企業決定是否要進入某一市場的理由，取決於管理者判斷其公司的資源是否能符 合市場成功的關鍵要素。本研究基於相對競爭優勢假說推演出企業功能 (包括行銷、作業、 財務、人力資源與研發 ) 與母公司資源 (包括母公司商譽、行銷、作業及規模 ) 的競爭優 勢之研究命題與假設， 並針對國際快遞先驅者 (洋基 )，早期進入者 (郵局 ) 及主要後進 者 (聯邦、優比速、安邦、源威 )，以顧客滿意與知覺的角度將所推演之假設的各關鍵概念 發展成問卷，共抽取 1600 家公司為調查對象，進行郵寄問卷調查。分析調查的結果得知： 顧客較重視的服務因子為運送品之「安全可靠性」、「遞送速度」、「追蹤查詢服務」、「 運送品遺失或毀損之處理態度」、「運費與計價方式」、「運送品遺失或毀損之賠償方式」 、「客戶抱怨控訴之處理」及「對託運人之通知寄達時間」。本研究亦驗証主要後進者至少 有一項企業功能或是母公司資源超越先驅者，才有可能在此一競爭激烈的國際快遞市場上佔 有一席之地。先驅者洋基公司在享有絕對品牌優勢之餘，所有後進者在短期似皆是以低價格 策略來作為主要的競爭策略。本研究也針對郵局之競爭優勢研擬若干競爭策略。

　　　　　A firm entering a market is mainly motivated by management judgement that its strengths meet the key success criteria necessary in that market. Based on the comparative advantage hypothesis, we formulate the propositions and hypotheses of business functions (including marketing, operations, finance, human resource and R&D) and parents' resources (including shared brand, shared marketing, shared operations and parents' size) for the courier service market. Competitors considered are first-mover (DHL), early entrant (Post Office), and later-entrants (Federal Express, UPS, TNT, Airborne). The opinions of 1600 customers (including banking, shipping, textile/garment, import/export trading, computer, electronic industries) are collected with questionnaire survey. The information obtained is used for hypothesis test and competitive benchmarking analysis. The result shows that the important service elements are "security and reliability", "transit speed", "tracing service", "treatment of lost or broken goods", "courier fee or rate schedule", "compensation of lost or broken goods", "treatment of customer's complaint", and "notification of arrival time". The fundamental hypotheses of competitive advantages are verified from empirical data. All laterentrants take the low-price strategy as their main competitive weapon. Competitive strategies for the post office based on its competitive advantage are also provided.