Building a Global Process Standard at the Most International Company on Earth: DHL Express

As “the most international company on earth,” DHL Express promised to deliver packages between almost any pair of countries within a defined time-frame. To fulfill this promise, the company had introduced a set of global business and technology standards. While standardization had many advantages (improving service for multinational customers, faster response to changes in import/export regulations, sharing of best practices, etc.), it created impediments to local innovation and responsiveness in DHL Express’ network of 220 countries/territories. Reconciling standardization-innovation tradeoffs is a critical management issue for global companies in the digital economy. This case study describes one large, successful company’s approach to the tradeoff of standardization versus innovation.