With the foundation of our global network and our enhanced electronic connectivity, we're able to enter our customers' business cycle at whichever point they need us. Let me assure you, however, that these are merely tactical reasons. The most important reason behind any alliance should be the customer. In the long run, your relationship with your customers is the ultimate strategic partnership that will determine success. In many industries, including the package delivery business, the typical customer-vendor relationship is going by the wayside.
Customers demand a higher-level relationship.
Companies that can do this will thrive in the coming century. Those that don't will wake up to find themselves a commodity. In opening ourselves to this process at UPS, we've discovered that we've also opened our company culture to new ideas and new ways of doing things. That attitude doesn't work in a global economy. In the process, however, the world also changed us.