Competitiveness Creation and Maintenance in the Postal Services Industry

This book examines the changing business andeconomic environment for postal services in Lithuania and the upcomingchallenges for this industry. Postal services continue to play a central partin the development of national economies. However, the economic and social roleof postal services has changed rapidly and fundamentally over the last twodecades. In most industrialized countries, paper-based communications are in seriousdecline, while the demand for parcel delivery services is rising steadily with thecontinuing development of e-commerce, just-in-time production techniques, andglobal supply chains. For the postal sector as a whole, the centre of gravityhas shifted dramatically from letters and documents to parcels. The authors explain how the organizationalparadigm has inexorably shifted from that of a national, government-ownedpostal administration providing the basic delivery services required by society,to a system of interdependent local and regional undertakingsthat both competeand cooperate with one another. The book argues that there are no indications thatthe postal sector has stopped changing, and that it seems most probable thatthe European Union’s postal sector will look quite different in 2035 than itdoes today. In closing, the book explains how the shareholders of postalservices companies have recently confirmed that the time has come to rethinkthe strategy of creating and maintaining competitiveness in the postal servicesindustry.