EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This report is made to analyze the marketing strategies owned by TCS Courier.

The report starts with giving vision and mission statement brief profile of TCS courier including its main posts and services all over the world. Further, the report provides in-depth analyses of company s market position by studying the weakness, strengths, opportunities and threats to cope up with competitors. It will then view the different modes of communications used to provide services to their customers and their devotion to provide courier services with in the country Pakistan and across the seas.

The aim of this report provide a tool which will assist strategy group and the management team Specialists in making correct decisions as how to penetrate the Pakistan market and how to catch the maximum opportunities in dealing with business partners in this country.

INTRODCTION TCS is a service-driven company whose primary thrust is specializing in collecting, loading, unloading, clearing, storing, picking up, and delivering all types of carriage-able goods and documents at the doorstep of its clients through the fastest, most reliable and secure means. TCS mission is to provide service and value to customers which will contribute to their success while maintaining a decent profit as described by Mr. Janjua. Ever since its inception in 1983, TCS Pakistan has continued to lead, the courier and logistics service industry in Pakistan through innovation, pioneering spirit, commitment and passion. Starting with just 25 shipments, the TCS Express saga now spans five continents. TCS with its international look now caters South Asia with over 2000 locations in Pakistan. TCS Pakistan has also largely helped redefine the very path and direction for the entire industry to follow. TCS is comprised of four major business units which are as domestic courier services, international courier services, overland express and sentiments express. Domestic courier service is the main unit of TCS which is offering a wide range of services including same day express, overnight express and second day express throughout 350 cities in Pakistan. International courier services covers over 200 countries. Overland services include door-to-door pickup and delivery, regular daily departures from all major cities to over 150 locations. On its first day of business May 3, 1983- TCS booked just 25 shipments across the country a figure which has multiplied 8,000-folds with an average daily bookings and pick-ups of over 200,000 in Pakistan alone to emerge as the country's top courier service today. It offers services to cater all needs and all pockets. TCS has emerged as the most trusted name for delivering a wide range of time-sensitive documents, packages, parcels and cargoes not only to destination within Pakistan but also to destinations across the world. It has the biggest fleet in the organized sector in Pakistan comprising over 100 vehicles 22 trucks, 20 inter-city runners and the remaining within-thecity transport vehicles. It also has a network of 200 Express Centers across the country backed by a fleet of over 1,200 motorcycle riding couriers. TCS has a 3,000-strong workforce and prefers to call its staff and workers as 'our people.' And a 24-hour Customer Service is always on stand-by. TCS business operation relies on a sophisticated hub-and-spoke system that is designed for maximum efficiency. Domestically, the company operates air planes that fly a unique route system covering five key hubs. Despite its dominant market position, TCS had a host of aggressive competitors in Pakistan. Four major biggest competitors are OCS, TNT, Leopard and BMS. Each of these companies competed with TCS in at least three of its four principal business units. DISSCUSSION VISION "TCS will be recognized and respected as professional, innovative, profitable information, and knowledge based logistics/services enterprise. TCS embeds internet based technologies into its internal operating structures and as business solutions for customers; with customer, employee and shareholder interests at the core of its operations; demonstrating a clear concern for ethical conduct and good corporate citizenship; with

the objective of growing into a regional and global player, with emphasis on the Middle East, Europe and North America". MISSION "To direct all our organizational efforts at building upon the existing organizational strengths and brand recognition to achieve enhanced levels of profitable growth in the core business, and diversify into new areas that compliment and supplement the core business, with the diversification aimed at achieving excellence and industry leader status in the new areas. The TCS People will however be encouraged to be open to unconventional ideas and services and recognize new trends at very early stages". PURPOSE Purpose of TCS is to continually strive to achieve excellence - both on and off the job.

The attempts on the part of the authorities of the postal system to introduce new services and improve the existing ones aimed at instilling the public confidence would not have come without the presence of courier services despite the fact that postal and courier services are aimed at two different segments of the market. However, Pakistan Postal Service floated a warning in the print media early last year advising the people not to use courier services by evoking Postal Act of 1897. The law should be amended to reflect the realities of today. The Post Office Act of 1897 stipulates that picking up the mail was the sole prerogative of the Post Office adding that courier service providers, including his company, are not picking up the mail but rather picking up the documents as mentioned on forms filled by the people. In addition, the law has been changed in the UK, the former colonial master, itself. An important aspect of the antiquated law is that it fails to provide an adequate definition of the word 'letter.' In any case, in the changed world of today the law should be made realistic. The courier operators like to work with the Post Office as a partner and do not view the post office as a competitor. This gesture on the part of the courier operators needs to be reciprocated. In most countries of the world the public sector postal services and growing side by side with the private courier operators. Here in Pakistan, we are also happy to note the positive pro-customer approach adopted lately by the Pakistan Post Office. The ultimate beneficiary of this healthy competition will be the customers as any competition which is based on fair play and best business practices always result in market expansion and overall growth of the business. There is a dire need for the establishment of Transport Regulatory body but also the importance of a free market economy. Any ceiling on rates or any arbitrary setting of standards will do more harm than good. Such interferences may lead to inefficiencies and will also take a toll on the quality of service. In addition, due to the inherent conflict of interest the public postal service is just not acceptable as a regulator because it does have a direct stake in the business. I feel that as long as the players abide by the rules there is no rationale for intervention. It has created new opportunities in term of new services despite resulting in reduction of certain drop in some types of documents. It has rather created new markets and new services for the courier business. For instance, the Amazon dot.com, the world's biggest book seller online, has to use courier service to delivery its products. The same is the case with all other online auction and B-2-C e-commerce sites which have to use the couriers for delivering products bought online. We ourselves have benefited from online banking services, like elsewhere here in Pakistan as well, as credit cards and mobile phone bills are delivered by the couriers. In addition, there is the legal aspect whereby only original documents of certain documents and only hard copies of another set of documents are acceptable. Despite predictions completely paperless offices don't still exist. Yes there has been an impact but the advantages have so far offset any and all losses combined. Latest technologies have been rather beneficial to the courier service providers.

INVESTMENT & MARKET

Head of Marketing of TCS, Najeeb Nayyer, informed that the company has made direct as well indirect investment of around Rs 200 million during the last two years. "What has prompted us to make this investment is that we have seen positive signs of growth after 9/11. The encouraging signs have been all over; infrastructure developments projects like the Gwadar Port and Railways; the beginning of policing by the National Highway Authority; substantial drop in the cost of capital; drastic cut in the bandwidth rates by the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited; expansion of the Lahore International Airport; construction of a new export cargo terminal at Karachi, etc., etc. TCS purchased 700 motorcycles for its couriers. We have inducted the latest technology and TCS has its own Virtual Private Network (VPN) to connect all its centres around the world to track data to ensure smooth and seamless flow of shipments 24-hours a day. In addition the 200 TCS outlets across the country are now computerized and most of them are linked by WAN and Internet." 80 per cent of all the TCS shipments comprise documents while the remaining 20 per cent consist of parcels. Though documents still make the biggest part of TCS business trends show that our business is moving towards parcels by each passing year. In last three years the volume of parcel business has registered a healthy growth of as much as 300 per cent. Corporate sector is the biggest user of our services. Around 75 per cent of our entire business comes from the corporate sector while the remaining 25 per cent comes from individuals and others. The volume of business from these two main categories of cients has registered a steady growth during last three years and the growing parcel business indicates that the economic reforms of the government have been successful to great extent. Putting the size of the courier market in Pakistan at Rs 4 billion it is evenly divided between the domestic and international business. There is Rs 2 billion market for courier services for both the domestic and international each. TCS is market leader in the domestic courier business sharing 50 per cent of the business while its share in the international business is a healthy 10-12 per cent. TCS feels that growth in near future will come from international business as evident from tremendous growth in the volume of parcels during the last few years and as trends show that remaining cost-effective in the domestic market is dependent heavily on turnover. "We have our international hub in Dubai and is now developing it into a niche. TCS has elaborate arrangements with international operators to provide the fastest connection worldwide from Pakistan. TCS has affiliations with such giants as DHL and Fedex in the US, OCS in Japan, TNT in the UK and Aramex in the Middle East to provide its customers the top notch services.

VALUES: The values that TCS deliver are y y y y y TCS people should direct every effort to deliver maximum value and satisfaction to our customers. Efficiency will be the hallmark of TCS people to optimize profitability and growth. Nothing unethical shall be practiced by TCS people in relation to our customers and the world at large. Justice to be the guiding principle of TCS people. Exemplary Conduct Inspirational and motivational in everything that TCS people accomplish.

TCS SERVICES: International Services TCS has a strong presence not only in Pakistan but also in the Middle East, Europe, UK and North America. TCS offers international delivery services. International Documents and Parcel Express Delivery to over 3,500 destinations across the world through its extended International Network. TCS international services are: y y Red Box Students Express

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UAE Express International Domestic & Parcel Express Delivery Domestic Services

TCS has emerged as the most trusted name for delivering a wide range of documents, packages, parcels and cargoes within Pakistan. Domestic Express Delivery Services includes: y y y y y y y Same Day Express Extra Special Express Over Night Express Second Day Express Third Day Express Red Box Express Tube

Specialized Services TCS facilitates clearance and delivery of cargo both from Airports and from Seaports. Swift trucking is now available to most destinations in Pakistan and Middle East Sentiments Express With over 17 years of carrying messages of joy, affection and emotions, TCS Sentiments Express takes pride in being the messenger of the most special moments of your life. Offering a range of gourmet cakes, floral bouquets, ethnic sweets, gift items and much more, Sentiments Express is the perfect way to communicate your feelings without saying anything at all. TCS Flying Warehouses: TCS has a totally independent and self-reliant cargo operation. This provides the added advantage of flexibility in creating products linked to a pricing strategy that can only delight the customer and enhance customer satisfaction. TCS is the first, and the only Courier Service in Pakistan to have a committed and dedicated fleet of 4 aircrafts. Reinforced with the two AN-12 aircraft, TCS Air Operation ensure timely connectivity to all major hubs namely Karachi, Multan, Lahore and Islamabad, with improved material arrival timings resulting in earlier deliveries, and the flexibility to customers for late evening dispatches. TCS is also exploring the use of smaller aircraft like Twin Otter, Dornier and Cessna types with 1-2 ton capacity to operate on shorter sectors where load demands are not high at this stage. Mail Management Services At TCS, innovation is a norm and the only objective in view is creation and delivery of business value to customers. Value is the most significant outcome expected of every business process. Mail Management is one process yet to be recognized as a source of value in local business environment. TCS promises to deliver this value through its innovative service - MMS. MMS - Mail Management Solution stands upon the single largest investment in infrastructure, made by TCS for continuous delivery of value. MMS is equipped with state of the art printing and sorting technology that has been sourced from the best suppliers across Europe and Asia Pacific. This makes TCS the only end to end solution provider in the category with the largest delivery network in Pakistan. TCS SWOT ANALYSIS Internal Assessment Strengths TCS has a totally independent and self-reliant cargo operation beside this following are the other strengths of TCS: o o o Branches across the country. Initial learning and benefits from DHL s systems. TCS has its own airplanes and operates them on their own licenses.

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TCS has done and doing extensive market researches. Holds more then 55% share in Domestic Market. TCS covers more then 200 countries. TCS holds 7% share in International Market. TCS holds more then 50% market share in Overland Express. TCS holds more then 60% market share in Sentiments Express. TCS business operations rely on a sophisticated hub-and-spoke system. TCS has 5 major hubs in Pakistan with round the clock sorting facilities. TCS owns its own fleets of Trucks, Vans and Motorcycles. TCS relies on highly trained workforce. TCS advertises very heavily in domestic market. TCS has been self-funded since its inception. TCS has been able to internally generate sufficient cash for all its capital needs. TCS has grown organically since its inception. International operation in the UAE and Canada has been set up as joint venture. TCS has management control for its joint ventures.

Weaknesses TCS had many weaknesses during its early period which were then successfully converted into strengths, few weaknesses are as follows: o o o o o o o o TCS has no formal contracts with delivery persons. TCS has not been able to continue point of delivery I.T. Support System. TCS does not have expert I.T. Systems and support which has caused huge losses. TCS still relies on international partners for its overseas operations. TCS has been initially the victim of family issues. TCS initially depended on PIA s support for its domestic delivery. TCS initially relied on DHL expertise to build its own expert system. TCS loses its employees easily and these employees join competitors.

External Assessment Opportunities TCS has many opportunities to expand and get advantages from governments, opportunities on which TCS can focus are as follows: o o o o o o o o Threats Since its inception TCS has been exploited to number of threats, threats which TCS has faced inn past and are facing currently are as follows: o o o Legislative barriers like Post Office Act of 1898 are threats for TCS. Government bureaucracy has been a constant obstacle for TCS. TCS has been a wary of corruption and has been asked for favors from politicians. TCS can expands its international operations and get subsidy from government in the name of foreign exchange. Industry in which TCS operates has high entry barriers for new entrants. Expanding industries of Pakistan are opening new profits streams for TCS. To expand its operations TCS can lease equipme+nts and take advantages of tax benefited leasing in Pakistan. TCS can acquire funds for expansion by enlisting itself into Karachi Stock Exchange. TCS can start price wars to eliminate small competitors. TCS can start its own domestic passenger airline services as it has the experienced pilots, flying experience and license. TCS can establish its own terminals at ports for huge shipments via sea.

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TCS has a host of aggressive competitors in Pakistan. TCS competitors are experienced and cash rich companies. Pakistan flagship carrier PIA has started its own courier services.

CONCLUSION There are promising signs all over, the economy is improving if one look at the substantial increase in the sales of new cars. However, it would get even better if and when the construction industry takes off. The demand will definitely increase in near future particularly for the TCS which has introduced such new and unique services as warehousing to ensure safe, secure and strategically located warehouses along with computerized inventory management system for hassle-free shipments facilitating timely retrieval and anywhere within the country Pakistani market offers immense potential for courier operators, particularly for the leading courier operator such as the TCS. The courier and mail delivery business will grow at a steady pace her in Pakistan. However, the major opportunities will come from logistics, warehousing and inventory management as well as from the ground transport and aviation sector. TCS has made appropriate investments and right plans in all these areas to play the pioneering role once again. RECOMMENDATIONS TCS should try expanding and grabbing more international market share to get foreign exchange into the country which has started to harvest its land for business cultivation. Maintaining focus on its core services and expanding itself into related chain of services like introducing domestic and international airline services will give TCS new streams of profits. TCS must take advantage of strategic location of Pakistan and establish its own terminal and ports to handle specialized container packed sea cargo. TCS should also start its own international cargo delivery towards end destinations and try to make itself self-reliant in international markets. Besides going into new business TCS should also strengthen its work force and train them for expansion. Training programs for employees should be future oriented and objective in nature. TCS should look closely towards their competitors who are rich in both experience and finances and build a strategy to defend itself in future expansion plans of competitors.