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FedEx Corporation: Structural transformation through e-business
By Ali F. Farhoomand and Pauline Ng1

Case 1

[FedEx] has built superior physical, virtual and people networks not just to prepare for change, but to shape change on a global scale: to change the way we all connect with each other in the new Network Economy. (1999 Annual Report) [FedEx] is not only reorganizing its internal operations around a more flexible network computing architecture, but it’s also pulling-in and in many cases locking-in customers with an unprecedented level of technological integration. (Janah and Wilder, 1997) its inception 1973, Federal Express Since express deliveryincompanytransformed logisCorporation (‘FedEx’) had itself from an to a global tics and supply-chain management company. Over the years, the Company had invested heavily in IT systems, and with the launch of the Internet in 1994, the potential for further integration of systems to provide services throughout its customers’ supplychains became enormous. With all the investment in the systems infrastructure over the years and the US$88 million acquisition of Caliber Systems, Inc., in 1998, the Company had built a powerful technical architecture that had the potential to pioneer in Internet commerce. However, despite having all the ingredients for the makings of a

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