MSc Management: FedEx's Successful Internationalization in Asia

This report examines FedEx's successful internationalization strategies in the Asian market. It discusses how FedEx understood and adapted to changing customer needs, implemented successful strategies through buyouts and innovative technologies, and became a premier carrier in Asia. The analysis covers FedEx's early recognition of Asia's economic potential, strategic decisions like acquiring Tiger International Inc., and shifting its Asian hub to China. The report also evaluates whether competitors can imitate FedEx's approach and analyzes the company's decision to move its hub from the Philippines to China. Furthermore, it identifies and explains the application of managerial functions such as planning, organizing, and controlling within FedEx's international operations, referencing key literature to support the analysis. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide range of study resources for students.

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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Answer to Question 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

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opportunities to the company to connect with the customers and ensure its success in the
industry as well (Cavusgil and Knight 2015).
Answer to Question 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.
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

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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).
Answer to Question 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

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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.
Answer to Question 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.
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

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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

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able to depict the different types of managerial functions of FedEx including, planning,
organizing and controlling (Hamel 2007).

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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.

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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
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Mudalige, D., Ismail, N.A. and Malek, M.A., 2018. Exploring the Role of Individual Level
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