FedEx: Social Function

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1. Explain the role of FedEx and the social functions it supports or promotes.

For this question, I started on the FedEx website under company history: http://about.fedex.designcdt.com/our_company/company_information/fedex_history because I wanted to make sure I considered all the company's functions. Obviously, the first social function that comes to mind when you think of FedEx is package delivery, especially overnight delivery. The U.S. Post Office, UPS, DHL, and other companies provide overnight deliver, yet it is common to say you will "FedEx" something to mean get it there overnight. I checked a number of online dictionaries and none list "FedEx" with the definition I assumed. If you can handle some offensive words, look up FedEx on www.urbandictionary.com. FedEx also acquired Kinko's, which is synonymous with printing and copies. Before the Internet and home computers, I spent many nights at Kinko's doing school work.

So the social functions FedEx supports or promotes include:
? Package delivery
? Small business solutions, including printing and copying: http://about.fedex.designcdt.com/our_company/small_business_solutions
? "Access" is the subject of a report I downloaded from this link: http://about.fedex.designcdt.com/files/exec_sum_2008.pdf. That report talks about the social functions the company promotes worldwide. It should help you fully answer this question!
? The company website promotes "Innovation" and has a link to the FedEx Institute of Technology at University of Memphis: http://www.memphis.edu/fedex/index.php. You should find a wealth of easy-to-read information there, too.

When I first read your question, I thought of the Uses and Gratification Theory, which applies to communication and media: http://communicationtheory.org/uses-and-gratification-theory/. Essentially, the theory describes how we use media and what gratification it gives us. FedEx is not media. However, as an online shopper, ...