BUSI1683: DHL's Strategic Analysis and Development Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of DHL International GmbH, examining its history, organizational structure, and strategic approaches. It evaluates the management styles adopted by DHL, including authoritarian and visionary approaches, and assesses their impact on the corporate culture. The report includes a PESTLE analysis, considering political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. It also explores DHL's ethical and sustainable perspectives, focusing on initiatives like eco-friendly packaging and future development strategies. The strategic approach to future development is discussed, highlighting the company's focus on flexibility, innovation, and user-friendliness. The report concludes with an overview of DHL's commitment to environmental practices, technological advancements, and long-term strategic planning.

BUSI1683

Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................3
Overview of the company – history and its organisational structure.................................................3
Evaluate the management styles and approaches adopted and access the impact these have on their
corporate culture................................................................................................................................3
Pestle Analysis..................................................................................................................................4
The organisation’s ethical and sustainable perspective......................................................................5
The strategic approach to future development...................................................................................6
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
This report gives a brief analysis on the decisions and approaches adapted by the
organization. This is done in order to respect the importance of harmful measures that are
affecting environment and that can help them to save their costs. DHL International GmbH is
an international courier, package delivery and express mail service, which is a division of the
German logistics firm Deutsche Post. The company delivers over 1.5 billion parcels per year.
Overview of the company – history and its organisational structure
DHL was founded in 1969 in San Francisco and they expanded their operations with
time and incorporated it by DHL Air Cargo. They served as international package delivers
and express mail service. They have reached beyond their point of expectations as they
deliver more than 1 billion parcels yearly. Earlier company only used to serve in
intercontinental areas but it is the success of Fedex in international borders that made them
realize an opportunity to explore other markets so that they can increase their scale of
operations. Apart from that DHL has implemented divisional structure in their organizations
and the reason behind that it is it helps them to assess the smooth functioning in every
department there is. For instance, company deals in only the line of cargo but in order to
manage the work there are different process and department involved and with the help of
this they will be able to look towards a greater output (Joseph and Gaba, 2020).
Evaluate the management styles and approaches adopted and access the impact these have on
their corporate culture
There are some approaches of management which is adopted by DHL as it helps them to
assess the impact it leaves on their corporate culture.
Authoritarian management style-
This style of management involves managing on the basis of clear direction and
control. Another name for this aspect is directive management style. This style of
management requires hierarchies and roles on strict basis. This does not give employees in
business to state their responsibility. It is necessary for them to stay up to date and make
decisions on it. Management of DHL adapted this style because leaders of company had clear
plans for this business. That plan could not be followed by everyone but leaders of company
made it possible by achieving success.
Visionary Management Styles-

This approach helps the leaders of company to work as per inspiration, charisma,
strategy, transformation. It is done so that work can be done as per the vision of company.
They keep their employees on the path which keeps them aligned so that everyone can work
in coordination and help each other to achieve their goals and objectives. It can be easy for
the leaders who are extrovert in nature and good in communication which is in the case of
DHL. As they keep on taking risk to explore other areas they are successful in leading and
bringing change in their organization (Caputo, Ayoko and Amoo, 2018).
Pestle Analysis
Political Factors-
DHL has been a successful brand and they have been able to serve across almost
every country. This is why they make it sure that their intellectual properties are protected
under the political measures and guidelines given by the government of that specific country.
DHL first analyse the stability of political decisions such as tax on deliveries, import and
export and other costs so that they can have assess the viability there.
Economic Factors-
DHL first analyse these factors of the specific country they are going to expand their
operations and that is so that they can evaluate the factors such as rate of growth, GDP, rate
of inflation and standard of living of people. Decision that is made by management of
company is that if the inflation is high then purchasing power will be less. On the other hand,
if the rate of interest offered in return is high then they can get more options for investment as
many people will save it. Apart from that they also measure the value of currency because it
is directly related with their profits.
Social Factors-
These factors help them to assess the rate of development and perception of their
audience if they are keen to using local products then business of DHL will fail their
respectively. But due to rise of online markets business of company has increased and that is
why they need to target younger and urban population.
Technological Factors-
Due to advancement of technology DHL has been able to increase the transparency
with their customers. As now people can open up their shipment order and track it anytime to

know its real time destination which maintains trust between them and has helped them to
improve their performance.
Legal Factors-
It is important for management of DHL to act under the legal guidelines provided by
them. This involves all the measures from activities that must be fair to consumers and not
breaching their privacy and security. It is important for them to work under these legal
provisions so that they are allowed to serve in that country with the support of government as
well as their target audience which will help them to achieve growth (Sheikholeslami and
Shehzad, 2018).
Environmental Factors-
As DHL deals in cargo and transport sector in different markets they have to look out
for conditions of weather because bad weather can make the delivery process late also
sometimes it can lead to bringing damages to their products. Dealing in the sector of transport
company is aware about the impact it is leaving on environment due to pollution. In order to
work under these measures they are taking initiatives in order to reduce wastage from their
processes.
The organisation’s ethical and sustainable perspective
Currently the packaging used by companies in order to ship or export their products
contains many layers which is just for a single product and that is done in order to protect
them. This is severe wastage as a lot of plastic is used which will end up in bin affecting the
environment but as per the recent trends and change in perspective of DHL the online sellers
such as DHL are going to use recycled plastic for their products so that they can reduce its
waste. In order to bring improvement and changes they are also working on eco-friendly
packaging. They are making changes in their process by using different materials for
packaging such as Bamboo or other agricultural materials. Apart from that many companies
have invested in research and development in order to find sustainable packaging and they
have been successful. DHL can take a use of those and bring change in their process. Apart
from that sustainable packaging will help them to save cost as it will have less layers which
will increase the space for more products and that way company can deliver more in one
round and help them to serve both aims (Ruggiero and Cupertino, 2018).

The strategic approach to future development
DHL has worked on their strategy in a fast and agile manner and their main focus is
on flexibility, innovation, environment and user friendliness. This is necessary for them as
not every force of market can be predicted in the right manner which is why they are going to
keep their warehouses updated as per the latest changes or upgrades in technology so that
they can improve their efficiency (Ragini, Anand and Bhaskar, 2018). They have also
announced that by 2050 they will completely go green for that they are improving their
operational line and its functioning by robots so that they can achieve that mark. Apart from
that in order to make development in future company is going to increase the duration of
contracts because the investment that is required is not able to cover up with short term
contracts. In order to make themselves ready they are also focusing on improving their
quality and reduce costs in their process. This is why by investing in research and
development they are finding start-ups that has potential and forming an alliance with them
so that they can use their resources.
CONCLUSION
From the above studies it can be concluded that DHL needs to work with environment
protective practices because consumers nowadays are more aware about things that cause
harm to nature and they are against it. Other than that before investing in other markets it is
important to conduct external analysis so that they can have its insight and on the basis of that
decision can be taken. As per the recent trends and demands in market company is working
on technological changes and offering more visibility to their customers so that they can
develop trust with them and they can be retained for long period of time.

REFERENCES
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Joseph, J. and Gaba, V., 2020. Organizational structure, information processing, and
decision-making: a retrospective and road map for research. Academy of Management
Annals, 14(1), pp.267-302.
Namazi, H., 2018. Complexity based analysis of the correlation between external stimuli and
bio signals. ARC J. Neurosci., 3(3), pp.6-9.
Pearlson, K.E., Saunders, C.S. and Galletta, D.F., 2019. Managing and using information
systems: A strategic approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Ponce, V., Galvez-Aranda, D.E. and Seminario, J.M., 2021. Analysis of an all-solid state
nanobattery using molecular dynamics simulations under an external electric field. Physical
Chemistry Chemical Physics, 23(1), pp.597-606.
Sheikholeslami, M. and Shehzad, S.A., 2018. Numerical analysis of Fe3O4–H2O nanofluid
flow in permeable media under the effect of external magnetic source. International Journal
of Heat and Mass Transfer, 118, pp.182-192.
Ragini, J.R., Anand, P.R. and Bhaskar, V., 2018. Mining crisis information: A strategic
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Ruggiero, P. and Cupertino, S., 2018. CSR strategic approach, financial resources and
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