Abstract
The postal systems in the European Union are presently undergoing radical changes, especially in their institutional framework and competitive practices.
The postal sectors in the European Union are required a modern regulatory framework which aims in particular at enhancing the internal market for postal services. The European postal markets are also going to a new stimulating competitive run and, at the same time, the rapid development of new extremely advanced markets with added value such as express, logistics and e-commerce may have encouraged them to adopt various strategies to these sectors.
The Deutsche Post World Net and TNT Post group cases clearly show this trend. Deutsche Post World Net AG is especially focused on services in the fields of express and logistics, after its postal reform in 1990s and was transformed from a state-owned authority to a performance-oriented logistics company. The company is internally structured into four independent business units, such as postal services, financial services, express and logistics, while TNT Post Group, the Dutch postal sector has expanded the business and also affiliated some large logistics companies, owing to liberalization and globalization processes in the European Union. Deutsche Post World Net and TNT Post Group are the leading global integrators in a pivotal position. Global post, express and logistics companies are entering a period of rapid growth.
Since the European integration in 1992, deregulation in the field of logistics has been progressed. However, European forwarders have fallen into a difficult situation because of the abolition of the border checkpoints; they lost their important business. Some European postal operators, such as Deutsche Post and TNT Post Group began to penetrate into the business fields of forwarders.
Nevertheless, it is still difficult for some countries to accomplish the privatization and liberalization of the postal systems because of stiff resistance of the labor unions which are eminently strong in some countries. It is possible there will be also the wide gap among the member states in the European Union concerning the postal and logistics systems of the countries.
