History of UPS Company

UPS Company was started in 1907 as a messenger company. Its first operations were in Seattle, Washington and were engaged with receiving telephone calls to run errands, carry notes, handbagages, trays of food from restaurants, and deliver packages. The success of UPS has been attributed to the people who have been working for it. They have helped the company to survive a lot of major events in world history.

The expansion across the continent came in 1930 when the activities were stretched to social logistic stores in New York City and New York, NJ. In 1993, the company formed UPS worldwide logistics (WWL) after branching into logistics and later in 1995 changed the name to UPS Logistic Group (UPS LG). For more efficiency and meeting of customer needs, the company acquired 20 companies in 1999, and later changed its name to UPS Supply Chain Solutions (UPS SCS) in 2002. Causes of Success of the Company.

Since the integration between 2002-2003, the company now is engaged in logistics and distribution services, transport management, global freight services, international trade management, consulting and specialized mail services as well as the world-class UPS package delivery portfolio of offerings. The goal of UPS has been focusing in commerce around the globe. This has enabled it to grow into a $ 30 billion corporation. The position of UPS across the entire supply chain has enabled the company to offer customers the expertise needed to facilitate any business activity.

UPS SCS company ensures that it supplies its customers globally with total chain solutions so that they can on the other hand serve customers by concentrating on what they do best. Corporate Culture of UPS The culture of UPS represents the shared values and beliefs regarding the functioning and existence of the organization. The company has values, purpose, mission and strategy that help to instill the culture of the company in employees. The charter calls for all those in the company to bring forth their best in line with values and culture to satisfy the needs of the stakeholders.

Ownership is one of the guiding principles of the organization. In 1995, the company opened the stock ownership to non-management employees and offered the stock shares to the public in November 10, 1999. The returns from the sale of the shares enabled the company to use the money to acquire other companies around the world in 2002. Employees are also encouraged to own the company through such policies as the traditional Manager’s Incentive Pay (MIP) and the Discounted Employee Stock Purchase Plan (DESSP). This is because of the belief that a strong financial interest fosters a strong commitment to the company.

Furthermore, it is believed that owners make better decisions concerning the company. The issue of unions in the organization is not encouraged. Employees and the management have developed a good relationship so that it does not require any third party representation to arbitrate any dispute. This is more advantageous to the company as many customers do run away from an organization that seems to be in a row of fights between the employees and the management, that might lead to a workers’ strike. The company has also seen a lot of success because of the strategy it has undertaken.

UPS aims at attaining market leadership. The company has ensured that it has diversified in all the transportation sectors i. e. road, rail, sea and air transport so that it distributes anything customers needs in any part of the world. The company also offers brokerage across the borders to maintain the market leadership. The other company success stems from the technological advancement. It has developed websites and employed accounts managers who works as consultants. The managers assist the company customers to use the company website, software and other technology to streamline their operations.

This kind of service is offered free of charge to company customers. In the process, the service acts an incentive that encourages the customers to ship more of the company products. One of the best strategies for one to get employment in this company is buying of the company shares. This is because of the principle the company holds that owners of the company are best decision makers. Swot Analysis UPS has had tremendous success since it was started in 1907. This has to be attributable to the fact that the company has used the available strength and opportunities to expand the business.

The biggest resource that UPS has is its employees. They are the ones who determines if the customers will come back for more company products or if they will run away and seek the same service somewhere else. This is because the employees are usually in direct contact with customers, e. g. the truck drivers who deliver the company products are usually in direct contact with customers. So the treatment they to the customers will really matter. The UPS company has used the employees to make sure that the company attains its objectives by reinforcing their involvement in executing the organizations goals.

Therefore, the employees’ active involvement in management execution is a big strength to the company. There are many opportunities across the globe that has helped the company to grow. Although the issue of small packaging in the US has slowed down the company growth, on the other hand it has enabled the company to look for other opportunities beyond the US boarders. Furthermore, the international economic growth has greatly helped the company’s bottom line growth. The threat that faces the company is competition. Competition has been there since inception of the company.

The current competition comes from companies such as FedEx Corp. Some of these companies sometimes give lower bids than the ones offered by UPS so as to win more customers to their side. The weakness that faces the company is how to balance the happiness of employees as well as keeping the cost low. Employees are motivated by the amount of money paid to them. The employee turnover is 5% to 7% yearly. Such kind of turnover is not healthy to the organization. Recruiting new employees becomes costly to the side of the organization, as they have to be trained and given time to settle in the organization.

To deal with the threats and weakness in the company, the company needs to maximally utilize her strengths and opportunities. This includes for instance the expansive usage of the technology to reduce costs in the organization. This was demonstrated by the fact that the company was able to save 28. 5 million miles in 2006 because of mapping shortest routes, as well as using alternative trucks that saves fuel. In controlling employee turnover, the company’s strategy of undertaking contracts with employees can help reduce this. This will ensure that an employee cannot just walk out of the job anyhow without giving prior notice to the employer.

This will enable the management to plan in advance for the replacement of employees who might leave the job because of the expiry of the contract. Summary. It is only people who are directly involved in the running of business that can make the business succeed. If employees are given opportunities to be part of the business, that business will have better chances of expanding and growing. As an employee, it is also important that one understands the business organization he works for, so that he can provide maximum contribution to the growth of the business.

Work Cited

Avery Christine and Zabel Diane. The quality Management Sourcebook: An International Guide to Materials and Resources. New York: Routledge Publishers, 1986 Morgan Glenn, Kristensen, Peer H. and Whitley Richard. The Multinational Firm: Organizing Across Institutional and National Divides. Oxford University Press, 2001. Young, Scott, T. and Nie, Winter. Managing Global Operations: Cultural and Technical Success Factors. Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 1996: 6 Tayeb, Monir. H. International Human Resource Management a Multinational Company Perspective. Inc NetLibrary: 97-98