The rise of the "Quiet Giant"

cheryl

I started this.
Staff member
The rise of the "Quiet Giant" - Socialist Worker

UPS FACED a crisis in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The company's traditional business model was increasingly out-of-sync with the rapidly changing retail business market. The crisis was so severe that the very future of the company was at stake. Yet not only did UPS survive the crisis--it dramatically shifted its business strategy and, during the following two decades, emerged as one of the rising giants of the shipping industry.

What was the source of the crisis, and how did UPS survive it?

UPS founder and still-serving CEO Jim Casey saw the potential for different type of business market that the company could gobble up: "The vast field of distribution for wholesalers and manufacturers appears to be wide open for us."
 

Rainman

Its all good.
No matter what we think about the people who run the company, you have to admit, they know how to keep it profitable. Change normally isn't comfortable or fun, but we have to change with the times. Or be left behind.


Kmart sux. So does Walmart. And Orion.
 

wkmac

Well-Known Member
I find this a good read if for nothing else to show how this company does change and that change has always been a part of UPS. A necessity if you will. Thus remains the question, can the individual then adapt to the change?

In my 33 years, I've seen micro change which I'll call change at the function/job level and macro change meaning company wide and the key is to find yourself a spot within it in which you can work comfortably. And most of that is mental.

Reflection on the past serves in learning and knowledge, my own job requires it on certain levels. But dwelling on as some means of going back, or hoping such occurs, one has to realize this just won't happen.

I understand some people may see the source of this series of articles and not read but I think in some ways this is their loss. I'll leave them with this thought from Aristotle.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
 
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