Laura Ashley and Federal Express Strategic Alliance <Tab/>Laura Ashley is a global clothing and furnishings retailer based in the United Kingdom. They have grown at a very fast rate from operating 231 retail stores in 1986 to 481 stores in 1990. Unfortunately, its profits were not increasing as expected due to the inefficiency of its logistics management. There was an over dependence on in-house manufacturing, SBUs operated as stand-alone businesses with independent inventory and …showed first 75 words of 904 total…

…showed last 75 words of 904 total…do this in the future, it will be more difficult for those other carriers because businesses will know FedEx BLS are experienced and dependable, and will more likely go to them. But on the other hand, if this alliance was to fail, it would ruin FedEx's reputation for reliability, which is the most important factor for FedEx in its industry. Also, it would cause FedEx to rethink the strategic-alliances idea, possibly damaging BLS's potential future.