FedEx vs UPS | Vegas or Bust | 2

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2020

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After a disastrous start, FedEx needs to change its sales pitch or it will run out of money before it even has a chance to take off. Smith resorts to surprising means to raise the money to keep his fledgling company going.

UPS is convinced FedEx will be out of business in a matter of months. But it has its own problems to attend to, as drivers are feeling dissatisfied and start to organize for better working conditions.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars, add free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:15.6	It's Friday afternoon in July 1973, Chicago.
0:20.4	Thanks for coming in, Fred.
0:22.4	Fred Smith, the CEO of Federal Express, is walking out of a meeting with executives at the General Dynamics offices.
0:29.7	One of the executives ushers him to the door.
0:33.1	Sorry, we couldn't work something out. Smith forces himself to smile and shake the executive's hand,
0:39.6	but inside he's reeling. He's been counting on General Dynamics to invest in FedEx.
0:46.5	Well, thanks for hearing me out. I appreciate it.
0:51.7	Outside the building, he hails a cab and slumps in the back seat.
0:55.5	Oh, hair, airport place. You got it.
1:00.0	Smith stares out the window. No matter how he looks at it, his company is toast.
1:06.8	They have $5,000 in their account and a $24,000 fuel bill that has to be paid Monday if he wants his
1:14.0	planes to fly. If the planes can't fly, then they can't deliver packages.
1:20.0	The driver looks at him in the rearview mirror.
1:22.9	Everything okay? Let me give you a piece of advice.
1:27.6	Sometimes when people tell you your dog won't hunt, it's because they lack vision.
1:32.4	In other times, it's because they can see something you can't.
1:36.4	Trick is to know which is which. And this time, I think I got it wrong.
1:42.7	Ah, sorry to hear that.
1:45.2	Smith's mind wanders to his undergraduate days at Yale. Back when he wrote a paper for an economics class,
1:51.5	outlining his plan for an overnight shipping service. The professor gave him a seat,
1:56.8	saying he had some good ideas, but the concept was unworkable.
	...

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