are the most reliable and affordable in the industry. The company has widened its scope hence making it one of the seniors in the market. They have therefore incorporated the use of aircrafts in service delivery as well as the advanced state of the art technology to assists in finding the most reliable results. Around 1990, one of researches pointed out that UPS on one of its close competitors largely were providing nearly all the small-scale package needs. This pointed out that UPS was still among the major players. Despite this report, UPS still had the enthusiasm to move ahead and achieve the very best results. Accepting this as their comfort zone could have limited them to local operations hence denying them chance to invest worldwide. There are many reasons that compelled the UPS Company to enter into the logistic market. One of such was their rapid growth owing to their lead in the market, this company they got large profits hence fast growth. Similarly, their level of expertise in service delivery awarded a competitive advantage over their customers. In addition, the influx of many competitors led to interference in efficiency of customer services. This in turn made them very eager to venture into the market and deliver the very best results. Apart from the above, the administration of this company was certain that their technological levels could easily make them bring new services into the market. As a result, they would emerge as key players again in the entire market. Over the years that the UPS business has been in operation, the management has developed a series of strategies that enable it to fit well in the competition. This company has been forced to accept certain changes to enable it fit well in the market. This has also made them flexible to changes that are occurring regularly in the market. The company has lately introduced a business-oriented model that ensures the business power balance majorly rests on manufacturers and suppliers. As the business advanced further, this compelling force began experiencing a shift from suppliers to the customers (Hodge & Schachter, 2007, Pg 72). In turn, a customer driven force was developed hence giving the customers much power to decide on a variety of things. This has forced the UPS business to adopt a number of strategies and policies to help it meet its customer needs efficiently. While preparing for future transformations, the UPS Company have developed strategies to enable them analyze their external environments. Prior to the IT age, most businesses adopted the Push model. Here, the suppliers would accumulate inventories then later on just push them into the market. The application of this strategy depends greatly on how much the forthcoming demand can be predicted and people can be certain of such. However, with the internet revolution, customers have become enlightened. In this regard, they are very knowledgeable about the various commodities that they want in the market. As a result, they have direct contact with a variety of manufacturers who are capable of sufficiently meeting these needs. This is the customer driven pull trend. The UPS Company noted this sudden change and they immediately made relevant changes to ensure they met all the customer needs adequately. The main point of focus for the UPS Company is now on customer needs, both in terms of tastes and preferences. Conclusion Due to the changes mentioned, the company has embarked in a series of strategies to enable them achieve their goals. These included the use of technology to increase efficiency of services, study the market, and changes in customer behaviors, developing innovative ideas and coming up with relevant options such as training customer care to ensure they provide excellent and exemplary services to its customers. The company still aims at finding proper means of fully satisfying customer needs as well as ensuring that they remain among the key players in the market. References Brewster, M., & Dalzell, F 2007, Driving change: the UPS approach to business, Hyperion, New York. Fernando, A. C 2009, Corporate governance: principles, policies and practices, Pearson Education, New Delhi. Gaughan, P. A 2011, Mergers, acquisitions, and corporate restructurings, Wiley, Hoboken. Hill, C. W. L., & Jones, G. R 2007, Strategic management: an integrated approach, Houghton Mifflin Boston, Mass. Hodge, R., & Schachter, L 2007, The mind of the customer how great companies like UPS, Lexus, and Nokia have reinvented the sales process to accelerate their customers' success, McGraw-Hill, New York. Kotler, P., PfoertscH, W., & Michi, I 2009. B2B brand management, Springer, Berlin http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=323128 Rushton, A., & Walker, S 2007, International logistics supply chain outsourcing: from local to global, Kogan Page, London. Read More