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What is Competitive Advantage? Uniqueness of idea: you distinguish your product or service by a characteristic no one else offers and that uniqueness helps to accomplish the success. For example: • McDonalds was the first company to popularized concept of fast-food. • FedEx was the first company to offer time certain delivery with package tracking. • Dell computer was the first company to sell customized computer online. In this case study, I will discuss how FedEx gained competitive advantage through applying e-commerce. FedEx has always been a technology trailblazer, and the success of fedex.com is testimony to that. The company was one of the first to exploit the power of the Internet and with the help of e-commerce it has provided fast, easy and convenient service options for its customers. “The information about a package is as important as the delivery of the package itself.”1 -Frederick W. Smith, 1979 FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith’s vision for FedEx technology in 1979 was a fundamental idea. FedEx made a move in the early ‘90s when the Internet was still a recent phenomenon by launching its web site http://www.fedex.com in 1994 with a bold new package tracking application. This was one of the first true corporate web services. The Company used the platform of the Internet to extend its products and services. Jim Barksdale, former CIO of FedEx, and then CEO of Netscape, says, “It was the first outward and visible demonstration of a practical, productive use of the Internet by a real business for real business purpose.” In the past, this service was performed by customer service operators who would input information into the mainframe systems to get the associated information while customers waited on the phone. This Intranet tracking application was initially developed for FedEx’s private use and then it went public and became a strategic information resource for the company. The tracking application still exists in FedEx’s mainframes, but now customers with Internet access can do the inquiry by themselves. FedEx’s new e-commerce system decreased the need for telephone operators, which saved the company approximately $2 million every year.
Approximate Word count = 1400
Approximate Pages = 5.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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