TNT chooses finance wizard to steer North American strategy
Traffic World (Washington) Vol. 261 Issue 2 Jan 10, 2000
TNT International Express is quietly making some big changes in its North American operation. While changes pale in comparison to the historic initial public offering at United Parcel Service, the relaunch of intra-European service by Federal Express or the public float planned by DHL International, TNT has some big plans of its own.
For one, TNT moved one of its rising stars from its Amsterdam headquarters to Garden City, N.Y., to head up the North American division. Mark Gunton, formerly finance director for the express division at headquarters, took over for David Siegfried, who left the company in late October. Gunton has spent his career behind the scenes, orchestrating mergers and consummating deals. In his new position as general manager and vice president for North America he is charged with infusing new life into the smallest and least-known integrated carrier.
"North America is a challenge for TNT," said Gunton. "In relationship to our competitors, we are a small player and we don't have the scale to bestow the economic advantages."
But small is also a beautiful thing, said Gunton, because it allows the company to work on more customized solutions and provide more individual attention. Customers like the World Bank count on TNT to deliver packages to the farthest reaches of the globe. While all the integrated carriers tout international expertise, TNT really pioneered the field.
"We are international specialists," he said. Calls to TNT's customer service center are almost always about an international shipment. Six out of the 10 people who make up the North American management team are non-U.S. nationals.
Gunton is making some big changes in the North American operation by moving the entire management team to a centralized office in Garden City. Under Siegfried, who was based in Miami, managers were scattered around the country. The company also is investing in the U.S. with plans to open four new depots this year after opening five new cities last year.
"If you look at the competition, they follow very scale-driven strategies much like we do in Europe," he said. "We can't do that in the U.S. and don't have plans to.'
"North America is strategically important but our plan isn't to conquer the world. Our goal is to give customers the best operational service," he said. While the TNT brand is dwarfed by the megamarketing machines of its competitors, TNT "is known by the people who need to know it," said Gunton. "We are very precise in our marketing tactics. We take a stealth-bomber approach." TNT has remained very quiet on the ecommerce front, at least until now. The best brains of the company have been toiling for months on an e-commerce business-to-business strategy focused on international shipping. The company plans to unveil its new business venture later this month.
Meanwhile, TNT is almost always mentioned when the merger rumor mill is churning, most recently in chatter surrounding a buyout of TPG by UPS. Gunton, definitely armed with the skills to get a deal like that done, maintains there are no such talks under way. "Alliances are the best way to link up with other companies," he said. "It's much less risky"