DHL 2012 Annual Report Download - page 34

Factors affecting our business
We routinely and systematically review the most important factors aecting our
business. Beyond economic parameters, we have identied four global trends:
1 Globalisation: International markets are now more interconnected than ever; how-
ever, the individual national economies are growing at varying speeds. As a result
the economic inuence of markets is shiing. For instance, trade to and from Asia as
well as within the continent has seen a sharp increase in recent years – a trend that
will continue and which is also the case in other emerging regions, such as South
America and the Middle East. Both sales markets and production centres are shi-
ing, which is increasing the complexity of the value chain. Our  divisions are in
an above-average position in these regions and oer integrated logistics solutions
worldwide.
2 Digitalisation: e internet is having a lasting eect on the way we exchange goods
and information. We increasingly see electronic communication taking the place of
physical communication, which is reected in a decline in the traditional mail busi-
ness. Dialogue marketing revenue is also on a slow decline. In order to respond to
this development, we have expanded our portfolio, for example with our -Postbrief
product and by investing in nugg.ad. e online trade boom is opening up enor-
mous potential in our parcel business. In addition we are developing online offerings
such as our online shopping portal, MeinPaket.de, and our online supermarket,
allyouneed.com.
3 Climate change: Environmental awareness is having an ever-increasing impact on
the logistics industry. On the one hand, our customers are asking increasingly for
climate-neutral products, and on the other hand, one of our primary concerns as
the world’s leading logistics company is to do our part to increase 

eciency. We
not only oer our customers an extensive range of energy-saving transport options
and climate-neutral products, we have also set our own efficiency goals . is includes
transparent reporting instruments and ecient transport technologies.
4 Reliability: e logistics industry is facing new challenges as a result of increased
complexity in supply chains because this causes them to be much more prone to dis-
ruptions. Natural disasters have an impact on tightly scheduled logistics ows and
political instability in a number of new markets adds to this. As a result, many cus-
tomers are placing increasing importance on the robustness of their supply chains.
We are working constantly to ensure the highest possible reliability and we monitor
our supply chains continuously in order to be able to respond to unforeseen events.
In , for instance, following the devastating earthquake in Japan, we proved that
we are able to ensure the quality and reliability of our services even in challenging
situations.
Legal environment
In view of our leading market position, a large number of our services are subject
to sector-specic regulation under the Postgesetz (PostG – German Postal Act). Further
information on this issue and legal risk is contained in the Notes to the consolidated
nancial statements.
Strategic focus, page 
Corporate responsibility, page 
Note 
Deutsche Post DHL Annual Report 
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