UPS: Moving at the Speed of Business

"UPS: Moving at the Speed of Business"

(a.k.a. "The Complete Package")

Topics: Strategic Leadership; Mission Statement; Competitive Advantage; Distinctive Competencies, Resources, and Capabilities; Competitive Advantage Through Functional-Level Strategy; Strategy in the Global Environment; and Profiting from Global Expansion

Company: United Parcel Service (UPS)

Length: 8:50

Chapters: 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8 (See "Key Concept Integration" section for details)

Case: 17 "The Evolution of the Air Express Industry, 1973-1996"

Teaching Objectives:

To illustrate how UPS has consistently exhibited the vision necessary for good strategic leadership.
To show how an appropriate mission statement can remain consistent for almost a century in a highly successful company.
To reveal how students can discern a firm's competitive advantage and its importance.
To discuss the similarities and differences among UPS's competitive advantage and its distinctive competencies, resources, and capabilities.
To reveal how UPS has gone about transferring its distinctive competencies while expanding globally.

Key Concept Integration:

Key Concept: Chapter

Strategic Leadership 1

Mission Statement 2

Competitive Advantage 4

Distinctive Competencies, Resources and Capabilities 4

Competitive Advantage through Functional-Level Strategy 5

Achieving Superior Quality
Achieving Superior Innovation
Achieving Superior Customer Responsiveness

Strategy in the Global Environment 8

Profiting from Global Expansion 8

Content:

The video begins by showing that the typical viewer's image of UPS is incomplete. We learn that every Fortune 500 firm uses UPS and that UPS can deliver to every address in North America. It expands our image of UPS by informing us that it has a sophisticated computer system that spans the globe and that UPS operates one of the largest jet cargo fleets in the world.

We learn that UPS provides a complete range of flexible services for any business. UPS can custom tailor a package distribution system for any organization that can include special pickup times, volume pricing, plus electronic information, billing, and tracing services. It continues by explaining that with over 11 million packages in its system each day, technology is a big part of serving their customers faster and better -- and doing so at a lower cost. An example is given showing how technology allows UPS to pick up a package under its "On Call Air" program within one hour of a customer's call. Other examples of how UPS uses technology to control its operations are shown.

We are told that UPS is not only the largest package distribution service in America, but throughout the world as well. The video then shows us how UPS uses technology in the worldwide implementation of its complex strategy. Pictures from around the world (including Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, England, Russia, and other countries) show how the entire world is the marketplace for many businesses today.

Finally, the video explains how UPS recognizes that "time is money." This is especially acknowledged when the spokesperson explains that you can't move packages across international boarders with the same ease that you can move them across the U.S. This is also recognized when the video shows how UPS can navigate a customer's package through the maze of customs regulations -- saving both time and money. Due to its technology, knowledge, and control systems, most packages have cleared customs by the time they arrive in a foreign country.

In summary, the video shows us that the company's original mission continues to be the centerpiece of its marketing strategy today. A spokesman states, "We live by service . . . a sincere desire to do the right thing." The video demonstrates also that change occurs on a continuing basis. For instance, some forty years after UPS began in 1907, UPS's founder spoke the words "To do as well in the future, we must keep our eyes on the distant horizon." For UPS today, "The Complete Package" means a global network, information services, new technologies, and the flexibility to customize their services for each business need.

Introductory Exercise:

Prior to showing the video, you might begin by asking the students to tell you their perceptions of UPS, what it provides to its customers, and what equipment is used to carry out its operations. It may prove interesting to ask them to what extent they think UPS operates globally.

Special Discussion:

The fact that the video on UPS and next video on Airborne Express make such similar claims and paint such similar pictures creates an opportunity for discussion. If you plan to show both videos, it might prove very interesting to subsequently ask the students, based on their knowledge of the two videos only, how the two companies differ. Then you might ask, based on any other knowledge, how the two companies differ. It may be useful to focus the discussion on the two firms' relative competitive advantage and their relative distinctive competencies, resources, and capabilities.

Discussion Questions:

How has UPS exhibited the vision, eloquence, and consistency necessary for good
strategic leadership?
Has UPS's mission statement changed throughout the years? If so, how and why? If not, why?
What is UPS's competitive advantage? Would you expect it to change over the next 20 - 30 years? If so, how? If not, why?
What are UPS's distinctive competencies, resources, and capabilities? Do these differ from their competitive advantage? If so, how?
How has UPS gone about transferring its distinctive competencies while expanding globally?

WWW Connection:

It might be interesting to link the use of the WWW with this video exercise. A tempting exercise would be to ask students to research the firm on the Web. Using the Web, ask them to find out more about the company and issues related to the video. One good place for general company information is UPS's Web page (http://ups.com/). The site has additional information about issues related to the video. In the event that you plan a discussion along the lines discussed in the "Special Discussion" section above, (comparing UPS and Airborne Express), you might urge students to search for related information on the Web sites of the two firms.

Whether you provide students with this address is a matter of choice. A good compromise might be to suggest that they use a search engine (i.e., Yahoo, Excite, or Infoseek) within their Web browser to search for information about the company.

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