What is the focus and foothold of the international expansion of domestic express delivery? First, “expand from near to far”. First, open lines to test water business in countries and regions such as Singapore, Japan and South Korea, and wait for stable operations. Gradually expand to North America and Europe; the second is to “expand following the international express delivery needs of the original major domestic commercial customers”, which can effectively reduce the revenue pressure in the early stages of business development; the third is to “closely grasp new opportunities and new trends” , market demand is the benchmark for the development of express delivery business, and overseas shopping business has guided express delivery companies to consciously expand import services in Europe and the United States.
The other is mergers and acquisitions. The importance of network expansion speed and the scarcity of high-quality target companies will stimulate domestic express delivery companies to actively carry out overseas mergers and acquisitions. Since 1998, FedEx has acquired more than 16 companies, and UPS has acquired more than 40 companies. The compatibility of the target company’s network and business expansion strategy, the size of the company, the quality of operations, the simplicity of the equity structure, and the degree of openness to selling equity are factors that companies need to pay more attention to when conducting overseas mergers and acquisitions. Risk avoidance in the internationalization of domestic express delivery is as follows.
(1) Observe disciplines and laws. In each regional market, industry supervision has market access thresholds for brand, capital, technology, management, etc., and avoiding local legal and policy risks is the first priority. International express delivery is controlled by the DUFT giant, but these companies have also suffered from internationalization. For example, since Chinese laws and related policies initially did not allow foreign-funded companies to operate express delivery services in China, several major companies had to rely on cooperation with Chinese companies to carry out business for a long time after entering China, with international air express delivery as their main entry point. Point, very disciplined.
In fact, the laws and regulations in countries and regions such as Europe and the United States are more stringent in terms of detailed specifications and enforcement. For example, in 2009, DHL was fined US$9.4 million for violating US embargo regulations by illegally transporting goods to Iran, Sudan and Syria; in 2012, 14 companies including UPS were fined US$9.4 million for operating price alliances from 2002 to 2007. , manipulated freight prices and was fined 169 million euros by the EU; at the end of 2013, New York City sued FedEx for allegedly distributing smuggled cigarettes, claiming a huge sum of US$52 million; in 2015, the French Supervisory Competition Authority launched a lawsuit against 20 companies, including DHL. Logistics companies issued huge fines of 6.7 billion euros… fined for illegal operations. There are countless such examples.
In recent years, news about Chinese companies encountering lawsuits and fines overseas has become common. One of the important reasons is that companies are not familiar with local laws and regulations, and do not know that many behaviors that are legal and reasonable in China are in some countries. The state is illegal. In this regard, it is necessary to strengthen “path exploration”, formulate relevant measures in advance, and be fully prepared to respond to lawsuits.
(2) Avoid haste and use patience. Regardless of the strength of a company, haste makes waste in internationalization, and international networks must be developed steadily and prudently. DHL fully acquired three companies including Quanyi Express in 2009 to expand its domestic business in China. After the integration failed and suffered repeated losses, it sold low and exited the mainland express delivery market; TNT also acquired Huayu Express to replicate its land transportation in Europe. Advantage, but also failed.
If you have a good eye on the market, you need to make a long preliminary preparation. Starting from the familiar mainland of China and going overseas to conduct business in an unfamiliar place is by no means an easy task for Chinese express delivery companies. There are too many mistakes in the industry, and the key to a cross-border road is stability. In the early stage, cooperation can be based on borrowing a boat to cross the river, or you can start to expand step by step later. For example, when UPS entered China, it first cooperated with Sinotrans, HNA and other companies.
(3) Adjust measures to local conditions. It is a common problem in internationalization that business management is not adapted to the local environment. For example, in 2012, 13 employees of UPS took advantage of the loophole in the company’s system of “weighing twice to get a small amount” to combine inside and outside and misappropriate nearly 10 million yuan in shipping costs; in the publicly disclosed crisis of DHL’s management of Quanyi Express Among them, “flying orders” has become the first problem, that is, salesmen collude to obtain orders privately.
As a Chinese express delivery company that still needs to improve in management, once it operates overseas, it must face management techniques and concepts, learn the management methods of international companies, recruit local talents, and strengthen local knowledge. Understand the national conditions, market and consumers, and formulate localized market and operational strategies.
Looking at the development history of DUFT’s major international express delivery companies, we can see that there are some successes in China and some miscalculations. These are all things that Chinese express delivery should pay attention to in its overseas journey. Relying on cross-border e-commerce, international express delivery is still in the explosive stage. With different business sectors and different port processes, comprehensive global integrated express delivery highlights its own advantages. It is versatile, platform-oriented, one-stop, and unique in intercontinental transportation. With advantages, their business structure and management system remain a mid- to long-term reference.