Federal Express was founded in 1971 as the “big idea” of charter airplane pilot Fred Smith. It launched its overnight air express business in 1973, and just 10 years later, it was the first U.S. company to top $1 billion in revenues in its first decade. Today, FedEx (its nickname, “FedEx,” officially became the company name in 2000) is the world’s largest express transportation company-almost 196,000 employees move more than 3 million items to more than 200 countries each business day, up from 110,000 workers and 2 million packages just five years ago! In 1990, FedEx became the first service company to win the Baldrige Award. Since then, the company has expanded its ground delivery business by purchasing both Parcel Direct (formerly a division of Quad/Graphics, now renamed FedEx SmartPost) and more than 1,100 Kinko’s locations (now FedEx Kinko’s Office and Print Centers) in 2004. The survival issue is prominent Continue reading
Corporate Strategies
Case Study of PanAmSat: Recovering from a Satellite Failure
A Galaxy 4 satellite operated by PanAmSat, a subsidiary of Hughes Electronics, tilted away from the earth at 6:13 P.M. on May 19, 1998 and began to spin because of a computer failure and the subsequent failure of a backup computer. This unexpected problem disabled 80% to 90% of the pager services in the U.S. along with a number of credit card authorization networks, television transmissions, and other networked services. PanAmSat’s effects to realign the satellite failed, but it was able to restore service within a day by rerouting the traffic the satellite normally handled. Of the 17 satellites PanAmSat had in orbit at the time, one was a spare. The recovery plan included rerouting signals for paging, retail-store services, and other services though its Galaxy 3R satellite and rerouting television signals through its Galaxy 4 had occupied since its launch in 1993. Computer failure had transformed the Galaxy 4 Continue reading
Laws governing merger in India
Various Laws governing merger in India are as follows: 1. Indian Companies Act, 1956 This has provisions specifically dealing with the amalgamation of a company or certain other entities with similar status. The most common form of merger involves as elaborate but time-bound procedure under sections 391 to 396 of the Act. Powers in respect of these matters were with High Court (usually called Company Court). These powers are being transferred to National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by companies (second Amendment) Act, 2002. The Compromise, arrangement and Amalgamation/reconstruction require approval of NCLT while the sale of shares to Transferee Company does not require approval of NCLT. Sec 390 This section provides that “The expression ‘arrangement’ includes a reorganization of the share capital of the company by the consolidation of shares of different classes, or by the division of shares into shares of different classes, or by both these methods” Sec Continue reading
Case Study on the Managerial and Leadership Philosophies: Triumvirate Leadership at Google
This case focuses on the managerial and leadership philosophies, policies and behaviors of the leadership triumvirate at Google. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google, along with Eric Schmidt, constitute the leadership triumvirate. Brin is president of technology and assumes responsibility for advertising initiatives. Page is president for products and is acknowledged as the company’s thought leader. Together, Brin and Page provide the engineering, technological, and product development leadership for Google. Eric Schmidt is Google’s chairman and chief executive officer, and he is charged with providing the organizational and operational expertise and leadership for the company. Triumvirate Leadership at Google In 1998, while they were doctoral students at Stanford University, Sergey Brin and Larry Page founded Google. In 2001, Brin and Page recruited Eric Schmidt to be Google’s chief executive officer. Schmidt was charged with providing the organizational and operational expertise and leadership for Google, while Brin and Continue reading
Case Study: The Collaboration Between Sony and Ericsson
Nowadays, it’s very common for companies from different countries and sector to work together. In 2001, a joint venture company – Sony Ericsson Mobile communication has been established by a Japanese electronics company Sony Corporation and Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson. The aim of this cooperation is to produce the mobile phone with multimedia communication solution to customers all over the world. The initial for this collaboration is to associate the Sony’s multimedia consumer electronics expertise and Ericsson’s technical knowledge in telecommunications. Once Sony Ericsson established, both of the companies stopped their individual mobile business. The Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications is a London-based 50:50 joint venture business. Before the collaboration, Ericsson ran its mobile business in the market for years and obtained 10.7% in the handset market in 2000. It has a great loss when faced the cheaper mobile phone producer as Nokia. Mobile phone is one of the core businesses Continue reading
Reasons for the Increased Diversification by Business Firms
Growth through mergers and diversification represents a very good alternative to be taken into account in business planning. The external growth contributes to opportunities for effective alignment to the firm’s changing environments. The primary reason for acquiring or merging with another business is to produce improved cash flow or to reduce the risk faster or at a lower cost than achieving the same goal internally. Thus, the goal of any acquisition is to create a strategic advantage by paying a price for the target that is lower than the total resources required for internal development of a similar strategic position. Another reason is the expectation on the part of the diversifying or acquiring firm that it has or will have excess capacity of general managerial capabilities in relation to its existing product market activities. Moreover, there is an expectation that in the process of interacting with the generic management activities, Continue reading