FedEx and UPS have different corporate cultures. Comment on how this affects their revenues and their brand image?
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FedEx had a deliberate strategy of portraying an up market image. It sponsored golf tournaments and had the Orange Bowl renamed the FedEx Orange Bowl. It was completely different from the image that UPS portrayed. UPS marketing lacks the pizzazz of FedEx marketing. This could probably be explained by the history behind each company-FedEx was funded by Smith, a graduate from Yale with a background in economics whereas UPS was funded by Kelly, who along with almost every executive started as a truck driver. The UPS people have a philosophy of getting things done by hustling them through and making their section profitable and getting their bonus. Their image was one of a tough truck driver. Because FedEx had an up market image they were able to charge more for a similar service as offered by UPS. Because of the FedEx brand name, consumers are willing to pay a few dollars more. In reality the difference between UPS and FedEx for the same service might be as little as 2% after accounting for volume discounts. Also widespread public misconceptions existed claiming that FedEx was quicker and more reliable than UPS. All of this helped increase revenues for FedEx despite offering more or less the same service as UPS. UPS was countering this by offering better discounts for long-term FedEx customers. UPS also had significant advantage in delivering to homes because they used cheaper trucks rather than airplanes resulting in lower prices for consumers. This could be significant because deliveries to consumers are expected to grow exponentially in the coming years.
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Define a trait based system.
What will be an ideal response?
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