As a small or medium-sized logistics company, how can you possibly compete with industry giants like FedEx or UPS?

In an industry where the standard metrics are cost, on-time delivery, and shipment accuracy, how can smaller logistics firms find their place? The following story hopes to inspire Vietnamese logistics companies to innovate and identify their own competitive edge.

Lone Star Overnight (LSO) is a logistics and delivery company with over 20 years of operation in the United States. Between 2008 and 2010, the logistics and transportation market faced major challenges due to the global financial crisis. The responsibility of leading LSO through this difficult time and toward long-term growth fell on Rick Jones, the company’s newly appointed CEO — a man with years of management experience at UPS.

Rick Jones’s first challenge was simple but crucial:

“What do customers want that major players like UPS and FedEx aren’t providing?”

It was clear that price competition was not an option — LSO could never outprice those logistics giants.

Through observation, listening, and customer analysis, Rick Jones discovered something important:
LSO’s small and medium-sized business customers loved the company’s responsive and flexible service — the ability to resolve issues quickly and adapt to customer needs. Clients also appreciated LSO’s drivers, who were willing to wait for late shipments or pick up lab samples at 3 a.m., and they valued the friendly, helpful attitude of the staff.

Recognizing this, Rick Jones defined LSO’s competitive strategy:

Focus on customer segments that value flexibility, reliability, and personal service.
LSO’s people-oriented approach would be the “glue” that builds strong, lasting customer relationships — something competitors can’t easily replicate.

Changing Company Culture – The Key Challenge

The next problem was how to standardize behavior and service quality across all LSO employees, especially drivers. Rick Jones soon realized that the existing corporate culture was the biggest barrier to change.

LSO’s long-standing culture emphasized seniority over performance, leading employees to work merely to “keep their position” rather than striving for excellence. However, customer feedback revealed that newer employees — those recently hired — were the ones receiving the most praise.

So, how could Jones shift the company culture from seniority-based to performance-driven — especially in an industry as traditionally rigid as logistics?

Rick Jones approached the issue smartly. He wrote a personal and company-wide pledge, outlining the behaviors and values he expected from himself and his team. The pledge emphasized recognizing effort and risk-taking, not just success, and rewarding those who take initiative to serve customers’ real needs, rather than those who had simply “been around the longest.”

Everyone Becomes a Salesperson

LSO launched an “LSO Ambassador Program”, transforming every employee into a potential salesperson. Any employee who brought in new business would receive a profit-sharing bonus from that contract.

This meant that even a driver — whose job was traditionally operational — could double or triple their income by helping the company grow its customer base.

The result?
A double-digit growth rate since the program’s implementation.

Lessons for Logistics Companies

Though LSO’s story may sound simple, it provides deep lessons for logistics leaders — especially in today’s highly competitive environment:

Deep customer insight reveals niche markets that even dominant players cannot easily enter.

Every company has untapped internal potential — changing the culture to align with strategic goals can unlock this hidden strength.

Long-tenured employees, though experienced, often become complacent. Injecting young, energetic talent brings fresh perspectives and drives innovation.

Change management is an art — effective leaders introduce change subtly and consistently, so that transformation happens naturally without resistance.

Today, LSO holds the top record in on-time delivery and shipment safety in its region. Its flexible services, customer care, and reliability have earned the trust of small and medium-sized businesses alike.

This is a prime example of “competing on quality, not quantity.”
Hopefully, more Vietnamese logistics companies will draw inspiration from LSO’s approach and find their own winning strategies in the near future.