An Ambitious Competitor
in Global
Logistics Services
When Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillbolm, and Robert Lynn founded DHL as a door-to-door express service between San Francisco and Honolulu in 1969, no one could have imagined the business evolving into a crossborder express delivery group linking 120,000 destinations in more than 220 countries and territories. Now owned by the German company Deutsche Post World
Net, DHL offers express services, international air and ocean freight, contract logistics, and value-added services. While DHL is the market leader for courier express delivery in Europe and Asia, the brand struggled to develop a reputation for quality service in the
United States.
Global Supply …show more content…
DHL's limited ground network has hurt its ability to attract domestic customers who want to send parcels overland. DHL announced plans to invest $1.2 billion in its North American network to expand the company's ground delivery capacity by 60 percent. These efforts resulted in losses
The Importance of the U.S. Market for DHL of $630 million in 2004 and $380 million in 2005.
The United States is an important strategic market for
DHL is facing various challenges in its operations as
DHL as a global logistics service provider offering cus- well. It experienced start-up difficulties when opening a central air hub in Wilmington, Ohio, that led to delivery tomers a global network. North American express traffic accounts for nearly half the worldwide total with highly delays and lost customers. In November of 2005, the attractive margins, reaching $46.9 billion in 2004. In company was responsible for losing a computer tape with the personal information of two million ABN AMRO
2004, 20 percent of DHL express volumes flowed into the United States or moved from there around the residential mortgage customers. Although the tape later globe. More than one third of all global Fortune 500 turned up in the Ohio facility, the damage to DHL's repucompanies are headquartered in the United States, tation was widespread. After extensive media coverage, where decisions on logistics and transport orders are and incurring the cost of providing