In 1973, Fred Smith, the Chairman, President and CEO of FedEx invented the air/ground express distribution industry, he took advantage of a gap in the market which he saw had massive potential and capitalised enormously on it. The contextual environment in which FedEx operates is on a global scale. FedEx is an express delivery company and a global logistics and supply-chain management company (Farhoomand & Ng, 2000, p.647). Over the time in which FedEx was formed they have created and formed their own path which has proven to be extremely successful through incorporating new and unique strategies. FedEx’s goal was to transport goods around the world for customers in a short amount of time in a reliable and consistent manner. Smith was very ambitious and saw that a big investment in technology was critical in order to achieve the desired results. These big investments in technology meant large expenses and in the first 3 years of FedEx’s operation they made a loss. After gaining a positive reputation for their cost effective, reliable and overnight delivery services they were to emerge as the big players in the express delivery industry.
In 1979 FedEx created a computer system called COSMOS which kept track of all the packages that went through FedEx, this was to ensure customers that their packages were in safe hands. In 1984 FedEx developed a number of technological systems which helped to ensure accurate and timely deliveries. This not only opened many doors for FedEx as a company, but it was a big hit with their customers as they were provided with quick, easy and user friendly services. In 1989 FedEx launched an on-board communication system that uses satellite tracking to pinpoint vehicle location over the world. Soon after the launch of the internet in ...