STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Strategic Management

Strategic Management

FedEx Corporation: Introduction

FedEx Corporation, one of the world's leading courier and express logistics companies based in Memphis, was founded in 1973 by Fred Smith and started its European operations in 1984 (http://fedex.com/). The company operates in 211 countries around the world and is divided into seven business units: FedEx Corporation, FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, and FedEx Customs. Express is the reliable express delivery that delivers in 1-2 business days in 211 countries. Ground is what we are the most familiar with, specializing in door to door delivery. The trade network provides global e-customs clearance in brokerage and trade. Chain services provide information sales and marketing for FedEx. There is also Freight and Customs providing the transportation via train and air (FedEx Worldwide).

Today, approximately 90,000 Federal Express employees, at more than 1,650 sites process 1.5 million shipments daily (http://fedex.com/), all of which must be tracked in a central control system, sorted in a short time at facilities in Memphis, Indianapolis, Newark, Oakland, Los Angeles, Anchorage, and Brussels, and delivered by a highly decentralized distribution network. The firm's air cargo fleet is now the world's largest.

Resource-Based View (RBV) Analysis

Over the past decade or so, there have been a large and diverse collections of contributions in the areas of economics and strategic management that seek to either refine the concept of the RBV or use it as a framework for tackling conceptual and empirical questions. (Grant, 1991) Consequently, the basic propositions of the RBV have become increasingly well delineated. In short, the principal contribution of the resource-based view of the firm to date has been as a theory of competitive advantage. Its basic logic is a relatively simple one. It starts with the assumption that the desired outcome of managerial effort within the firm is a sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). (Barney, 1991) Achieving a SCA allows the firm to earn economic rents or above-average returns. In turn, this focuses attention on how firms achieve and sustain advantages. The resource-based view contends that the answer to this question lies in the possession of certain key resources, that is, resources that have characteristics such as value, barriers to duplication and appropriability. A SCA can be obtained if the firm effectively deploys these resources in its product-markets. Therefore, the RBV emphasizes strategic choice, charging the firm's management with the important tasks of identifying, developing and deploying key resources to maximize returns.

The RBV framework also forces executives to think about which of its strengths possess inherent barriers to duplication by competitors. For example, services firms such as advertising agencies and investment banks may find that their only unique resources are certain key individuals which places them in a vulnerable position as these resources are mobile and may be lured away by competitors. (Amit, Schoemaker, 1993)

Plans

Management by objectives is used for function control within the organization (FedEx) that I have selected for my research. My future plans for achieving those outcomes are different from others. Actually I believe in functional control system rather ...