DHL: From Startup to Global Upstart is the story of a startup that became the first worldwide logistics service organization, fighting regulation, trade restrictions, customs, and many other technical issues to develop processes that have stood the test of time to become the accepted norm in delivery throughout the world. It is a story of using ’soft powers, ‚ persuasion, and ingenuity, working with, and around, emerging technologies to eliminate barriers to success. This book provides an extraordinary look into how a little startup with grit and perseverance succeeded in the face of overwhelming odds and revolutionized many of what are now accepted transportation and supply chain practices.
Po Chung, DHL International co-founder, and Roger Bowie, former DHL Worldwide Services Director, discuss how DHL paved the way for one day international package delivery and how they have maintained their global leadership position against powerful American titans.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Chapter 1: Born Global | 1
The Little Company Which was Seen as Illegal in Every Country | 1
Chapter 2: The 70s | 5
Chapter 3: The Start-up Years | 9
Chapter 4: The Start-up Years: Business Innovation | 13
Door to Door, Desk to Desk | 13
Just Like Taking It There Yourself | 14
Still Expensive, However, for a Start-Up … | 15
… and Increasingly Complex | 16
So, Try and Keep It Simple | 17
So Simple, Almost Too Good to Be True | 18
Proof was Needed, and So Proof was Provided | 19
With the Airlines as Friends (Albeit Fair-Weather) | 20
Chapter 5: Innovation and Its Broader Impact on Business Dynamics | 23
The Infectious Nature of Speed | 23
Size Doesn’t Matter, Content Does | 24
Keeping It Dense | 25
But Keeping It Simple | 25
And Everyone Sells | 25
Service Is Not Servitude | 26
Creating a Time-Based Value Proposition | 27
Challenging Traditional Work Habits | 27
And in the Spirit of Partnership | 28
Chapter 6: Cultural Dynamics: What was Going on Here? | 29
Against All Odds | 29
Ahead of its Time | 29
It was also the People | 29
An Emerging Company Culture | 33
The Nature of the Business Helped | 33
But it Wasn’t Just the Business | 34
Chapter 7: Barely Legal—Early Regulatory Battles | 35
First, What Kind Of Business Is This? | 36
Ah, You Mean You Carry Mail? | 37
And What About This “Smuggling” Theory? | 41
Airline Schizophrenia | 43
Okay, Understand The Challenges With Post Offices, Customs And Airlines,
But Surely You Were Doing Everything Else By The Book? | 45
Chapter 8: 1970s Vignettes and Bloopers | 47
Strange Bedfellows | 47
Caught Napping | 47
Plenty of Space, and Not So Much | 48
Strange Passengers | 48
Delivery Heroics | 48
It’s Tough Being Ahead of Your Time | 49
Chapter 9: Transition | 53
Taken Off, but Not Yet Landed | 53
A Biological Phenomenon | 54
With Intuitive, Instinctive Leadership | 56
Which Attracted and Inspired | 57
Cowboys with Wing | 58
And an Ounce of Luck | 58
Underpinned by Trust | 59
A Common Language | 59
And the Rule of Common Law | 60
But it was Precarious | 60
Chapter 10: The 80s | 63
Economic and Political Turbulence… | 63
Presaging Fundamental Geopolitical Change | 63
Policed by America | 64
With Asia Awakening | 64
Business Models Must Change | 65
A New Age of Consumerism | 65
And Speed to Market | 66
The End of History? | 67
Perhaps a Hybrid Would be the Answer | 68
Chapter 11: The Walden Years—Structure and process | 69
Nascently Global | 69
But Not Sustainable | 71
Structure to Support a Growth Strategy | 72
With A New Confidence | 73
Coming Out | 74
And Cash is the King | 75
Chapter 12: Business Innovation | 77
Getting it There in No Time at All | 77
Tentative Steps to Expand the Offering | 78
If you can get to the internationally remote places, why not just down
the road? | 80
Europe Overnight | 80
And What About a Second Brand? | 82
Early Computerization | 82
What Aided and Abetted Also Threatened | 83
But Also Provided Opportunity | 84
Building a Brand | 85
Ongoing Geographical Expansion | 86
Less than Door-to-door | 87
Early Steps in Logistics | 88
Answer the Phone, Dammit! | 88
Chapter 13: Business Context—What Was Going on Here? | 91
A New Era of Globalization Begins | 91
What was DHL Carrying? | 93
This was an Outbound Phenomena | 93
The Information Age Beckoned, but Expensively | 95
Airports Grew Up | 95
Strategic Disconnect | 97
Chapter 14: Business Context—Competition Explodes | 99
Competition? (What, Really?) | 99
Finally, Strength Through Numbers | 99
But in Context | 100
Those Pesky Airlines Again | 101
The “Empires” Try to Strike Back | 102
But Fed Ex Strikes First | 102
And Starts to Force the Pace | 103
The Enemy of My Enemy can be my Friend | 103
Chapter 15: Regulatory Battles | 105
Postal Battles Heat Up | 105
Progress with Customs | 110
Tax, Cashflows and Blocked Funds | 112
The Dutch Sandwich | 113
Chapter 16: Cultural Dynamics | 117
Heroism | 117
It Wasn’t Just the Cowboys | 117
Growing Up | 118
Some Contextual Frameworks | 122
And Perhaps a Modern Example of Another, More Natural Law, is in Play
Here | 124
Change Agents | 124
Pirates of the Caribbean (Never Waste a Good Crisis) | 126
Expat Versus Local | 127
Persistence at Heathrow, with Help from the US | 128
Chapter 17: Anecdotes, Accidents, and Altruism | 131
Excellence Discovered | 131
Going the Extra Mile | 131
Going Many Extra Miles | 132
Making Calls was a Shoe-In | 132
The Green Bags must go Through | 132
Shenanigans in Bahrain | 133
The Future Sometimes Takes Longer | 133
DHL Never Sleeps | 133
Never Fear, DHL is Here | 133
Be Bold, Be Fearless, Be an Upstart | 134
The Worm Turns | 135
Unblocking the Funds | 135
Thank Goodness for Unintended Consequences | 136
Unintended Consequences Version Two | 136
Bill Walden’s Office | 137
Crazy Texans | 138
Negotiations in China | 138
Pat Lupo’s Story: The Most Employee-Motivational Thing We Did | 138
Chapter 18: Adolescence to Adulthood | 141
Mission Almost Accomplished | 141
A New Man in Charge | 141
Bring in the Suits | 143
A Deal Made in Heaven, But | 144
Finally, A Head Office | 145
Organizational Innovation | 146
An Ongoing Emphasis on Data Networks | 146
And a New Sense of Mission | 148
WORLDWIDE MISSION STATEMENT | 149
Fed Ex Loses a Battle | 150
With the Best Good Will in the World, it Didn’t Work Out | 151
The Ultimate Compliment | 151
Chapter 19: Powers | 153
Chapter 20: From Start-up to Upstart to the Most International Company in the
World | 169
Chapter 21: Epilogue: The 2008–16 Reincarnation | 173
Market Growth | 173
A Much and Long Desired Prize Becomes the Bogeyman | 174
Somebody Press the Reset Button, Quickly | 175
Focus, Connect, Grow: Pressing the button | 176
We Have a Strategic Plan: It’s Called Doing Things | 178
Ubiquity | 180
Motivated People: The CIS story | 180
Discipline, Process and the Power of Routine | 182
Great Leadership | 184
Ubiquity again | 184
Results are the only True Sign of Excellence | 185
Going Global, Staying the Course: The Powers Revisited | 185
Focus, discipline and routine | 188
Synthesis | 188
Renewal | 189
Index | 191
Über den Autor
Po Chung is Co-founder of DHL International and the Chairman of The Hong Kong Institute of Service Leadership & Management. Mr. Chung was born in Macao. He graduated from St. Stephen’s College, Stanley in 1963. He obtained a degree in fisheries management from California State University at Humboldt in 1968 and 13 years later he attended the Stanford Executive Program at Stanford University in 1981. He obtained a Master of Fine Art from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in 2005.
Roger Bowie is former Global Services Director, DHL Express.
Ebooks vom selben Autor / Herausgeber
1.745 Ebooks in dieser Kategorie
