Everybody knows FedEx, the $23 billion company that initiated the overnight package delivery business. Since its beginning in 1971, FedEx has expanded internationally and into low-cost ground shipping and freight. More recently, FedEx acquired Kinko's copy stores and is partnering with Kinko's to offer a combined copy and ship service.

Fred Smith, FedEx's founder, was recently interviewed about FedEx's approach to managing change, and specifically how to get employees to embrace change. Fred's response is shown below:

To be able to change effectively, you have to have a high degree of trust and outstanding communications capability. When we got into the ground business, we didn't want our employees at FedEx to feel threatened. So we put a tremendous effort into communicating with them. I got onto our corporate television network. I gave speeches. I went on road trips. We talked to them in e-mails and publications. Anything to make them feel they were part of the change and explain why we were changing. We're doing the same thing with Kinko's. We didn't walk in there and say, Okay, guess what: A lot of people are laid off. We managed it cautiously. You have to spend that time and effort to communicate why change is necessary. If you can put that into a culture that knows change is inevitable and an opportunity, not a threat, then I think you have the potential to have a company that can grow to a very large size.

FedEx is also rapidly expanding into China where it is currently spending $150 million to build a new Asian-Pacific hub. FedEx's business in China is growing much faster than its domestic business at almost 40% year-over-year growth.

Sources: Ellen Florian, "I Have a Cast-Iron Stomach," Fortune, March 8, 2004, pp. 91–97; and "FedEx China Business Is Expected to Continue Its Rapid Growth," Wall Street Journal, November 16, 2005, p. 1.