Dhl: From Startup to Global Upstart (Paperback)

Chapter 1: Born Global 1 The Little Company Which was Seen as Illegal in Every Country 1 Chapter 2: The 70s 5 Chapter 3: The Start-up Years 9 Chapter 4: The Start-up Years: Business Innovation 13 Door to Door, Desk to Desk 13 Just Like Taking It There Yourself 14 Still Expensive, However, for a Start-Up ... 15 ... and Increasingly Complex 16 So, Try and Keep It Simple 17 So Simple, Almost Too Good to Be True 18 Proof was Needed, and So Proof was Provided 19 With the Airlines as Friends (Albeit Fair-Weather) 20 Chapter 5: Innovation and Its Broader Impact on Business Dynamics 23 The Infectious Nature of Speed 23 Size Doesn't Matter, Content Does 24 Keeping It Dense 25 But Keeping It Simple 25 And Everyone Sells 25 Service Is Not Servitude 26 Creating a Time-Based Value Proposition 27 Challenging Traditional Work Habits 27 And in the Spirit of Partnership 28 Chapter 6: Cultural Dynamics: What was Going on Here? 29 Against All Odds 29 Ahead of its Time 29 It was also the People 29 An Emerging Company Culture 33 The Nature of the Business Helped 33 But it Wasn't Just the Business 34 Chapter 7: Barely Legal-Early Regulatory Battles 35 First, What Kind Of Business Is This? 36 Ah, You Mean You Carry Mail? 37 And What About This "Smuggling" Theory? 41 Airline Schizophrenia 43 Okay, Understand The Challenges With Post Offices, Customs And Airlines, But Surely You Were Doing Everything Else By The Book? 45 Chapter 8: 1970s Vignettes and Bloopers 47 Strange Bedfellows 47 Caught Napping 47 Plenty of Space, and Not So Much 48 Strange Passengers 48 Delivery Heroics 48 It's Tough Being Ahead of Your Time 49 Chapter 9: Transition 53 Taken Off, but Not Yet Landed 53 A Biological Phenomenon 54 With Intuitive, Instinctive Leadership 56 Which Attracted and Inspired 57 Cowboys with Wing 58 And an Ounce of Luck 58 Underpinned by Trust 59 A Common Language 59 And the Rule of Common Law 60 But it was Precarious 60 Chapter 10: The 80s 63 Economic and Political Turbulence... 63 Presaging Fundamental Geopolitical Change 63 Policed by America 64 With Asia Awakening 64 Business Models Must Change 65 A New Age of Consumerism 65 And Speed to Market 66 The End of History? 67 Perhaps a Hybrid Would be the Answer 68 Chapter 11: The Walden Years-Structure and process 69 Nascently Global 69 But Not Sustainable 71 Structure to Support a Growth Strategy 72 With A New Confidence 73 Coming Out 74 And Cash is the King 75 Chapter 12: Business Innovation 77 Getting it There in No Time at All 77 Tentative Steps to Expand the Offering 78 If you can get to the internationally remote places, why not just down the road? 80 Europe Overnight 80 And What About a Second Brand? 82 Early Computerization 82 What Aided and Abetted Also Threatened 83 But Also Provided Opportunity 84 Building a Brand 85 Ongoing Geographical Expansion 86 Less than Door-to-door 87 Early Steps in Logistics 88 Answer the Phone, Dammit! 88 Chapter 13: Business Context-What Was Going on Here? 91 A New Era of Globalization Begins 91 What was DHL Carrying? 93 This was an Outbound Phenomena 93 The Information Age Beckoned, but Expensively 95 Airports Grew Up 95 Strategic Disconnect 97 Chapter 14: Business Context-Competition Explodes 99 Competition? (What, Really?) 99 Finally, Strength Through Numbers 99 But in Context 100 Those Pesky Airlines Again 101 The "Empires" Try to Strike Back 102 But FedEx Strikes First 102 And Starts to Force the Pace 103 The Enemy of My Enemy can be my Friend 103 Chapter 15: Regulatory Battles 105 Postal Battles Heat Up 105 Progress with Customs 110 Tax, Cashflows and Blocked Funds 112 The Dutch Sandwich 113 Chapter 16: Cultural Dynamics 117 Heroism