Since the courier business has been described as a business that involves much capital to be able to provide the necessary logistics that will avail seamless services, it is therefore desirable that operators pool resources together to be able to stand on a strong footing in their chosen business.
This view has been canvassed by some stakeholders in the courier business as a measure to stop the proliferation of mushroom courier houses in the country. They argue that it is not just enough to float a courier company by virtue of the fact that one is capable of paying the license fee. Some courier companies have closed shop soon after they were opened as a result of inadequate preparation and feasibility studies of what to expect in the business.
Agreed that we have as at the last count about 234 registered courier companies in Nigeria today, the important question is how many of these companies are viable and competing in the market? The clampdown often carried out by men of the Courier Regulatory Department (CRD) of Nipost, the regulatory body for the postal and courier sector in Nigeria, is on some of these licensed and registered courier companies which actually may have got the operational licenses in the first place but may overtime become incapable of renewing their licenses as required by the CRD guideline. Instead of closing down business totally, what some of them do is to still operate skeletal services which by so doing they flout the CRD rule.
In the global economy, partnership and collaboration are becoming the way out of the global economic downturn such that mergers and acquisitions have suddenly become common registers in the modern day business. The result of most mergers is that merged company always turns out to become stronger and better, every other thing being well taken care of. Resources, human and capital when put together in the right place will lead to a synergy. In the courier industry for instance, merger can lead to improved transit time, better return on investment and growth.
However, caution should be taken to prevent companies of unlike minds from coming together to do business.
In a very bad situation where a company has lost hope of surviving in business, such company can be acquired by a stronger one instead of allowing it to die completely. Some of the international players in the courier business like the FedEx Red Star, TNT/ IAS at some point in time embraced partnership opportunities when they came.
Mergers specifically must not be between or among local and international courier players. Indigenous firms that have like minds can also team up to become a commercial business model with competitive business strategies.
Globally , Deutshe Post, TNT Post Group, France’s La Poste and Consignia often referred to as “the big four” are major postal enterprises at the change frontier which have expanded into courier, express and parcel and logistics with laid down multinational networks which became possible as a result of acquisitions and strategic alliances. They have now grown big and are in direct competition with global giants like the United Parcel Service and the FedEx.
The integrated express industry contributes significantly to the economic and social development of the country and other nations through its role in expanding international commerce and trade. Our indigenous courier companies cannot continue to be underdogs in the access to global supply chains that are increasingly essential in economic competitiveness for individual businesses and nations. We have courier professionals in the country who can match their foreign counterparts entrepreneurially. Perhaps, what is lacking is trade liberalization, improved engineering and information technologies, and improved and cheaper air transportation. If all these factors are addressed, courier will definitely witness a higher growth than its estimated N10 billion current investment status.