What lessons does UPS have for a small business that wants to expand and go global?
I do think the cultural thing is a big deal. UPS had a lot of problems in Germany at first. For one thing, it didn’t know that a truck driver had the lowest prestige [of any job] in Germany. It couldn’t get anybody to work there. Also, at that time, in about 1976, Germany had 3% unemployment, so it was really difficult to attract and keep people who would be proud to work there. Also, it didn’t expect the backlash against the brown uniforms and trucks. They reminded people of the Nazis’ brown shirts. It didn’t anticipate the cultural problems of going global. It is also really important to think about structure when you are going global. UPS built its business in Germany from the ground up, but in retrospect it would have done much better if it had acquired a small group of driving companies with their own staffs—which is what UPS ended up doing. Also, one should have a high tolerance for risk. You can lose money for a long time. It was probably a decade before UPS profited by going gl
