rtainty that the world needs" (FedEx Corporation, 2003, p. 3). The company's primary objective is to be the global leader in express transportation and in the provision of logistics-services associated with the global movement of airfreight packages.
A significant issue for the company in 2003 is the threat that email poses to express letter and package transportation. A second important issue confronting the company in 2003 is to remain price-competitive in a global express transportation market wherein some competitors can take better advantage than can FedEx Express of lower personnel costs in many parts of the world.
Industry Overview: Express Transportation and Logistics
An overview of the express transportation and logistics industry is presented in this section. The overview considers the following factors:
Industry prospects and overall attractiveness
Prices for express transportation are determined largely in response to economic factors. Demand, in economic theory, is defined as the quantity of some product ù either a good or a service ù that is either needed or desired by one or more consumers ù an individual person, a single firm, or a group of individuals or firms (Mastrianna & Hailstones, 1995). Individual demand is the quantity of a product required by a single entity, while market demand is the sum total of the requirements of all consumers for a product. Overall, demand is defined as a schedule of the total quantities of a good or service that purchasers will buy at different prices at a given time. Air express transportation is a product that is subject to demand by consumers.
A change in demand refers to the change in the quantity of a good or service that would be purchased for some reason if prices for the good or service did not change. Thus, a massive and unexpected snowfall could cause an increase in the demand for automobile tire chains in the absence of any change in the price charg...