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Strategic Planning at United Parcel Service

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Big data case study: How UPS is using analytics to improve performance

A new initiative at UPS will use real-time data, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to help employees make better decisions.

As chief information and engineering officer for logistics giant UPS, Juan Perez is placing analytics and insight at the heart of business operations.

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"Big data at UPS takes many forms because of all the types of information we collect," he says. "We're excited about the opportunity of using big data to solve practical business problems. We've already had some good experience of using data and analytics and we're very keen to do more."

Perez says UPS is using technology to improve its flexibility, capability, and efficiency, and that the right insight at the right time helps line-of-business managers to improve performance.

The aim for UPS, says Perez, is to use the data it collects to optimise processes, to enable automation and autonomy, and to continue to learn how to improve its global delivery network.

Leading data-fed projects that change the business for the better

Perez says one of his firm's key initiatives, known as Network Planning Tools, will help UPS to optimise its logistics network through the effective use of data. The system will use real-time data, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to help employees make better decisions. The company expects to begin rolling out the initiative from the first quarter of 2018.

"That will help all our business units to make smart use of our assets and it's just one key project that's being supported in the organisation as part of the smart logistics network," says Perez, who also points to related and continuing developments in Orion (On-road Integrated Optimization and Navigation), which is the firm's fleet management system.

Orion uses telematics and advanced algorithms to create optimal routes for delivery drivers. The IT team is currently working on the third version of the technology, and Perez says this latest update to Orion will provide two key benefits to UPS.

First, the technology will include higher levels of route optimisation which will be sent as navigation advice to delivery drivers. "That will help to boost efficiency," says Perez.

Second, Orion will use big data to optimise delivery routes dynamically.

"Today, Orion creates delivery routes before drivers leave the facility and they stay with that static route throughout the day," he says. "In the future, our system will continually look at the work that's been completed, and that still needs to be completed, and will then dynamically optimise the route as drivers complete their deliveries. That approach will ensure we meet our service commitments and reduce overall delivery miles."

Once Orion is fully operational for more than 55,000 drivers this year, it will lead to a reduction of about 100 million delivery miles -- and 100,000 metric tons of carbon emissions. Perez says these reductions represent a key measure of business efficiency and effectiveness, particularly in terms of sustainability.

Projects such as Orion and Network Planning Tools form part of a collective of initiatives that UPS is using to improve decision making across the package delivery network. The firm, for example, recently launched the third iteration of its chatbot that uses artificial intelligence to help customers find rates and tracking information across a series of platforms, including Facebook and Amazon Echo.

"That project will continue to evolve, as will all our innovations across the smart logistics network," says Perez. "Everything runs well today but we also recognise there are opportunities for continuous improvement."

Overcoming business challenges to make the most of big data

"Big data is all about the business case -- how effective are we as an IT team in defining a good business case, which includes how to improve our service to our customers, what is the return on investment and how will the use of data improve other aspects of the business," says Perez.

These alternative use cases are not always at the forefront of executive thinking. Consultant McKinsey says too many organisations drill down on a single data set in isolation and fail to consider what different data sets mean for other parts of the business.

However, Perez says the re-use of information can have a significant impact at UPS. Perez talks, for example, about using delivery data to help understand what types of distribution solutions work better in different geographical locations.

"Should we have more access points? Should we introduce lockers? Should we allow drivers to release shipments without signatures? Data, technology, and analytics will improve our ability to answer those questions in individual locations -- and those benefits can come from using the information we collect from our customers in a different way," says Perez.

Perez says this fresh, open approach creates new opportunities for other data-savvy CIOs. "The conversation in the past used to be about buying technology, creating a data repository and discovering information," he says. "Now the conversation is changing and it's exciting. Every time we talk about a new project, the start of the conversation includes data."

By way of an example, Perez says senior individuals across the organisation now talk as a matter of course about the potential use of data in their line-of-business and how that application of insight might be related to other models across the organisation.

These senior executive, he says, also ask about the availability of information and whether the existence of data in other parts of the business will allow the firm to avoid a duplication of effort.

"The conversation about data is now much more active," says Perez. "That higher level of collaboration provides benefits for everyone because the awareness across the organisation means we'll have better repositories, less duplication and much more effective data models for new business cases in the future."

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How UPS Has Remained An Industry Leader For Over 100 Years

Table of contents.

The United Parcel Service (UPS) has withstood the test of time and is a shining example of longevity. UPS’ strategic decision-making process can be applied to any company regardless of industry. We’ll dive into the details soon enough, but first, let’s take a look at some stats.

Here’s a snapshot of what an enormous organization UPS are today:

• $84.6 billion revenue in 2020
• 540,000+ employees globally
• 220+ countries and territories served - including every address in North America and Europe
• 6.3 billion packages and documents delivered in 2020
• 24.7 million packages and documents delivered per day in 2020
• 1,800+ operating facilities worldwide
• 127,000+ motorized vehicles
• 281 own aircraft and 290 additional leased or chartered aircraft in its fleet
• 2,285 daily flights worldwide

While this strategy study won’t be able to cover everything UPS has done to this point, it will shine a light on how the company strategizes, thinks, and operates in order to stay on top of the game for over a hundred years.

We’ll take a look at UPS’ history, the overarching business model and values that form its foundations, the company’s evolution and digitization efforts as well as an emerging competitor.

Let’s start at the beginning of the story, and touch upon some of the most important events in UPS’ history. 

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It all begins with a $100 loan

UPS’ story started in a Seattle cellar beneath a tavern in 1907. Two teenagers, Claude Ryan and Jim Casey, got a $100 loan and opened the American Messenger Company . Their first employees ran errands and made deliveries on foot or by bicycle.

A few years later they opened another office, purchased a delivery truck, and changed the company name to Merchants Parcel Delivery . In 1916 it was time to decide on company colors. Initially, the leadership wanted to go with yellow, but a new employee convinced them to paint the company’s vehicles dark brown, a color that tends to camouflage grime. And so UPS’ brand color was chosen because of practical reasons and efficiency, which, as you’ll see, is a very UPS thing to do.

In 1919 the company expanded outside Seattle, opening operations in Oakland, California, where it used the name of United Parcel Service for the very first time. In 1925 the entire company became known as UPS, and by the end of the decade, UPS was delivering parcels all over the West Coast.

Creating a well-oiled machine

In the 1920s UPS introduced automatic car washes for its vehicles, conveyor belts for sorting, and the famous brown uniforms. 

Casey was obsessed with the appearance of his drivers and the customer service they provided. Soon UPS issued a UPS Policy Book to each employee, listing over one hundred highly detailed policies.

UPS was not your typical company. It became highly decentralized, with power delegated into regions, districts, and hubs and it showed that their main goals were efficiency and quality of service . Innovations, technology, and processes that would help them reach those goals would be tested and adopted throughout the company’s history.

Sharing the wealth with key employees

In 1927, consistent with his regard for his associates, Casey offered UPS’ stock at $15 a share to fifty-two key employees. All but three took advantage of the offer and they could sell the stock back to the company at a price set four times a year by the board of directors, prices which would consistently rise over the years. 

In April 2018, just one of those initial $15 shares was valued at 16,000 shares worth $1.8 million . That’s how much the company grew and that’s how highly Casey valued his key employees.

Serving the general public

By the 1950s the need for store delivery was decreasing because customers were increasingly using their own cars to transport their purchases. That’s why in 1953 UPS began expanding common carrier service outside southern California. 

By serving commercial and residential shippers, UPS put itself in competition with the parcel post service of the U.S. Post Office (now U.S. Postal Service). 

At the same time, UPS reintroduced their air service, which failed in the late 1920s. They offered two-day deliveries to major East and West Coast cities and their packages were transported on commercial airline flights. Initially unprofitable, Blue Label Air became popular as its speed created enough demand to maintain a profit.

Reaching everyone in the continental US

In 1975, UPS became the first package delivery company to serve every address in the continental U.S. This incredible connection of service areas came to have an epic nickname within UPS - the Golden Link . The company finally managed to clear away regulatory barriers to operation in all 48 contiguous states. 

On this special occasion, the 88-year-old Casey said to his associates: “But you know, we are only serving 5% of the world’s population!” He wanted UPS to cover the earth and before his death in 1983 he would see his dreams starting to come true. 

In fact, that same year of 1975 also marked UPS becoming an international company . They expanded to Toronto, Canada and offered their services abroad for the very first time.

Responding to a challenge

In 1971 a new company that changed the courier industry was founded - FedEx. It specialized in urgent, one-day deliveries and grew rapidly until it reached a billion in revenue in 1983.

UPS responded to the challenge by offering their own one-day delivery service and in 1985, UPS Next Day Air Service became the first air delivery network to reach every address in the 48-contiguous states, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. 

That same year, UPS also began its first intercontinental air service between the U.S. and Europe.

As the need for overnight air delivery grew, UPS established UPS Airlines in 1988. By the early 21st century it had a fleet of more than 200 jet aircraft. 

Going public and continuous evolution

In 1989 UPS expanded to the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific Rim and entered new markets which offered opportunities for the growth of the company.

In 1999 UPS finally went public and sold shares to the general public. Today, over 70% of the stockholder votes are held by UPS employees and heirs of the founders.

In 2001 UPS acquired Mail Boxes Etc., Inc., the world's largest franchisor of retail shipping, postal, and business service centers. UPS’ newly acquired 3000 locations made their services even more convenient and widely available while lowering UPS-direct shipping rates.

On June 1, 2020, Carol B. Tomé began her tenure as the 12th CEO of UPS and became the first female CEO in the company’s history.

As you can see UPS’s rich history is full of opportunities they dared to grab and challenges they responded to. They stayed on the path of progress which enabled them to remain an industry leader throughout the 20th century. 

The company's success is built on solid foundations - their vision and core values which largely impacted their business model. Let’s see what are some of the key elements of UPS’s success.

Key takeaway #1: plan how to stay ahead of the competition

Since the inception of the company, UPS has strived to offer efficient and quality service to their customers. That resulted in constant and purposeful improvement which allowed UPS to quickly adapt to many changes throughout the century. Planning for excellence is a crucial part of their longevity.

Business model and core values

“We are a comprehensive logistics services provider, with a global network of distribution centers. Through innovative technology and years of supply chain experience we help companies manage the flow of goods from receiving to storage to order processing to shipment. And you thought we just delivered packages.”

That’s how UPS describes one part of its services and it’s obvious they don’t define themselves just as a delivery service but as a logistics powerhouse .

If we look at their three latest slogans it’s clear that they are positioning themselves as a company that can handle any and all logistics needs. 

The slogans were:

• What can brown do for you? (2002 to 2010)
• We love logistics. (2010 to 2015)
• United Problem Solvers. (2015 until now)

UPS segments its products and services based on the target market they’re meant for - from your neighbors, local small and medium businesses to huge international enterprises. Such varied target consumers require different business models, yet there is a common goal that UPS strives to achieve no matter the market. 

They always strive to have the best service across the industry . That’s their main differentiator.

In one of their statements they said:

“Our prices have gone up in recent years in comparison to our closest rival FedEx, but our quality and service have not been diminished. With new technology, we have been able to deliver products faster and more efficiently to your front door.”

It’s clear what’s their #1 priority.

Let’s take a closer look at the foundations of UPS' business model and strategy - their mission statement and core values.

UPS’ mission statement

Here’s UPS’s mission statement :

“Grow our global business by serving the logistics needs of customers, offering excellence and value in all that we do. 

Maintain a financially strong company with broad employee ownership that provides a long-term competitive return to our shareowners. 

Inspire our people and business partners to do their best, offering opportunities for personal development and success. 

Lead by example as a responsible, caring, and sustainable company making a difference in the communities we serve.” 

The statement is quite elaborate and shows how thorough UPS is. Let’s break it down, focus on the main points and see how they transfer into practice.

Excellence and value for its customers

UPS is a customer-centric company. It guarantees timely delivery and is constantly improving its tracking so that customers can see what’s happening with their items. Users can use UPS My Choice and UPS Mobile to make delivery as convenient as possible which certainly adds value. 

Improving communities

UPS states that it is a perfect example of what a responsible and caring company should look like. The company issues Sustainability progress reports, Social impact reports and runs a Humanitarian Relief and Resilience program. UPS has also pledged to complete 20 million hours of global volunteerism and community service by the end of 2020, although the report is not out yet. UPS is serious when they say that they “offer their business expertise and hands-on efforts to plan, plant, and improve communities and the planet.”

Inspiring others

UPS strives to exceed expectations - that’s a part of their dedication to excellent service as well as a reason why the company has been so highly rated for decades. UPS has always set high standards for themselves and aimed to adopt strategies that would benefit the company, the customers, the investors, and the general community. The company is also known for its internal development and promotion of its employees and as an employer that offers great career opportunities.

At the core of UPS’s mission statement are its values.

UPS’ core values

UPS’s core values might seem like a fairly generic list, but they are not just letters on paper - UPS puts them into practice in almost anything they do.

Their 7 core values are:

• Sustainability

A lot of these values are noticeable throughout UPS history. 

UPS’ founder Jim Casey was obsessed with appearances and processes that would guarantee a quality and efficient service. Any innovation that would improve the processes was welcome and UPS still encourages the continuous search for better and easier tactics of getting the job done. They remain constructively dissatisfied in their pursuit of excellence .

The stability of the company has a lot to do with its emphasis on everyone going all out to serve, improve and deliver UPS’ services in a right and respectful manner. That’s the teamwork they emphasize. As Jim Casey said: "Remember that the story is to be about us - not about me. Determined people working together can do anything."

Determined people are needed to deliver quality service and when UPS lists service in its core values it is honing in specifically on serving the needs of their customers and communities. The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic was a prime example of what that means, as UPS immediately issued a statement on their website:

“We’re here for you. UPS drivers will continue to pick up and deliver, even in restricted areas. While our customer care teams respond to a higher than normal call volume, here are some resources to help you get started…”

In the meantime, they were already looking into safety measures for their employees. 

Let’s see UPS’s mission statement and core values in action and take a look at how a part of their business model proactively evolved when they deemed it necessary.

How UPS refocused on process quality and got everyone on the same page

In 1994, UPS’ CEO at the time, Oz Nelson, felt a change in the company’s performance measurement process was necessary. UPS wasn’t in trouble, but the leadership felt that the old ways of measuring performance won’t work under their new process improvement directions.

It’s important to note that UPS’ could have waited as they were doing just fine, but they proactively decided to realign a part of their business model with its core values.

Until then they had a “look at and measure everything” approach and 90% of the measurements were financial, which lagged the business activities by 45 days or more. Many of the frontline workers didn’t really understand the measurements and felt like they had no stake in the company’s strategy which went against UPS’s core values.

UPS decided to focus on key processes and put emphasis on process quality . They’ve implemented the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) which presented a results-driven measurement system that focused everyone in the company on customers and solutions.

The BSC helped UPS spread its strategic message throughout the company and to their frontline workers by focusing everyone on the same “Point of Arrival (POA)” measures, such as:

• Customer satisfaction
• Employee relations
• Competitive position
• Time in transit

UPS decided that these four measures represented the essence of their strategic levers for success and were also easily understandable. They set target values for each “Point of Arrival” that showed not where UPS would like to be, but where they had to be in order to achieve their goals and fulfil their mission.

How did the Balanced Scorecard work out in practice?

Bill Klussman, the industrial engineering manager at UPS said : “The BSC has been amazingly successful for us. Now that our drivers thoroughly understand the direction UPS is headed, they can relate better to our customers, which is helping generate more business for the company. The service provider in front of the customer is now a salesperson, helping market the company and develop sales leads.”

Doug Schultz, operational excellence manager, added: “When we rolled this out in 1996, people easily blew past the financial goals, but that was only 25% of how we measure performance. People weren’t as strong in some other areas. In order to drive UPS forward, we had to raise the bar. We did that by measuring people’s performance from a balanced approach. The BSC is a roadmap - the shared vision of our future goals - with action elements that let everyone contribute to our success.”

Here’s a summarized version of a Balanced Scorecard that UPS used in 1999:

In the five years after implementing the BSC, UPS has reemerged as a customer-focused, solutions-oriented business that uses leading technologies and e-commerce applications. The new strategy and measurement model resulted in UPS being named the Forbes magazine’s “Company of the Year” in 1999, while the company’s employees were described in the Business Week as the “the foot soldiers of the dot.com evolution” .

The Balanced Scorecard gave UPS a broader, more strategic, and predictive view of the company’s performance and was just one of many adjustments the company proactively made to retain its competitive edge.

Speaking of adjustments, let’s take a closer look at some more key examples of how UPS evolved and diversified its services and strategy over the years.

Key takeaway #2: proactively adapt while sticking to your core values

Most of UPS’ core values haven’t changed since its very beginning. In fact, they are the cornerstone of UPS’ identity and while strategies and business models have to change with time, they also need a solid vision of what they want to achieve and what the company stands for. A solid set of universal values makes it easier to identify what’s not working and what to change in order to refocus your strategy.

Diversifying and evolving

While UPS started out as a parcel delivery company it soon diversified its services and continues to do so. Nowadays UPS provides solutions in various segments such as consumer services, industrial manufacturing, professional services, healthcare, retail, and even aerospace.

The goal of providing complementary services is to become a “one-stop-shop” and make it convenient to use UPS for more than just delivery. That increases customer retention and revenue, but it also requires the company to stay in touch with the emerging needs.

Here’s an example of what UPS offers as special value-added distribution services:

Packaging solutions 

Branded, environmentally conscious, temperature-sensitive and optimized corrugation packaging are available. Innovative damage protection through their Sealed Air Packaging Innovation Center. Store-ready product displays are also available. 

Product customization 

UPS offers a wide range of postponement services, including hardware and device configuration, software installation, light assembly of finished goods, literature add-ins, and the addition of documentation and labels. 

Retail compliance 

From labeling to quality checks, UPS helps customers avoid fees and chargebacks from retailers. They also provide services like garments on hangers, tagging, and an advanced shipping notice. 

Kitting and pre-assembly 

Includes component kit-building, configuring barcode labels for kits, kit disassembly, and distributed order management. UPS can also perform in-house inspections and refurbishment, edging, and decal services.

Quality inspections 

UPS is ISO 9001 Certified. Lean Six Sigma methodologies and practices maintain a high level of quality. They can provide specialized and in-depth quality inspections, as needed. 

Technical services 

UPS provides specialized technical services - like screening/testing and software/hardware configurations - for high-tech and consumer electronics companies. 

Foreign trade zones

UPS helps customers lower expenses and improve cash flow by reducing, deferring, and even eliminating duties, fees, and taxes associated with importing goods into the U.S. 

3D printing 

UPS lets customers produce single and small-batch parts-on-demand with centralized industrial-grade 3D printing and next-day delivery within the U.S.

That’s quite an impressive diversification within just one segment of UPS’ services and it shows that the company listens and responds to their customers’ needs which is crucial for retaining and increasing their market share. 

Even a seemingly simple segment of domestic residential shipping evolved through the years to fulfill different customer needs. UPS offers:

• UPS Ground for day-definite delivery. Can take up to 5 days.
• UPS 3-Day Select for less-sensitive express shipments. 
• UPS 2nd Day Air for packages that must arrive within two days. 
• UPS Next Day Air for shipments that require overnight service. UPS splits Next Day Air into three tiers:
• Next Day Air Saver: guaranteed overnight shipping with afternoon delivery.
• Next Day Air : guaranteed overnight delivery between 10:30 AM and noon.
• Next Day Air Early : guaranteed overnight shipping by 8:30 AM for major US cities and 9:30 AM to most other destinations.
• UPS Express Critical: UPS' fastest service. Delivers to all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico by end of the day.

When speaking of residential shipping, we should also mention UPS’ Access Points . These are locations such as a grocery store or a petrol station that serves as a UPS parcel delivery and retrieval location. Although they seem self-evident today, Access Points are another result of UPS’ evolution and customer-centric strategy.

They answer the question: “How can we serve our customers more efficiently and ensure pickups and dropoffs are as convenient as possible?”

Instead of only offering their services at their shops, UPS collaborates with various stores and chains and currently has 9,000 Access Points in the United States and 29,000 globally. They plan to grow their number to 21,000 in the U.S. and 40,000 globally, thus ensuring there’s likely a UPS Access Point nearby no matter where you are.

No matter what new services or products UPS introduce, their strategy remains all about serving the customer's needs in an efficient manner. Let’s explore some of their approaches that helped them reach that particular goal.

Efficiency at every turn

UPS takes what many would consider being extreme measures in order to improve efficiency and lower costs while retaining the quality of its service.

Arguably the most interesting example of these measures is this one:

UPS trucks do not take left-hand turns.

Why? Because turning right decreases safety hazards and delays. If a driver is stuck waiting for traffic to pass with a left blinker on, it's going to set them back. Jutting out into traffic is also a good way to get side-swiped, especially when driving a big truck.

The results show that the approach works. With the help of this rule (but not exclusively because of it) UPS' routing software shaved 20.4 million miles off their routes in 2010 while delivering 350,000 more packages than the year before.

Of course, it wouldn’t be possible to test and get the most out of such an approach without the proper technology.

As Juan Perez, UPS chief information and engineering officer, says: “We have tremendous success developing new technologies that provide a better customer experience and make our business more efficient. For example, traditional GPS inspired UPSNav, which more accurately directs our drivers to their destinations. Or ORION, the UPS-developed complex algorithm that optimizes 30,000 UPS delivery routes every minute. Technology is in our DNA, and we’re using it to transform the way we help our customers every day.”

Leveraging big data

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that UPS jumped on the opportunities big data provides. The company collects all types of information and uses it in many forms to solve practical business problems . With big data’s help, UPS improved its flexibility, capability, and efficiency. It also helped their line-of-business managers to improve performance by getting the right insight at the right time.

Perez said that the aim for UPS is to use the data it collects to optimize processes, to enable automation and autonomy, and to continue to learn how to improve its global delivery network.

A great example of leveraging big data is the company’s enhanced dynamic global execution (EDGE) program, a suite of projects based on detailed data UPS has been collecting since 2016. EDGE initiatives have changed the arrangement of parcels inside trucks, how temporary holiday workers are trained and even when trucks get washed.

Let’s take a look at another concrete example. UPS is continuously improving its fleet management system called Orion (On-road Integrated Optimization and Navigation). Orion uses telematics and advanced algorithms to create optimal routes for delivery drivers. In 2017 Orion started using big data to dynamically optimize delivery routes.

As Perez explained before the update was launched: "Today (in 2017), Orion creates delivery routes before drivers leave the facility and they stay with that static route throughout the day. In the future, our system will continually look at the work that's been completed, and that still needs to be completed, and will then dynamically optimize the route as drivers complete their deliveries. That approach will ensure we meet our service commitments and reduce overall delivery miles."

Such an update of Orion led to about 100 million fewer delivery miles made and therefore reduced the carbon emissions by 100,000 metric tons. Perez said that these reductions represent a key measure of business efficiency and effectiveness, particularly in terms of sustainability.

Projects such as Orion form a collective of initiatives that UPS is using to improve decision-making across its delivery network. 

"That project will continue to evolve, as will all our innovations across the smart logistics network. Everything runs well today but we also recognize there are opportunities for continuous improvement,” says Perez.

With this example, we already dipped a finger into UPS’ digital transformation, but now it’s time to dive into it and see how a 100+ years company combines its core values with new technologies and possibilities.

Key takeaway #3: take care of emerging needs and take advantage of emerging technologies.

In theory, it’s quite simple - in order to successfully diversify, you should listen to your customers and address their most pressing or emerging needs. In order to evolve and become more efficient, you should leverage emerging technologies that can help you achieve your business goals. However, in order to do that, constant improvement should be your operational mantra. As you can see, it worked out well enough for UPS.

Digital transformation of a legacy giant

It’s not an exaggeration to say that every big enterprise is at least partially becoming a technology company.

UPS's story of digital transformation started as far back as the 1980s when the first handheld device was introduced to drivers and there is really no endpoint in sight for the company's digital journey. 

Recognizing new business needs and the fact that digital transformation is a huge operation, UPS created an Advanced Technology Group (ATG) in 2017. ATG’s mission is to research, test, and develop new technologies and operating models that can improve UPS’ network. The team is housed within UPS’s engineering department but collaborates across the company.

Former UPS CEO, David Abney, said at the time of ATG’s creation: “We have to be more apt to take on risk and get involved in some of these new technologies at an early stage.”

Just a year later UPS introduced a plethora of innovations and new technologies. The company truly stepped up its tech game and brought forward the following:

• A significant update to UPSNav , which provides UPS drivers with a new level of accuracy and precision that’s not available with conventional GPS, enabling the company’s drivers to operate at top efficiency while improving their customers’ experience.
• Network Planning Tools (NPT) that combine advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and operations research to more efficiently coordinate ground, air, and rail traffic between hubs to make the best use of sortation capacity. NPT empowers UPS to offer more reliable service to customers.
• Harmonized Enterprise Analytics Tool (HEAT) for hub operations that creates more accurate forecasts about the package volume that will need to be processed within UPS facilities.
• Mobile tools that enhance on-road productivity and new delivery helper apps that accelerate training of more than 50,000 seasonal delivery personnel.
• Dynamic Sort Instruction (DSI) transforms a highly complex package sorting process into a simple scan, listen and sort process. DSI increases employee productivity and shortens the training time for employees who work inside facilities.

But that’s not all. UPS’ digital customer engagement also saw significant improvements in 2018. Some of the key new introductions were:

• UPS internet shipping enhancements , like integration with 18 eMarketplaces to support eCommerce growth. 
• UPS tracking/visibility enhancements , including significantly improved accuracy of estimated delivery dates and times.
• UPS Returns Manager , which makes it easier for consumers to return packages and easier for shippers to define and manage their return policies.

UPS’ digital transformation efforts cover everything from software that optimizes drivers’ routes to warehouse machines that can sort packages, to better hand-held devices that drivers use to scan packages when they drop them on doorsteps.

UPS is introducing new technologies into every corner of its business and is also testing various Internet of Things (IoT) solutions . 

For example, the company uses more than 100,000 Smart Trailer devices that are attached to company assets, producing up to 60 million GPS messages every week. The ability to track company property so effectively results in cost and time savings, as it allows for last-minute route and load changes which were not possible with their legacy system.

Furthermore, UPS is also overhauling the services they offer to others, such as industrial manufacturing solutions. The company published a whitepaper explaining why it’s focusing on “Smart Operations” in order to reach new levels of operations excellence. 

It states that the current methods can result in overly optimized processes which become inflexible, leaving the business unable to rapidly adjust to disruptions in the supply chain and changing customer demand. However, “Smart Operations” which are fueled by digital transformation, allow companies to better analyze and quickly manage changes to their supply chain both upstream and downstream of the factory.

While we won’t delve deeper into smart operations, it’s interesting to notice how UPS considered the possibility of over-optimization and compared it to the flexibility new technology offers. This speaks volumes about the adaptability of UPS’ views and their desire to make the most of what’s available at this point in time.

No wonder that Perez believes the company is positioned well for the future. He says : "I don't think our digital transformation is ever really going to end. The solutions that we're building today are supporting the business today, but they're also being built to support the needs of the future."

Speaking of new technologies, we simply have to touch on what has been a very hot topic in the delivery industry for quite some time now - drones.

Key takeaway #4: digital transformation is not a side-project

Digitization of products and services has become a must in many industries, yet it’s still often treated as a side-project. UPS is an example of how to do it properly. They’ve created a new department focused on implementing new tech and have been investing over $1 billion per year to enhance their processes with new solutions. That’s what it takes to remain an industry leader.

The future is… in the air?

In 2019, the FAA gave UPS the first full approval for a drone airline, which means UPS has the right to operate as many drones as they want.

While drones still seem quite far from widespread use, they are proving to be useful in certain situations and on certain locations such as medical campuses.

UPS' first approved flight was launched at the WakeMed hospital campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. Delivering lab samples and other medical supplies by drone across major US hospital campuses seems to be the priority for UPS’ drone operations at the moment as further penetration of the healthcare and life sciences logistics market is one of the four main strategic imperatives .

UPS has also tested drones for urgent commercial deliveries over bodies of water and developed a drone that can make residential deliveries by launching from a UPS truck.

 Right now, the company’s plan is to:

• Expand drone delivery service to new hospitals and campus environments around the country.
• Add new services including residential and commercial drone deliveries.
• Partner with drone manufacturers to build drone hardware and software.
• Hire for all positions including management, drone pilots and repair technicians, engineering, IT, and more.
• Keep safety at the heart of everything they do, with air and ground-based, detect-and-avoid technology.

What needs to happen before we see more widespread use of drones?

"Three things needed to come together for drones: The customer needs, the readiness of the technology, and regulatory approvals," says Bala Ganesh, VP of the Advanced Technology Group at UPS.

While drones have a certain futuristic draw and are perfect for making the headlines and creating some free publicity, there are also more practical alternative air delivery options UPS is exploring.

Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft

UPS, together with its Flight Forward subsidiary, plans to purchase electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft from Beta Technologies (BETA) to enhance and possibly overhaul its air service for specific small and mid-size markets. 

These aircraft are made so that they can land and take off at UPS facilities in a whisper-quiet fashion, reducing time-in-transit, vehicle emissions, and operating costs. They are certainly inspired by drones but made to be more efficient and financially viable.

The cargo capacity of 1,400-pounds is ideal for time-sensitive deliveries that would otherwise fly on small fixed-wing aircraft. It allows UPS to enhance services and value for small- and medium-sized businesses as well as healthcare providers - both segments that are a part of the company’s four strategic imperatives .

“This is all about innovation with a focus on returns for our business, our customers, and the environment. These new aircraft will create operational efficiencies in our business, open possibilities for new services, and serve as a foundation for future solutions to reduce the emissions profile of our air and ground operation,” says Perez.

The first ten BETA aircraft are scheduled for 2024, with UPS having an option to purchase up to 150 more of them if the introduction of such services goes well.

There are many reasons why UPS has to keep innovating and evolving and among them, there’s one specific competitor that is going to make things very interesting for UPS in the near future. Let’s take a closer look.

Key takeaway #5: explore your options

While drones are a hot topic, they won’t hit the mass delivery market anytime soon - or ever. Still, UPS saw their use in one specific segment (for now) and also expanded the concept of drones into a related area of delivery that might be more financially feasible. Often exploring each and every option connected to a promising idea might lead to a better and more focused solution.

A customer or a competitor?

When speaking of main competitors, UPS is traditionally compared to FedEx. The companies certainly have a history and have pushed each other to introduce new services and answer each other’s challenges.

However, FedEx is not the competitor we’re going to talk about. It’s Amazon.

Amazon is fascinating because it is UPS’ biggest customer, but it’s also apparent that it’s becoming one of UPS' biggest competitors.

Amazon was probably always considering creating its own delivery service, but the tipping point must’ve been the Christmas season of 2013. That’s when UPS and FedEx struggled to meet holiday shipping deadlines which tarnished Amazon’s image as many of their packages didn’t arrive on time to be put under the Christmas tree.

In an email to their customers, Amazon explained that they processed all orders on time and that UPS and FedEx were responsible for the delay.

Since then Amazon went on a logistics expansion tear.

• By 2016, they had leased 40 jets to move its freight around the country.
• They’ve created their own same-day services, offering Prime Now deliveries in many urban areas and grocery delivery from its Whole Foods Market.
• Amazon now oversees more than 100,000 drivers in blue Amazon-branded vans. They have also placed an order with Rivian, a Detroit start-up that’s building electric vehicles, to build 100,000 delivery vans starting in 2021. 
• Amazon’s capital expenditures, which include such things as logistics expansion and the costs of data centers, increased a whopping 80% over the last 12 months and will continue to grow.
• The company increased the capacity of its in-house logistics operations, known as AMZL, by 50% each year over the last few years.
• Amazon’s logistics business handled 5.1 billion packages in the United States in 2020, just shy of the 5.3 billion packages UPS shipped domestically.
• In 2015, UPS, postal services, and FedEx delivered more than 97% of Amazon’s packages in the United States. In 2020 Amazon handled 67% of its package deliveries and until the end of 2021 or mid-2022, this number will probably go to 85%+.

These numbers should ring all the alarm bells in UPS’ building, right? Well, it’s a bit more complicated.

UPS and FedEx took a very different approach to Amazon’s threat.

FedEx decided not to help one of their upcoming main competitors while they’re still building their delivery and logistics network. In August 2019 they announced that they are not renewing their ground-delivery contract with Amazon, officially citing the reason to be the company’s efforts to “focus on the broader e-commerce market”.

However, Amazon accounted for 13.3% of UPS’ revenue in 2020 by paying $11.3 billion for their shipping services. That’s just too much money to walk away from.

At the beginning of 2020, the former CEO of UPS, David Abney said : “We watch what they do. They’re certainly a customer, but they can be a competitor in certain areas, and we monitor that. We’ve got a mutually beneficial relationship.” Thus suggesting the current relationship between the companies wouldn’t be disrupted as long as it stays mutually beneficial.

The looming threat of Amazon is very likely also one of the reasons why UPS is heavily investing in innovations and new technologies.

The thing is that Amazon started building its logistics from scratch just a decade ago and that means that it was able to put technology at the center of its operations , which makes it even more important for UPS to modernize its systems. And they just might be paying for their innovations with Amazon’s money.

UPS has never shied away from a challenge and their ability to evolve in order to stay efficient makes them confident they can compete with Amazon. That’s why they still have a contract with them.

There’s another reason why UPS is feeling confident at the moment.

Amazon isn’t yet shipping packages for customers beyond their own third-party sellers. The primary impediment to doing that is Amazon’s own retail growth. Its own products continue to soak up the shipping capacity it creates and doesn’t leave enough capacity to service other customers.

However, if that changes, we’ll start seeing the real battle for market share and that is likely going to be one of the biggest challenges UPS has ever faced.

Key takeaway #6: prepare for the emerging competition

Only time will tell if UPS’ approach to dealing with Amazon was the correct one. However, we can see that UPS is rapidly evolving its services and preparing to take on new competitors by retaining their market share with added value and expanding to new markets. 

UPS’ SWOT analysis

Let’s recap everything we’ve covered during this strategy study in a concise SWOT analysis.

Strong global presence

UPS is delivering shipments in more than 140 countries and regions. It is also working as a small delivery service in approximately 220 countries. Their strong global network allows them to offer time-definite shipments worldwide.

SMART network UPS’ cutting-edge delivery system is based on seamless integration of collection and distribution mechanisms. The company invested $20 billion to construct the SMART network, which is an acronym for Southeast Metro Automated Routing Terminal.

Excellent customer service

Being customer-centric is one of UPS’ core values. To attract, satisfy, and retain customers, businesses have to deliver consistently high-quality service. UPS’ customer satisfaction rate is also generally higher than FedEx’s.

Innovative culture 

UPS never shied away from innovations. They experiment with new tech in order to improve their delivery service, diversify, and to better serve their customers’ needs. Their innovations in logistics and delivery systems earned them the Forbes CIO Innovation Award .

Fast and timely deliveries

Consistently fast and timely deliveries are a must if a company wants to stay on top of the industry. UPS has been doing it for over 100 years and they are still striving to improve their processes and become even faster and more efficient.

Competitive prices

As a huge player in the industry, who has been streamlining its operations for decades, UPS is able to offer competitive prices for high-quality services. A high price/value ratio is crucial for attracting and retaining customers.

Online tracking

UPS is able to track 295 million shipments per day. Their transparent and advanced online tracking system makes it very simple to check when their customers can expect their delivery.

Reliance on the US market

In 2019, US domestic package delivery and freight generated $58.6 billion while international delivery brought in $15.41 billion, which means that only a fifth of their income comes from outside the US. If Amazon becomes a strong local competitor or if the US market slows down due to recession, it can hugely affect UPS’ revenue.

Shipping during the holiday season

During peak shipping season around Christmas, the average daily package volume doubles and that’s a problem. As UPS can’t afford too many delays, they have to spend a lot of money to keep up with the demand which impacts their profitability during the holiday season.

Employee safety

Although in theory UPS’ emphasizes their employees’ safety, they’ve been pretty lackluster in this area. They increased the weight limit of packages from 70 to 140 pounds in the 1990s which resulted in many injuries and there were still articles in 2019 that worker injuries are underreported.

Opportunities

E-Commerce operations

The whole e-Commerce sector relies on deliveries and is growing rapidly. This is definitely an opportunity for a company that figures out how to be the most e-Commerce friendly.

Expansion through acquisitions

UPS can look to enter untapped markets through the acquisition of local logistics companies in order to increase their global revenue share.

Further diversification of services

UPS can use its logistics systems and global network to expand into related markets or experiment by offering new services when the opportunity arises. They are already evolving into a one-stop shop for certain sectors and they should continue to do so.

Experiment with new delivery methods

We’ve mentioned drones and smaller electrical aircraft and that’s exactly what can open new niches for UPS. If they are the first one to offer efficient and fast air delivery over short distances they’ll be able to establish a strong market share in many niche markets.

Intense competition

With several big industry players and Amazon emerging as a huge threat, UPS’ market share is never safe and the company can’t afford to make big mistakes.

Dependence on Amazon

As we’ve mentioned, delivering for Amazon represented 13.3% of UPS’ revenue in 2020. As Amazon expands its delivery services, UPS will almost certainly lose a significant chunk of its income.

Transportation costs

It’s quite simple - the delivery sector is impacted by transportation costs and if these costs continue to increase, it will lower UPS’ profitability.

The pandemic and looming recession

Not only has the Covid-19 pandemic negatively impacted UPS profits, but has also impacted other companies. If the recession becomes more severe, UPS could face even bigger losses.

Final thoughts and key takeaways

This strategy study is just a snapshot of UPS’ long and very successful history. It demonstrates how a company can evolve and change many of its processes without changing its identity or core values.

UPS is a stellar example of the importance of continuous innovation for long-term success and constant growth.

One might think that after 100+ years of existence an industry leader’s growth would stagnate, but that’s not the case when it comes to UPS. Just take a look...

Recap: growth by the numbers

The ultimate list of strategic takeaways:.

• Set universal core values that will define your brand and stick to them.

UPS’ goal was always to offer their customers the best quality of service in the most efficient way. Their core values reflect that and acted like guidelines throughout their history. 

A seemingly simple question such as: “What can we do to offer our customers the best quality of service in the most efficient way?” has different answers in different segments and at different times.

However, what it always does is make you think about what you should do to stay on top of the industry.

That’s why you should carefully choose a set of universal values and a mission statement that will define your brand and help to refocus your efforts when the times get tough.

• Continuous innovation is the key to longevity.

As new technologies emerge it’s inevitable that someone somewhere will find a better way to solve the same problem you’re solving. Some companies stick to what has worked for them in the past until it’s too late. Others, like UPS, search for such innovations or at least try out promising new technologies as soon as they appear on their radar.

In the fast-paced world we live in there’s no time to rest on laurels. If you’re not innovating and improving, you’re already falling behind.

• Involve everyone in the company.

Early on, UPS involved every employee in its vision by issuing the UPS policy book. At the end of the 20th century, they made sure that their employees understood the company’s goals by introducing the Balanced Scorecard. Why? Because it’s impossible to achieve excellent service (their goal) without involving their employees.

Every company should make sure that their employees understand their business goals and that they see what their contribution is. If they see and feel that their work actually matters, they’ll be much more engaged than otherwise. Especially if they feel good about their company.

The Ups and Downs of Social Media

• Posted May 16, 2018
• By Leah Shafer

Watch teenagers using social media, and you witness an emotional rollercoaster: they are intermittently ecstatic, furious, envious, heartbroken, charmed, anxious, obsessive, and bored.

Research has begun to zero in on nearly every part of this spectrum, with findings that run from alarming (screen time is linked to depression and suicide ) to reassuring (many teens find social media empowering ). B ut for those looking for a clear-cut "good or bad" verdict on social media, the reality is that it's a little of each — but generally a much more positive experience than many parents might think.

A new study finds that teenagers report feeling all kinds of positive and negative emotions when describing the same social media experiences — posting selfies, Snapchatting, browsing videos — but  the majority rate their overall experiences as positive. 

Understanding these nuances can help families better grasp their teens’ up-and-down experiences in the digital world, the study suggests, offering new insight on how best to support them.

A Study on Adolescent Social Media Use

In the study, adolescent social media expert Emily Weinstein analyzed surveyed responses from 568 high school students at a suburban public high school in the United States. The students, who were evenly split between female and male, were heavier users of social media than the average American teen: 98 percent said that they were online “almost constantly” or “several times a day,” compared to 80 percent of teens nationally. Eighty-seven percent of these students used Instagram, 87 percent used Snapchat, and 76 percent used Facebook.

Teens felt empowered and excited when they shared important aspects of their identities with others. But they also worried about being judged by peers and expressed anxiety over not getting enough likes.

The surveys asked students to check off any of 11 listed emotions that they typically felt while using social media, as well as the emotions they believed their peers felt while using those apps.

Weinstein also analyzed data from 26 in-depth interviews with those surveyed (16 females and 10 males). These students walked the researchers through their experiences on Instagram and Snapchat, describing the content they saw and how they reacted to it.

A Spectrum of Positive and Negative Feelings — with Positive Prevailing

The study found that teens had four main ways of using social media — and although they acknowledged negative emotions from each, most described their experiences as generally positive.  

Teenagers use social media:

• for self-expression (sharing posts that portray who you are and what you care about);
• for relational interactions (messaging and connecting with family, friends, and romantic interests);
• for exploration (searching areas of interest); and
• for browsing (general scrolling through feeds and apps).

None of these modes of social media use resulted in purely negative emotions, as reported by teens. Each led to both positive and negative emotions.

• In self-expression mode, teens felt empowered and excited when they shared important aspects of their identities with others, and they enjoyed looking back at their personal Instagram feeds to reflect on how they’d developed over time. But they also worried about being judged by peers and expressed anxiety over not getting enough likes.  
• For relational interactions, teens felt happy to stay connected with peers, and many actually strengthened offline relationships with friends and significant others through social media. They enjoyed keeping in touch with faraway family members, too. But they also felt overwhelmed by the number of messages they had to respond to, and many felt left out when they saw friends posting together without them.  
• When exploring, teens enjoyed learning more about their interests, such as cooking or sports, or exploring new passions, such as activism or gun control. But they also reported viewing distressing and graphic images and stories.  
• When browsing, teens often felt amused and inspired by the different photos and videos they came across. But they also saw things that made them envious, insecure, or sad: a peer with thousands of followers, a deluge of images of attractive people, or even posts expressing appreciation for a parent or sibling, if they personally didn’t have that type of familial relationship.

Despite this variety of emotions, most teens described their experiences in mainly positive terms , found Weinstein, who is a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education . Seventy-two percent of the teens reported feeling happy on social media, 68.5 percent amused, 59.3 percent closer to friends, and 57.8 percent interested in the experience. Only 6.7 percent reported feeling upset, 7.9 percent irritated, 10.2 percent anxious, 16.9 percent jealous, and 15.3 percent left out. And 70 percent of the teens described their general experiences on social media using only the positive descriptors.

Just cutting teens off from social media entirely may not be the best solution, since that will likely cut them off from positive experiences as well.

For Families, Helping Teens Ride the Rollercoaster

• As parents grapple with their own anxiety over teens’ smartphone use, they should keep in mind that many teens are having routinely positive experiences on social media. Yes, teens are aware of negative emotions — fear, distress, jealousy, but from their perspective, feelings of connection, amusement, and inspiration also abound.  
• Families also need to remember that many of these negative feelings are developmentally normal . “Self-disclosure, validation, and concerns about acceptance and belonging are core components of adolescent development and friendship that predate and are present in youths’ digital interactions,” writes Weinstein. And teens’ online experiences often mirror their offline strengths and struggles , so insecurity or anxiety may not stem solely from social media use.  
• Parents should take teens’ negative experiences seriously , especially if their mood or behavior has changed, or if these negative feelings are affecting daily activities. But cutting them off from social media entirely may not be the best solution,  since that will likely cut them off from positive experiences as well.  
• At all points, families should talk to their teens about their experiences on social media. Figure out together what exactly they enjoy, and what challenges they are facing. Oftentimes, parents and teens can come up with tailored solutions to unique challenges — unfollowing a certain account that contributes to a negative body image, or refraining from posting on a certain app that leads to anxiety, for example — that still allow teens to hold onto what they enjoy.

The Rise of Smartphones

Listen to a conversation with pyschologist Jean Twenge about smart smartphone use — how smartphones have transformed teens' lives, and how teens who limit their phone use to two hours a day have the highest levels of wellbeing, 

Usable Knowledge

Connecting education research to practice — with timely insights for educators, families, and communities

Related Articles

Teens in a Digital World

Askwith Education Forum Highlights Teen Well-Being in a Tech-Filled World

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy detailed the struggle many adolescents have with social media and what can be done to help

Strengthening Teen Digital Well-Being

Tips for talking with teens about social media and thinking traps

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Crafting Climate Policy That Sticks: An Arctic Case Study

Date and location.

​Climate change transcends terms of office and demands steadfast policy responses. The Arctic, which is warming three to four times faster than the rest of the world, is at the forefront of the climate crisis. Communities in the region are witnessing profound disruptions to their daily lives and livelihoods as their environment rapidly transforms.

Join us for a deep dive into how durable policies are critical for building the resilience communities impacted by climate change. The discussion will draw out lessons from the implementation of the U.S. Arctic Strategy, featuring insights from officials from the White House and the Department of Interior, climate scientists, and local leaders who are directly engaged in translating policy commitments into action. Learn how the strides made through this strategy are not just responding to current challenges but are setting the groundwork for a resilient future for the Arctic and all communities facing the impacts of climate change.

RSVP required. A Harvard University ID is required for in-person attendance; all are welcome to attend on Zoom . For questions or to request accessibility accommodations, contact Elizabeth Hanlon ( [email protected] ).

Speakers and Presenters

​​David Balton, White House Arctic Executive Steering Committee; Raina Thiele, Department of Interior; John Holdren, HKS Arctic Initiative; Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium; Fran Ulmer, HKS Arctic Initiative

Reap the Benefits of Case Teaching—Without All the Prep

Explore more.

• Case Teaching
• Course Materials
• Student Engagement

Cameron Conaway is an adjunct professor in the Professional Communication master’s program at the University of San Francisco and a team leader in the People, Policy & Purpose organization at Cisco. Conaway holds an Executive MBA from the University of San Francisco and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. A former journalist, he is a recipient of The Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism Initiative Fellowship and a grantee of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. See Conaway’s latest article at HBR.org , “ The Right Way to Process Feedback. ”

5 Tips to Get Your Case Class Talking

• Classroom Management

Bill Schiano is a professor of computer information systems at Bentley University. He teaches both managerial and technical courses exclusively using discussion and the case method and has done so in online and hybrid formats. Bill regularly facilitates the web-based seminar Teaching with Cases Online .

Mitchell Weiss is the Richard L. Menschel Professor of Management Practice and chair of the MBA Required Curriculum at Harvard Business School.

Hayden Noel is a clinical associate professor of business administration at Gies College of Business. He began his career at the University of Illinois in 2007 as a visiting assistant professor before serving from 2009-2015 as an assistant professor and from 2015-2019 as a clinical assistant professor. His research interests include consumer information processing and memory, and he was named iMBA Professor of the Year in 2019.

Maria Rodas is an assistant professor of business administration and Shebik Centennial Fellow at Gies College of Business. Prior to receiving her PhD from the University of Minnesota, she received an MBA from Columbia University and spent a decade working in management consulting and in the consumer packaged goods industry.

Michael Roberto  is the Trustee Professor of Management and the director of the Center for Program Innovation at Bryant University. He joined the tenured faculty at Bryant after serving for six years on the faculty at Harvard Business School.

When Students Are the Case Protagonists

Tim O’Brien  is a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), where his work focuses on the gap between the demands of complex challenges and the meaning-making people bring to them. He teaches Exercising Leadership, a course highlighting the politics of change, and Developing People, focused on adult development. He is faculty chair of two HKS executive programs, Leadership for the 21st Century and The Art and Practice of Leadership Development. O’Brien also designs and delivers leadership development programs and consults with a range of tri-sector organizations.

Andrew Pennock is an associate professor at the University of Virginia’s (UVA) Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He teaches courses on leadership, policy analysis, political institutions, and Virginia politics and policy. At UVA, he is a faculty director of Batten’s orientation program and is an elected member of the Executive Council of the Faculty Senate where he serves on the Academic Affairs Committee . He also recently chaired the university’s AI in Teaching and Learning Taskforce . This year he is a 2023-2024 Fulbright Scholar working in Slovenia.

Managing a Case Discussion That Goes Awry

Elevate your case prep with chatgpt.

• Artificial Intelligence
• Course Design

What Happens When You Assign a Case in a Different Language

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Steve Denson has taught negotiation for over 20 years at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business. He serves as assistant dean of diversity in the Cox School, as well as vice chair of the CAB Board of KERA and a member of the advisory board for the Clements Center for Southwest Studies. He formerly served in an advisory capacity on the NAETC for the Bush and Obama administrations under Secretaries of Labor Chao and Solis. As a former Woodrow Wilson Fellow, The Public Policy and International Affairs Program named him one of their 40 top Alumni Changemakers .

Sophia Gomez is a rising senior at Southern Methodist University, double majoring in business management and political science and minoring in law and legal reasonings. She is the president of Panhellenic Council at SMU and plans to attend law school after graduation.

Adaeze Okoli is a rising senior majoring in business management at Southern Methodist University. She is president of SMU’s chapter of the national honor society Mortar Board and in the fall will serve as vice president of SMU’s Women in Business club. She plans to attend business school after college.

Strategies for Teaching Large Case Classes Online

• Digital Learning

How Hollywood Inspires My Case Teaching

• Perspectives

Dr. Neil J. Lambert is a senior lecturer in global management at the University of Bristol Business School, United Kingdom. A senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Chartered Management and Business Educator, and a member of the British Academy of Management, he has written cases, developed educational games, and taught using case- and game-based learning across undergraduate, graduate, and executive education.

7 Favorite Business Case Studies to Teach Undergrads—and Why

Amy Wallis is a full teaching professor at the Wake Forest University School of Business. As an organizational development leader and academic professional, Wallis’s teaching and expertise are in leadership, ethics, organizational behavior, team development, and change management.

Mihran A. Aroian is an assistant professor of instruction in the department of management at McCombs College of Business, University of Texas at Austin. He is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and has an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Johanna Glauber is an assistant professor in the strategy department at IE University. Her research focuses on firms’ strategy and behavior in case of failure. Having a background in management and mechanical engineering, Glauber is particularly interested in product failures in manufacturing industries, such as product recalls in the automotive industry. She also is an active member of the international research community.

Joseph C. Miller is professor and chair of the marketing and sales departments at St. Ambrose University.

Sheri L. Lambert is an associate professor of practice in the department of marketing at Temple University’s Fox School of Business where she teaches marketing strategy, digital innovation in marketing, and consumer buyer behavior at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. Lambert is also academic director of the MS-Market Research Program and managing director of the Fox Center for Executive Education.

Oscar Melo-Vega Angeles is an associate professor of finance, a researcher, and the international financing area coordinator at the University of Lima. He is also responsible for the University of London program at the University of Lima. Melo-Vega has experience in researching and consulting in economics and finance. He has used cases in undergraduate classes for 15 years.

What Works Best When Teaching with Live Cases

• Experiential Learning

Dr. Jeff Johnson (PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) is an associate professor of marketing at UMKC’s Henry W. Bloch School of Management. Prior to academia, Dr. Johnson worked in inside sales, field sales, product management, and division management at Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha, Nebraska and Los Angeles, California.

Dr. Shannon Cummins (PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) is an associate professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where she founded UNO’s Center for Professional Sales. Active in the pedagogy and sales communities, Dr. Cummins has published more than 20 journal articles. She has been honored with college-wide awards at two prior institutions for her teaching and service.

If You’re Not Auditing Your Curriculum for Diversity, Know Your Students Will

Pamela Fischer is a 2021 graduate of University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, where she received her MBA. She also received a B.A. in history and economics from Haverford College. She currently works as a senior program manager at Amazon.

Jared Harris is academic director of the Institute for Business in Society and Samuel L. Slover Research Associate Professor at University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He teaches ethics and strategy courses in Darden’s MBA and EMBA programs, and insights from this research have been highlighted in the New York Times , the Washington Post , and The New Yorker , as well as other media outlets in the United States, Canada, Germany, India, Portugal, and the U.K. His academic career follows a distinguished business career, first in consulting at several global public accounting firms, followed by a stint as a CFO for a small technology startup.

Need a Coauthor for Your Next Business Case Study?

Art Weinstein , Ph.D., is a professor of marketing at Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He has published more than 80 scholarly articles and papers and eight books on customer-focused marketing strategy. His latest book is Superior Customer Value—Finding and Keeping Customers in the Now Economy . Dr. Weinstein has consulted for many leading technology and service companies.

Lessons from My First Case Writing Project

Jeremy B. Dann is a lecturer at USC’s Marshall School of Business and the founding director of the case study program at the school’s Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. Dann was named Outstanding Case Writer and winner of The Case Centre’s 2021 global case writing competition. He graduated from Harvard Business School in 1998 and served as a research fellow at HBS from 1998-99. He is the author or coauthor of seven bestselling case studies available through Harvard Business Publishing.

What Effective Case Instructors Do Best

Mihnea Moldoveanu is the Desautels Professor of Integrative Thinking; Professor of Economic Analysis; and Founding Director of the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking, the Self Development Lab, the Mind Brain Behavior Institute, the Leadership Development Lab, and Rotman Digital, all at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

When Startups Lose, Students Gain

• How I Teach

Thomas R. Eisenmann is the Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he teaches entrepreneurship and studies the management of new ventures. Eisenmann is the Peter O. Crisp faculty chair of the Harvard Innovation Labs and faculty cochair of the HBS Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, the Harvard MS/MBA-Engineering Sciences, and the Harvard College Technology Fellows program. Since joining the HBS faculty in 1997, he’s led The Entrepreneurial Manager, an introductory course taught to all first-year MBAs, and chaired the second year of the MBA program.

Lindsay N. Hyde is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School in the Entrepreneurial Management unit. She coteaches Entrepreneurial Failure, a course focused on why start-ups fail and how founders and founding teams rebound and learn from failure. Hyde is also an entrepreneur in residence at Moderne Ventures, a $200M venture capital fund focused on the real estate sector. Prior to her time at Moderne, Hyde founded and led start-ups in the real estate and education spaces. She cofounded Baroo, a venture-backed services-as-amenities platform used by the largest Class A multifamily owners and operators.

What the Case Study Method Really Teaches

Nitin Nohria is the former dean of Harvard Business School.

Get the Most Out of Your Cold Calls

What to do when students bring case solutions to class.

John Lafkas is a senior editor at Harvard Business Publishing. He has taught with cases and is an aficionado of cases old and new.

An Educator’s Guide to Online Teaching Technology

Ryan W. Buell is a professor of business administration in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches Managing Service Operations in the MBA elective curriculum, is a section chair in the MBA required curriculum, and teaches in numerous focused and custom executive education programs at the school. He is the faculty chair of the Transforming Customer Experiences Executive Education program, and has also taught the Technology and Operations Management course in the MBA required curriculum.

It’s Time We Talk About Mental Health in Business Classrooms

• Student Support

Bahia El Oddi founded Human Sustainability Inside Out to break with mental health stigmas and to support well-being at work. Prior to this, Bahia created CoCaSha (Connect, Care, and Share), a start-up empowering underrepresented food entrepreneurs and small businesses owners with digital skills. She is also the cofounder of MIT Open Learning’s TRUE Africa University, an online university aiming to empower African talent to accelerate the continent’s development, and Dar El Oddi, a cultural center aiming to make Morocco’s cultural heritage accessible to everyone.

Carin-Isabel Knoop is the executive director of the Case Research & Writing Group at Harvard Business School. She is also coauthor of Compassionate Management of Mental Health in the Modern Workplace .

5 Ways Online Tools Made Case Teaching Better

David Wood is a member of the faculty in operations management at Ivey Business School, as well as a graduate of both the HBA and MBA programs. He spent many years in industry as the director of sales and marketing and then as vice president of manufacturing before becoming president for W. C. Wood Company, a global manufacturer of home appliances. He has written many cases on process design, quality management, and operations strategy. Wood is the coauthor of a series of books on learning with cases and writing cases, and he has won a number of teaching awards, including the David G. Burgoyne Teaching Award and Outstanding Case Teacher from The Case Centre.

Ignacio Gafo is a professor in marketing management at IE Business School. He holds an Executive MBA and a PhD in marketing. Prior to joining IE, he spent 15 years working in international marketing and sales positions in the telecommunications, technology, and fast-moving consumer goods industries. He has been teaching online and face to face in master’s and executive education programs for 16 years. Gafo is a board member of IE’s Center for Liquid Learning, and lectures around the world about online education.

Why It’s OK to Keep Older Cases in Your Syllabus

A course designed to get students hired.

Johannes Kern is an affiliated professor of supply chain management at Tongji University, China, where he researches buyer-supplier relationships and the digital transformation of logistics. He also supports international companies in China to optimize their whole supply chain, including sourcing, transportation, warehousing, and production.

You Too Can—and Must—Lead Class Discussions on Social Justice Issues

Mihir A. Desai is the Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School and a professor of law at Harvard Law School. His areas of expertise include tax policy, international finance, and corporate finance.

Case Writers, Think Carefully About How You Portray Protagonists

Alexandra C. Feldberg is an assistant professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. She uses qualitative and quantitative methods to examine intersections between gender, knowledge-transfer, technology, and discrimination within firms. Prior to her graduate studies, she worked as a management consultant at Katzenbach Partners, a staff member at Columbia University, and an Education Pioneers Fellow with Teach For America.

Anthony J. Mayo is the Thomas S. Murphy Senior Lecturer of Business Administration and C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator in the Organizational Behavior Unit of Harvard Business School. He currently teaches leadership and organizational behavior and authentic leader development in the MBA Program. He recently co-created the HBS Online course, Leadership Principles, designed to help new and aspiring leaders unleash the potential in themselves and others.

HBS Case Research & Writing Group works closely with HBS faculty members, supporting the development of cases and other course materials including case supplements, abridgements, background notes, teaching notes, and multimedia products. Part of the Division of Research and Faculty Development, the CRG also supports other HBS departments, assists the HBS Global Initiative and its off-campus centers, and provides research assistant (RA) training services.

The Future of Case Teaching

Tales from the trenches, the art of the case method, the heart of the case method, exploring the relevance and efficacy of the case method 100 years later, what happens when students can personally relate to case protagonists.

R. Daniel Wadhwani is professor of entrepreneurship at the Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, University of Southern California. He co-directs USC’s Founder Central Initiative , which is devoted to research and teaching on the decisions and dilemmas that founders and early hires face in new ventures. Wadhwani’s research focuses on historical approaches to the study of entrepreneurship. He recently co-edited a special issue of Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal devoted to the topic and regularly contributes to the Greif Center’s Historical Entrepreneurship Case Series .

How to Teach Any Case Online

10 business case studies to teach online.

Karthik Ramanna is a professor of business and public policy at the University of Oxford, where he is also director of the Oxford MPP and of the Oxford Case Centre on Public Leadership. He was previously on the faculty of Harvard Business School.

Laura Huang is an associate professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. Prior to joining HBS, she was an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Her research examines early-stage entrepreneurship, and the role of interpersonal relationships and implicit factors in the investment decisions of financiers such as angel investors and VCs.

Anna A. Tavis is a professor and academic director of the Human Capital Management Department at NYU School of Professional Studies, senior fellow with the Conference Board, and the academic in residence with Executive Networks. She was named for inclusion in Thinkers50 Radar for 2020.

Meredith Burnett is a professorial lecturer in the Kogod School of Business at American University. Her research and teaching interests are in the areas of organizational behavior and human resource management, and her research examines how individual differences and human resource policies interact to influence employee behavior. She is particularly interested in examining how these factors influence outcomes such as employee retention and employee knowledge sharing.

Christopher A. Bartlett is the Thomas D. Casserly, Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School. As a practicing manager prior to HBS, he worked as a marketing manager with Alcoa in Australia, as a management consultant in McKinsey’s London office, and as the country general manager of Baxter Laboratories’ subsidiary company in France. His research interests after joining HBS in 1979 focused on the strategic and organizational challenges confronting managers in large, complex corporations, and on the organizational and managerial impact of transformational change.

Chen Lin is an assistant professor of marketing at CEIBS and a former assistant professor of marketing at the Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University. Her research interests include digital and social media, internet marketing, and empirical marketing models. She has taught marketing research, digital marketing, and business technology innovation at the EMBA, EED, and MBA levels, and has been a marketing columnist for SINA Finance , Forbes , and Economist EIU.

Karin Kollenz-Quetard is professor of strategy and innovation at EDHEC Business School, and she also intervenes in customized programs at other business schools such as London Business School (UK) and HEC (France). She develops and delivers face-to-face and online executive-management development programs and keynotes with a focus on strategy and innovation. In December 2016, Karin was named one of the world’s leading business school professors by Financial Times .

Caren B. Scheepers is an associate professor at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), University of Pretoria. She lectures on strategic implementation, MBA electives titled Contextual Leadership Intelligence and Diversity and Inclusion (Identity Work), and on strategic leadership on the MPhil in corporate strategy. She also developed and is hosting a GIBS Online Strategic Leadership course. She is also passionate about executive education programs and supporting companies in their strategy execution.

Teaching History Through the Case Method

Discussing race in case teaching.

Michael A. Stanko is associate professor of innovation and marketing at North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management.

Do Your Students Know How to Analyze a Case—Really?

Herbert V. Brotspies , D.B.A., is an adjunct professor of marketing at Nova Southeastern University. He has over 30 years’ experience as a vice president in marketing, strategic planning, and acquisitions for Fortune 50 consumer products companies working in the United States and internationally. His research interests include return on marketing investment, consumer behavior, business-to-business strategy, and strategic planning.

John T. Gironda , Ph.D., is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His research has been published in Industrial Marketing Management, Psychology & Marketing , and Journal of Marketing Management . He has also presented at major marketing conferences including the American Marketing Association, Academy of Marketing Science, and Society for Marketing Advances.

Mastering Case Teaching in Online Classes

Bringing the case method online.

Srikant Datar is the Arthur Lowes Dickinson Professor of Business Administration, faculty chair of the Harvard Innovation Lab, HBS One Harvard Faculty Fellow, and senior associate dean for University Affairs at Harvard Business School. A chartered accountant, he holds two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Brian Kenny is the chief marketing and communications officer at Harvard Business School, where he oversees all marketing and communications efforts at the school. Previously, he oversaw global marketing for management consultancy The Monitor Group and led marketing programs for Genuity, a $2 billion internet company.

How to Write a Great Business Case

James L. Heskett is UPS Foundation Professor of Business Logistics, emeritus, at Harvard Business School. He completed his Ph.D. at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, and has been a faculty member at The Ohio State University as well as president of Logistics Systems, Inc. Since 2000, he has authored a blog on Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge website .

Benson P. Shapiro is the Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing, emeritus, at Harvard Business School where he taught full time from 1970 to 1997. Since 1997, Shapiro has concentrated his professional time on consulting, giving speeches, serving on boards, and writing. He continues to teach at Harvard and has taught in many executive programs and has chaired the Sustainable Marketing Leadership for Mid-Sized Firms Program.

7 Favorite Business Case Studies to Teach—and Why

Emily Michelle David is an assistant professor of management at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Her current research focuses on discovering how to make workplaces more welcoming for people of all backgrounds and personality profiles to maximize performance and avoid employee burnout. David’s work has been published in a number of scholarly journals, and she has worked as an in-house researcher at both NASA and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Devin Shanthikumar  is an associate professor and the accounting area coordinator at UCI Paul Merage School of Business. She teaches undergraduate, MBA, and executive-level courses in managerial accounting. Shanthikumar previously served on the faculty at Harvard Business School, where she taught both financial accounting and managerial accounting for MBAs, and wrote cases that are used in accounting courses across the country.

Robert D. Austin is a professor of information systems at Ivey Business School and an affiliated faculty member at Harvard Medical School. He has published widely, authoring nine books, more than 50 cases and notes, three Harvard online products, and two popular massive open online courses (MOOCs) running on the Coursera platform.

Karin Schnarr is an assistant professor of policy and the director of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program at the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada where she teaches strategic management at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. Schnarr has published several award-winning and best-selling cases and regularly presents at international conferences on case writing and scholarship.

Gary P. Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration and senior associate dean of faculty development at Harvard Business School, where he has been on the faculty since 1988. Pisano is an expert in the fields of technology and operations strategy, the management of innovation, and competitive strategy. His research and consulting experience span a range of industries including aerospace, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, health care, nutrition, computers, software, telecommunications, and semiconductors.

Francesca Gino studies how people can have more productive, creative, and fulfilling lives. She is a professor at Harvard Business School and the author, most recently, of  Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life . Gino regularly gives keynote speeches, delivers corporate training programs, and serves in advisory roles for firms and not-for-profit organizations across the globe.

Robert F. Bruner is a university professor at the University of Virginia, distinguished professor of business administration, and dean emeritus of the Darden School of Business. He has also held visiting appointments at Harvard and Columbia universities in the United States, at INSEAD in France, and at IESE in Spain. He is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books on finance, management, and teaching. Currently, he teaches and writes in finance and management.

Tackling Diversity in Case Discussions

Colleen Ammerman works with the faculty leadership of the Harvard Business School Race, Gender & Equity Initiative to support a research community and a platform for disseminating practice-relevant insights for advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in organizations. She is a member of the Life & Leadership After HBS research team, an ongoing longitudinal study of Harvard Business School alumni which examines the influence of gender and race on their life and career outcomes. She is also coauthor, with Boris Groysberg, of Glass Half Broken: Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work (Harvard Business Review Press 2021).

Zoe Kinias  is an associate professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD and the academic director of INSEAD’s Gender Initiative. She is also a member of the INSEAD Randomized Control Trials Lab. Her teaching topics focus on leadership development, social issues at the intersection of business and society, and psychological research in applied/business contexts.

Nien-hê Hsieh  is a professor of business administration and Joseph L. Rice, III Faculty Fellow in the general management unit at Harvard Business School. His research concerns ethical issues in business and the responsibilities of global business leaders, and it centers on the question of whether and how managers are guided by not only considerations of economic efficiency, but also by values such as freedom and fairness and respect for basic rights.

The Case for Female Protagonists

Anne Trumbore is senior director of Wharton Online at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She formerly taught and designed curricula for online environments at Stanford University, and she has also pioneered the design and implementation of online courses at NovoEd and Coursera.

Lilian Ajayi-Ore is a faculty member at Columbia University and New York University School of Professional Studies. She teaches digital marketing, interactive marketing, and data analytics. She is also a digital marketing strategist and big data analytics executive with over 16 years of industry expertise helping brands and organizations identify key market trends and implement marketing strategies.

Live Case Studies Demystified

Adam Rapp is a professor of marketing at Ohio University’s College of Business and the executive director of The Ralph and Luci Schey Sales Centre. His research focuses on factors influencing the performance of front-line service and sales personnel. He has taught in and built sales institutes, and most recently developed an extensive curriculum around the topic of managing millennials and sales team performance.

Jessica Ogilvie is an assistant professor of marketing in the College of Business Administration and associate director of the sales program at Marquette University where she teaches marketing and professional selling courses. She is also an area editor at the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management. Her primary areas of research include strategic issues related to frontline management, sales, and service topics.

The Perfect Opening Question

William Ellet  is a lecturer in the business law department at the University of Miami Business School, where he teaches critical thinking, writing, and speaking. He has over 20 years of experience as an MBA writing coach and teaches workshops on the case method all over the globe.

The Art of Cold Calling

The  C. Roland Christensen Center for Teaching and Learning  was established in 2004 to promote and support teaching excellence and innovation within Harvard Business School. It also provides leadership and expertise about case method teaching and participant-centered learning for instructors at other institutions in the United States and abroad.

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