Taipei Times: FedEx entered the Taiwan market in 1990 and has since been eager to increase its market presence. What's your major investment here? And what's your outlook for Asian markets?
Williams: One of our major investments here in Taiwan is a transshipment center at the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport we launched two years ago. It's a good investment for us. We are looking for different opportunities to invest more in Taiwan.
Our corporate information that was publicly announced showed that in the third quarter [ending February 29], FedEx Express' operating profit grew by 77 percent year over year worldwide; FedEx International Priority, our express product, grew year over year 21 percent.
We found that the Asian market is the fastest-growing part in our international business, and I believe we'll continue to be in a good position for that growth.
TT: How do you plan to expand market share in Taiwan now that you have taken over the helm?
Williams: We have seen strong growth of our business in Taiwan, where the economy is getting better, and will continue to see optimism over the next year. A lot of different institutions are predicting at least 5 percent growth in GDP over the next year.
I think another reason for the growth last year is that we extended our service cut-offs by two hours in the greater Taipei area. Our service cut-off time used to be 5pm and now is 7pm. We expanded the same service cut-off time in the Kaohsiung area as well as in central Taiwan.
Export trade is about providing the right documentation for the right export declaration as quickly as possible, and customers want that as late as possible. So we will continue to listen to their needs and provide them with the best service.
For example, we were the first company to provide a software application on the Internet for customers to track their shipments from point to point, which is of great value to our customers. Recently we further provided an advanced tracking service, called Insight, which will automatically send messages to customers regarding their shipments. We've received positive responses from customers regarding this service.
TT: Taiwan's government has been pledging to turn the nation into a logistics hub for Asia. For a foreign express delivery service like yours, what would make Taiwan stand out in achieving that goal?
Williams: One of Taiwan's advantages is the geographic location, which is in the center of Asia. This location helps us to better reach our customers in this region. I also found there is good two-way communication between the government and business after attending a few discussions that involved government officials.
Moreover, Taiwan has been successful in terms of economic clus-tering for information technology, high-tech products and other clus-tering developed further. Express companies like FedEx are positioned right for this by delivering short-lived high-tech products to the market as quickly as possible.
TT: Does Taiwan suffer any comparative disadvantages?
Williams: I think I'm still fairly new here and can't comment too much further on that. But I'll say that we are looking for different things to make the shipment and movement as smooth as possible for our customers.
TT: Local and foreign logistics companies have been calling on the government to ease several barriers facing the industry, such as red tape and some troublesome customs procedures. Does FedEx also find these to be thorny issues?
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