Exploring Relationships between Key Success Factors and Performance Metrics for Indian Express Delivery Service Providers

Studies on the global express industry are few and far between in the academic literature. The purpose of this paper is to identify from the extant literature the variables and dynamics significant for this industry and present a survey of Indian express delivery service providers in terms of these variables and their inter-relationships to assess the state of the sector, its dynamics, problems, and growth opportunities. The Indian express sector generates approximately USD 1.6 billion of revenues, growing at about 20% per annum, and employs close to one million people. The sector is fragmented, consisting of about 2,500 players with a few large players capturing about 80% of the market. The survey shows that small firms perform poorly with respect to on-time delivery and reliability, breadth of services, geographic coverage, investments in assets and information systems, and integration of services. However, all these factors are shown to be important determinants of success, and, therefore, small firms need to seriously concentrate on these factors, besides focusing on value-added services, global reach, computerization, and automation to improve their performance. The survey also shows that firms irrespective of their size do not place much emphasis on human resources. However, human resources turn out to be a significant predictor variable as far as firm performance is concerned. Therefore, it is imperative for firms to put a proper human resource management plan in place. It is expected that the findings of the survey would help managers make informed decisions in terms of the allocation of scarce resources. However, the government is expected to introduce policies conducive to the growth of express delivery services in India.