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Big Brown
Book

Big Brown

The Untold Story of UPS

Greg Niemann
Jossey-Bass, 2007

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Editorial Rating

8

Recommendation

The package delivery business is a huge industry that hinges on personnel and logistics, as author Greg Niemann explains in this informative, entertaining biography of the United Parcel Service. Niemann, a UPS career insider, explains how the company became a global leader. He gives credit to the values of its founder, Jim Casey, a hard worker from a humble background. Casey believed in strict routine, safety, precision, shared responsibility and fairness; he pioneered programs to distribute the company's wealth to his employees, while holding them to strict procedures. This absorbing corporate bio is more objective than you might expect, though clearly Niemann is a fan of Casey and UPS. getAbstract finds that his focus on Casey's entrepreneurship offers a fine example for anyone who is trying to make a company prosper.

Take-Aways

  • Jim Casey, founder of the United Parcel Service (UPS), started the American Messenger Company in Seattle in 1907 with $100.
  • From the beginning, he stressed efficiency, economy and fair treatment of workers.
  • UPS, a pioneer in employee ownership, began a profit-sharing plan in 1927. It has always worked to maintain good labor relations.

About the Author

Greg Niemann, a Southern California travel and outdoors writer, had a 35-year career with UPS, moving up from driver to West Coast editor of the company's publications and a frequent liaison to top management.

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