FredSmith
J n t h e e a r l y 1 9 6 0 s a c o l l e g et e r m p a p e r s t a r t e d
junior
I Fred Smith on the road to success.!7hile a
Ieconomics major at Yale University, Smith wrote
a paper suggestingthat a market existed for a company that transported "high-priority, time-sensitive
goods," such as medicines and electronic components. Smith observed that at that time few carriers
shipped packages directly to their delivery point.
Instead, the packageswent "hippety-hopping around
the country from city to city and from airline to airline before reaching their destination."
Average
ldea
Grade,
0utstanding
Smith'sprofessorgavehim a "C" on his paper,but
that averagegradedid not stop Smithfrom pursuing
his idea.He saw opportunitiesin the transportation
businessthat few at that time recognized.More
importantlg he actedon them.
After graduatingfrom Yalein 1966,Smithspent
severalyears servingas a Marine Corps pilot in
Vietnam.He soonfound a way to combinehis interest in aviation with his innovative ideas for the
expressdeliveryof goods.In the process,he changed
the way Americansdo businessand createda whole
new industry-overnight delivery.
Smith foundedFederalExpressin 1977. Two
yearslater, 14 small airplanestook off from Tennessee's
MemphisInternationalAirport carrying186
packagesto citiesin the United States.From that
humblestart, Smith'scorporationtransformedthe
deliverybusinessby not merelyofferingbut guaranteeingfast, reliableovernightpackagedeliveryanywhere in the United States.
Today the company,now known as FedEx,has
a fleet of more than 600 airplanescarrying more
than 3 million packagesworldwide everyday.FedEx
servesdestinationsin North America,Europe,Asia,
Africa, the Middle East, and South America.The
company's294-acteMemphisairlinehub containsa
172-mlIenetwork of conveyors,chutes,and automatic sortingbeltsthat preparemillions of packages
for daily airborneshipment.
whichtoday hasa fleetof
tn 1971,
FredSmithfoundedFedEx,
morethan600airplanescarryingmorethan3 nillion packages
worldwideeveryday.
delivery," which requires a mix of air and ground
transportation and computerized information technology. FedEx offices receivean averageof 500,000 calls
daily and about 63 million electronic transmissions.
The millions of packages that pass through
FedEx offices are electronically tracked as they make
their way through the distribution system.Thousands
of customers value the co,mpany's computerized
information servicesalmost as highly as its air power.
Customers receive a complete record of every shipment and delivery, ensuring that parcels can be
tracked.
Although Smith has been called a risk-taker for
gambling on this untested idea, he seeshimself differently. "It's unfortunate," he says, "that to some
Multibillion-Dol
larBusiness
degreethe word 'entrepreneur' has taken on the conAs FedExgrew into a multibillion-dollarbusiness, notation of a gambler. I don't see it that way at all.
Smith madesurethat it kept up with changesin tech- Many times action is not the most risky path. The
nology.The companyguarantees"rapid, time-definite most risky path is inaction."
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13 FredSmith
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