COMPANYPROFILE
FedEx
eyes China’s colossal
domestic express business
In the last few months, FedEx has won a significant share of the domestic
express market through competitive pricing and service. CHaINA’s Editor,
Russel Beron spoke with Eddy Chan, Head of FedEx China, about the
company’s history and plans in China.
: What is your back- market opened to foreign companies and we took advan-
ground? tage of these changes to buy back the share from DTW on
Eddy Chan (EC): I was born and the international express side. We also bought the assets
educated in Hong Kong, and Fe- of DTW to run the domestic express service. In 2007, we
dEx was my first job, I joined the became a wholly foreign owned enterprise and in March,
company in 1985 in Hong Kong 2007 we became the first international express company
as an Account Executive, basical- to formally launch domestic time definite service.
ly I was a salesman. I grew with
the company, moving to Taiwan, Obviously you have talked about the positive side of
and then to Hong Kong, and Beijing for a couple of years. FedEx’s relationship with DTW, but there were also
In 2004, we moved the regional headquarter from Hong reports of complications?
Kong to Shanghai. EC: You need to understand that a Joint venture is more
or less like a marriage, where you need to work coop-
What is the history of FedEx in China? eratively for mutual benefit. Our common objective was
EC: We have been in the China market since 1984. When to develop the business well, so our customers would
we entered into the market, like a lot of foreign transporta- benefit. We also had a clear division of labor. DTW knew
tion companies, we appointed an agent to serve our cus- the market well, so they helped build government relations
tomers here in China. In 1999, we formed a joint-venture in and develop the market. FedEx brought operational and
China with a company called DTW Group. DTW is a Tianjin management strengths. Because the division of labor was
based transportation company, and they were our agent very clear, and we had open communication with each
before; we worked with each other very well. other, conflict between the 2 parties was minimized.
How well did the Joint Venture work? What’s the biggest challenge for FedEx in China?
EC: In retrospect, it was a very good decision to form a EC: I’d say it is to find the right talent to work with our
JV with DTW. In 1998, before the JV, we had around 250 group. In China, there are a lot of people, but some of
employees, and now we have around 7,000. In 1999, we them may not understand western standards. We have
were serving 144 cities in China, and now we are serving created lots of programs to address this challenge. We
230 cities. After China entered the WTO, the transportation had people from H.K., Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and
14 MAY/JUNE 2009
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