????弗里德?史密斯預測，發展中國家將為公司帶來快速增長。

????弗里德?史密斯曾在越南服役，并被任命為美國海軍陸戰隊中尉，后成為一名飛行員。1971年，退役后的弗里德?史密斯四處尋找發展機會，最終成立了聯邦快遞公司（FedEx）。據說，弗里德在耶魯大學（Yale）上學期間曾寫過一篇論文，具體的分數已經記不清了，但據他回憶，當時的得分并不是很高，但后來，這篇論文卻成為聯邦快遞的指導文件，為運送計算機配件等時間敏感型物品的中心輻射系統奠定了理論基礎。當時，他向兩位姐姐籌借了資金，租了幾架飛機，然后公司就開始投入運營。目前，聯邦快遞公司【在《財富》500強（Fortune 500）中名列第70位】總部位于孟菲斯，共有員工255,000人，688架飛機，以及超過90,000輛貨車，在全球超過220個國家和地區提供快遞服務。這就是弗里德?史密斯建立的王國。以下為本刊訪談內容節選：

問：2000年，您開始從傳統的航空快遞業務逐漸向陸路和海路貨運轉變。這種戰略轉變背后的出發點是什么？

????答：2000年，快遞市場的年平均規模約為500億美元（銷售額）。而今天，快遞市場已經達到3,500億至4,000億美元。開通陸路與海路貨運服務，可以幫助我們打開最具可持續性發展潛力的市場：發展中國家。在許多發展中國家，包括金磚四國（巴西、俄羅斯、印度和中國），中產階級正在崛起。互聯網打破了語言障礙，并且可以用視覺形式來展示每一種產品，于是，通過這種價格低廉的標準化通信系統，新興中產階級以一種前所未有的方式交織在一起。比如，如果用戶希望購買汽車部件，不論是大眾（Volkswagen）或是克萊斯勒（Chrysler），他可以在世界各地查找。而這正是最大的機遇所在。全球貿易的增長幅度，以及新興經濟體的發展速度，都讓工業國家的GDP增長黯然失色。

哪里是聯邦快遞發展最快的市場？

????目前，聯邦快遞是中國境內外規模最大的國際航空速遞商。我們還在中國提供聯邦快遞品牌的國內包裹快遞服務。借助在中國的業務，我們將推動公司的國際貨運業務圍繞主要市場進行拓展。

中國人能夠接受聯邦快遞的理念嗎？

????當然。中國前任國家主席江澤民曾在辦公室會見過聯邦快遞的董事們，說實話，他對聯邦快遞的了解可能超過董事們中的許多人。

????When Fred Smith founded FedEx in 1971, he had just returned from the Vietnam War, where he had served as a Marine platoon leader and then a pilot, and he was casting around for something to do. As legend has it, a paper he had written at Yale -- he doesn't remember the grade but is pretty sure it wasn't a good one -- laid out the idea for a hub-and-spoke system for delivering time-sensitive items like computer parts. He borrowed money from his sisters, leased some jets, and started his service. Today FedEx (No. 70 on the Fortune 500), with headquarters in Memphis, has 255,000 employees, 688 planes, and more than 90,000 vehicles that operate in some 220 countries and regions. Here's the world according to Fred Smith. Edited excerpts:

Q: In 2000 you started morphing from your traditional air express delivery business into ground and into freight. What was the thinking behind that strategy shift?

????A: Well, in 2000 we were probably competing in a $50 billion annual [sales] market space. Today we're directly competing in about a $350 billion to $400 billion marketplace. Going into ground and freight opened up a market for us with the greatest growth potential over a sustained period of time: the developing world. Middle classes are emerging in various countries, including the BRIC nations [Brazil, Russia, India, and China]. And these middle-class populations are all knit together today for the first time in human history with a low-cost, standardized communication system that can intermediate language differences and show every product on the planet in visual format. And that of course is the Internet. Today if you want a component for an automobile -- Volkswagen or Chrysler or whatever -- you can look worldwide. And so that's the biggest opportunity. The growth of world trade and the growth of those emerging economies dwarfs the growth of GDP in the industrial countries.

What's one of your fastest-growing markets?

????We are now the biggest international transporter of goods by air in and out of China. We also have established a FedEx-branded domestic parcel service there. We use this business to move our international traffic to and from the major gateways.

In China, do they get the FedEx concept?

????Oh, yeah. You bet. One time Jiang Zemin [the former President of China] had our board of directors to his office, and he probably knew more about the company than a lot of them did, to tell you the truth.