DHL, the international air express service provider, set up its first branch in Taiwan in 1973. UPS and FedEx, followed in the forerunner¡¦s footsteps, and joined the market as well. Together with the Chunghwa Post Corporation, these four major international express service providers have made the international express marketplace in Taiwan a very competitive environment. Until now, the competition is pretty much settled with DHL having a majority of the market share in both B2B and B2C markets. The main reason why DHL dominants the industry is due to its cooperative relationship with 7-ELEVEN, the largest convenient chain store in Taiwan. DHL customers can drop-off their shipment or packages at any 7-Eleven in Taiwan. Nevertheless, there are still underlining problems and concerns in regard to the business relationship with 7-Eleven which the company needs to pay attention to. First of all, are the 7-Eleven service personnel receiving professional training needed for DHL distribution channels? Second, is the image of 7-ELEVEN stores consistent with that of DHL? Third, is there strong connections and bonding between DHL express operations and 7-Eleven? These are some questions that are often omitted in the B2C market for the international express enterprises; and yet, these questions are the sources of the company¡¦s internal competitive advantages.
This study aims to provide an in-depth interview with international express corporations in the B2C market, channel providers that cooperates with the international express corporations, and the international express customers in Kaohsiung. In terms of international express corporations, the question focuses mostly on the company¡¦s marketing strategies including marketing target, product, price, promotion and channels. In terms of channel providers, the center of attention focuses on marketing channels, cooperation strategies, receiving status, and store locations. In terms of customer impressions, the interview focuses mainly on the issues of user experiences, delivery process, package tracking systems, attitudes of service personnel, prices, service satisfactions and whether recommendations are made to other people.
The research findings suggested that DHL is still the leader of the B2C marketplace in Taiwan. Those companies that are closer to their customers win the market share. As for 7-Eleven, by providing product and service diversity, the company actually becomes a concern for DHL for being ¡§unprofessional¡¨. It is found that DHL distribution channels often lose packages during the delivery process. FedEx decided on its distribution channel locations based on the channels¡¦ profit incomes. In terms of employee training for distribution channels, FedEx provides a more complete program than DHL. If a comparison is made with these express companies¡¦ advantages, the Chunghwa Post Corporation provides cheap services; DHL has the most distribution channels in Taiwan; FedEx provides the fastest international express services; and UPS has the most complete distribution channels around the world. The key factor to international express success is the degree of professionalism. The distribution channel personnel must be able to provide clear and precise answers and services in order to gain customer satisfaction or even recommendations to potential new customers.
In conclusion, this paper will provide some suggestions and future study suggestions for both the researchers and international express companies. And hopefully provide some valuable information and suggestions to international express companies for their future competitive developments.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0820107-174733 |
| Date | 20 August 2007 |
| Creators | Wang, Wan-Jung |
| Contributors | Huei-mei Liang, Tai-Hwa Chow, Fu-Yung Kuan |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | Cholon |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0820107-174733 |
| Rights | not_available, Copyright information available at source archive |
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