The purposes of this article are to (1) determine the most effective profitability strategies used by U.S. truckload carriers during the 1991-1993 three-year period; (2) identify the strategies that truckload leaders believe will be the most effective measures to improve their company's profits during the next three years (1994-1996); (3) compare past and future truckload profitability strategies to determine changes in corporate direction; (4) compare future strategies of the most profitable truckload carriers to those not as profitable; and (5) analyze the strategic implications of these findings for other trucking leaders. The overall objective is to analyze what the survivors of one of the most competitive, turbulent periods in trucking history did to control their own destinies and how they plan to strengthen their businesses from that point forward. (A)
Abstract