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DHL Company History

DHL was founded in San Francisco in 1969 by Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom, and Robert Lynn as a company that shipped documents between San Francisco and Honolulu ("DHL Company Portrait," 2009; Boberg, 2002). Surprisingly, DHL did not immediately begin its expansion within the United States but instead expanded to the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia, followed by an expansion to Europe in 1974, the Middle East in 1976, Latin America in 1977, and Sub-Saharan Africa in 1978 (Boberg, 2002). It was not until 1983 that DHL began expanding in the United States, starting with a Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky hub (Boberg, 2002). The same year, DHL also started offering international service to Eastern Bloc Europe, followed in ensuing years by service to Vietnam, the People's Republic of China, and then Kuwait during the Gulf War (Boberg, 2002). By 1988, DHL had a presence in 170 countries and boasted 16,000 employees (Quaye-Larbi & Jarlee, 2007, p. 11).

DHL's network of expansions paid off. In December 1998, DHL was named Global Finance Magazine's "World's Most Global Company" based on its global reach and criteria such as sales, assets, and profits (Boberg, 2002). A German company, Deutsche Post World Net, became DHL's major shareholder at the beginning of 2002, and by the end of the same year, Deutsche Post World Net was DHL's owner (Quaye-Larbi & Jarlee, 2007, p. 11). In 2003, Deutsche Post World Net consolidated its services and became a single brand, DHL (Quaye-Larbi & Jarlee, 2007, p. 11). This consolidation meant that DHL would share in the expertise that Deutsche Post World Net had, such as that from Exel, a transport and logistics solution company, and Deutsche Post Euro Express, its parcel and express network, as well as Danzas, its Swiss air freight and ocean freight arm (Quaye-Larbi & Jarlee, 2007, p. 11).

In 2003, DHL made another significant move, merging with Danzas and De...

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DHL Company History. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:05, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/2000827.html