Category: Ford Motor Company

If I were leading Starbucks today, I ‘d go through the last 20 years issues, complaints, problems locally or globally in customers handling due to whatever the reason, could be an issue in policies, procedures, operational, legal or ethical to get me on board.Before to jump in reviewing and changing of policies and practices, I need to know precisely the pain areas of problems and how they are impacting on reputation and revenue of Starbucks. I have found some tangible and non-tangible issues with Starbucks like price excessively high, a racial issue, ethical issue, social responsibility, and quality.We are humans so make mistakes but what we have a lesson learned and how we bring our values and reputation back by implementing new policies and improving procedures that matters.Let’s recall some policies and procedures related incidents which tend to us changing in the policies and procedures.

Racial Bias Issue

On April 12 Starbucks’ faced an unexpected incident when Starbucks café manager called the police to remove two black men because they were not purchasing anything and sitting in a café for a long time.Interestingly someone captured the whole incident and released that video of the entire event which spread within few minutes on internet and black community become angry by seeing that how cops arrested these men and dragging them with a handcuff. Angry protesters immediately reach on the scene and start protesting this racist act.Instead of blaming to café manager as usually happened in most of the cases, Johnson handled the situation very diligently and acted sensibly. He reached the place with his team, including executive chairman Howard Schultz to meet with both men who suffered, local police and civic leaders to address the situation and settled it. (Manning, Pamela N. Danziger, Apr 25, 2018)We need to educate and ensure that our staff does equal treatment with all the customers regardless of their color, ethnicity, age, gender, background and status and create a culture of warmth and belonging, dignity and respect where everyone is welcome. I would always keep this policy as my core value.

Social Responsibility

Doing business and make a profit is not unethical but ignoring the social responsibility, in my opinion, is a crime and I would modify the current practices to get the milk from these emerging countries on little cost and bring some welfare programs for their health, food, and education. Starbucks always follow the ethical standards along with social responsibility strictly and very careful in the welfare of animals, from the employees who serve coffee to the sellers of it

Starbucks and palm oil

On customer complain Starbucks stated that it was committed to using 100% Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil which is certified sustainable palm oil in different products such as its raspberry chocolate chip scone and Mallorca sweet bread by 2015, customers were not aware before. (Manning, Hanna Thomas, Tue 25, Aug 2015) It is one of the most concern areas in doing any business. If business doesn’t care health of customers and focusing on just making money so they must be penalized and I will never allow my company to do business with this kind of policy which I change in favor of my customer health.

Starbuck changed many policies and procedures to retain their customers and increase their reputations which I appreciate and keep them intact because by these their stock has surged more than 50 percent with revenue of $4.9 billion.

They did four things.

Mobile plus reward program Starbucks launched a mobile phone application to get orders more conveniently. Now as of today, there are more than 16 million users. 20 % of all money transactions in U.S. Starbucks stores are done through this mobile application.

Adaptability

Starbucks claimed that they are the third place which is comfortable location between the workplace and customer homes. — where they can hang out with their friends meet friends, read your favorite book, or surf the internet.

You scratch my back and… In the last few years, Starbucks has announced some lucrative partnerships.Some of them are The New York Times and Lyft where loyalty members can get points as well as a free digital copy of the New York Times on their mobile

Happy employees mean happy customers

Starbucks initiated to give some unique benefits to all their full time and part time employees such as health insurance, free drinks, a pound of coffee per week and stock options. This year, Starbucks again introduced new benefit to its employees and offering them college tuition assistance.Employees satisfaction rate increased, and even Starbucks got higher employer rating of 3.8 stars.

I will also keep the policy to use the bathroom or sitting in cafes; even customer doesn’t purchase the coffee and sitting in café with believing that Starbucks is our third customer place between home and workplace.The policy is designed to create “a culture of warmth and belonging where everyone is welcome.” (Manning, Darryl C. Murphy May 22, 2018)Before the new policy, the company left the decision of whether a person could sit or use the bathroom up to store managers. However, Starbucks executives said that approach was “loose and ambiguous.”

What would you do to sustain Ford Motor Company’s turnaround momentum?

The Ford Motor Company has showed monarchism in the Motor industry during the first half 20th century since 1903. It remained as the favourite choice for car lovers and enthusiasts. The globalization and growing economy has paved way for many other competitors like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. Though there were organizations competing round the corner, Ford motors didn’t give much thought about the market share occupied by the competitors. This is the primary mistake that has brought the organization into a tight corner. Knowing the customer needs and catering products as required by the customer is highly important for a successful business. Ford has tried its best to keep up with the competition but failed drastically, loosing most of its market share. Declining sales, slumping profits margins, negative cash flow, rising debts are not the problems. Rather, they are the symptoms of a company that has gotten off track. At this juncture, to bring a turnaround in the company is not an easy task, it is more than just improving the numbers. The most possible way to restore the company is leading as coach. In other words, value-based leadership is the best way to regain the path of becoming the best.

The company can be restructured by effective leadership, who can train coach and empower the employees to modernize the organization. The value-based leadership can be defined in “five bests”: best self, best team, best partner, best investment and best citizenship.(Harry Kraemer, June 2015). The best self refers to the leader, who needs to continuously engage in self-reflection, self- education and self-determination to accomplish the task and reach the goal no matter what. A leader should be able to define the values and stand on those values till the end. “Leadership is having a compelling vision, a comprehensive plan, relentless implementation, and talented people working together”. (Alan Mulally, n.d).

It is important to align people with the organizational values to reach the goal and make a sense of coherence among the team. Leader must take interest in training and helping people tp reach their full potential. Developing others is the most relevant and rewarding all management tasks.(Manning & Curtis, page 402). Leader should lead other by their personal example; It is important for a leader to know the business from ground zero which helps not only in uncovering the problem but also finding a possible solution to it. Performers in every field should be developed to delegate various tasks. The most successful organizations are masters of learning and most effect leaders are masters of training. Leaders with multiple skills help organizations and themselves (Manning & Curtis, page 408). Training should be measurable and deliverable oriented. It is useful to keep a track on training progress by taking feedback from employees to know their level of understanding.

At a broken and ship wrecked stage of the company, talent is the best resource to improve the productivity. Conducting seminars and speaking frequently with our employees, keeps them motivated and reminds the focus towards which the company is coaching them. It is the responsibility of the organization to identify leadership gaps and fill them with training effors. Intervention activities include conducting seminars, performance coaching, and field activities are useful to scrutinize business from grass root level. Not only the traditional Top down process but the reverse mentoring can also keep leaders current in both the technical and human aspects of work. Companies need employees who take initiatives and self-start the work flow.

The profits can be improved by changing operational procedures. For example, a company can generate more sales while reducing the expenses by cutting down costs on unnecessary expenses. This can be achieved by cross-selling- offering new products that complement the current offerings. Switching to a relationship-based sales model which gets customers back to you by offering customer loyalty plans. Conducting surveys within the customer base to know the customer requirements and developing products according to their needs helps the company to retain the customers.

References

1. Bariso, J. (2015, December 07). The Strategy That Led Starbucks’s Stock Price to Jump 50 Percent. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/what-you-can-learn-from-starbucks-continued-success.html
2. Danziger, P. N. (2018, April 25). Starbucks Needs A Reputation Boost: Will Closing For Racial-Bias Education Do It? Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2018/04/25/starbucks-needs-a-reputation-boost-will-closing-for-racial-bias-education-do-it/#678a7f4b397e
3. Murphy, D. C. (2018, May 22). Not everyone is sold on Starbucks’ new loitering policy. Retrieved from https://whyy.org/articles/not-everyone-is-sold-on-starbucks-new-loitering-policy/
4. Starbucks, Stop Exploiting Animals And Humans – Be a Leader In Social Change. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.change.org/p/starbucks-stop-exploiting-animals-and-humans
5. Thomas, H., & Hanna Thomas is a campaign manager at SumOfUs. (2015, August 25). Starbucks and palm oil, wake up and smell the coffee. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/aug/25/starbucks-palm-oil-campaign-2015-sumofus-consumers-deforestation-commitments
6. How Ford CEO Alan Mullaly turned a broken company into the industry’s comeback kid. Retrieved from, https://qz.com/431078/how-ford-ceo-alan-mullaly-turned-a-broken-company-into-the-industrys-comeback-kid/
7. 15 Ways to Increase Productivity at Work. Retrieved from, https://www.inc.com/john-rampton/15-ways-to-increase-productivity-at-work.html

What is strategy? Why is strategy so important to an organization’s success? These questions are at the very heart of what it takes to develop a plan for success and follow through or execution of the strategy is the vehicle in which successful businesses deliver their vision. Strategy is defined as an action plan to achieve organizational objectives. (Thompson, Margaret, Gamble, & Strickland, 2018)

Quite simply put, this is the plan for how you will reach your goals, and the necessary tools and planning needed to get there. Without a properly planned strategy, you are simply floating in the ocean without a sail or motor, hoping that you arrive at your destination still intact and on time. Strategy would tell you that you need to map out your course, plan for unexpected events such storms, make sure you have the necessary supplies and tools for survival, and most importantly, know what you are looking for when you see it. Henry Ford has been described as the “father” of the modern automobile.

But truth be told, Henry Ford didn’t invent the automobile, that accolade goes to Karl Benz of Germany in 1885. No, what Henry Ford did almost 20 years later was create a strategy that would revolutionize the automobile industry as we know it. Henry Ford was an engineer by trade and his first attempt at building an automobile was in 1899 when he formed the Detroit Automobile Company with William H. Murphy. The concept was great, but the strategy that the company had did not layout the fact that they could not build the automobile fast enough and so this venture lasted less than a year. Of course, this is the story of many great innovators, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”. So, Ford started the Ford Motor Company in 1903 in an old wagon factory warehouse. His first official car was called the Model “A” and was produced in 1903. Within one year, Ford had produced over 500 Model “A” cars, quite an accomplishment for someone who had already failed once. Ford had a vision that he laid out into a very effective strategy, build an automobile that everyone can afford, therefore increasing your demand for your product. Four years later in 1904, Ford released the Model “T” which was dubbed the “working man’s car” and it was a huge success. Unfortunately, Ford’s strategy had worked in producing a car for the common man, the problem with his initial strategy was that he didn’t plan for how he was going to keep up with he increased demand. This failure in strategy led to Ford having to stop taking orders for the Model “T”, as he could not keep up with production. As with his previous failures, Ford didn’t see this as failure, but an opportunity to improve and change his strategy.

In 1913 Ford truly found his calling, the “Father of Mass Production”. Ford figured that if you trained an employee to do one task and they did that task all day, then then several employees doing one task would be more efficient, and the Model “T” could be produced faster and for less. This theory held true in the fact that it took 12 and half hours to produce a Model “T” the old way, now it took a mere 93 minutes! (Entrepeneur, 2019) As you can see, if Henry Ford would have applied the 3 tests to winning strategy early on, he would realized that his strategy was not very well laid out. The first test, the “Good Fit Test” would have illustrated that a good idea is only that if you can’t deliver the finished product to keep up with demand. Of course, by trial he learned this lesson.

The second test, the “Competitive Advantage Test”, Ford did pass. He was able to provide an automobile that others could not produce for less and was able claim the market for which he sought, the average American driving his automobile. The third test, the “Performance Test”, was somewhat passed, but has history tells us, Ford stayed too complacent for too long. Ford had no real competition for the “affordable” automobile until Chevrolet entered the market in 1911, and really started mass production of the Chevrolet Series “D” in 1917 and 1918 with over 4000 cars produced. Chevrolet started a new concept of producing a different model every year, whereas Ford continued producing the Model “T”. Chevrolet realized that they could not compete with Ford in production, so they adjusted their strategy to offer consumers the appearance of “difference”. This slight change in competitive strategy was enough to give Chevrolet the edge over Ford and would make Henry Ford re-think his own strategies. If you fast forward to modern times, and look at the government bailouts to Detroit, you will see that Henry Ford’s Ford Motor Company accepted no bailout, and as such was able to emerge as one of the strongest American made automobile companies. Ford has changed its strategy many times over the company’s history and has become the number producer of trucks in America.

Just this past year, Ford realized that the automobile industry was changing that in order to keep up and stay competitive, they would no longer keep all their automobile lines of vehicles. They will now only produce the Ford Mustang and Focus cross-over turning their attention on electric SUVs and trucks. (Bloomberg, 2018) My how times have changed! Henry Ford started with a vision to produce a low-cost affordable car for the “working” man, fast-forward, and now Ford Motor Company is moving away from the low-end automobile and focusing on what it deems is the future, electric powered vehicles. Only time will tell if Henry Ford’s dream will be able to survive this new strategy and stand the test of time.

References

1. Bloomberg. (2018, April 26). Ford Will Stop Making Cars — Except These 2 Models. Retrieved from Fortune: http://fortune.com/2018/04/25/ford-stop-making-cars-sedans/
2. Entrepeneur. (2019, January 9). Henry Ford The Man Who Taught America To Drive. Retrieved from Entrepeneur: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197524#
3. Thompson, A., Margaret, P., Gamble, J., & Strickland, A. (2018). Crafting & Executing Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

INTRODUCTION

In 1896, Henry Ford created his first vehicle which he named the Quadricycle, this invention run solely on gas power, which was designed at the back of his home. After failed attempts in 1903 to open a car manufacturing firm, he never gave up and became successful after some few months. The Ford company was opened and the first automobile was produced at a plant in Detroit. Ford Motor company just produced small amounts of vehicles at the initial stages, but this was because cars were hand built everyday by a few workers and the rest of the parts needed to be acquired from other manufacturing firms. In the early stages of 1920, the company began the development of a monstrous mechanical complex along the banks of the River Rouge in Michigan. The plant joined every one of the parts important for auto creation, including a glass manufacturing plant, steel plant and sequential construction system. The stockholders of Ford Motors didn’t like the idea of the complex because of the huge financial burden they would encounter, but Henry Ford who owned 58.5% of the company bought their shares and put his son Edsel in charge as the president of Ford Motors in 1919. Henry Ford returned shortly to run the company after Edsel died. The position was then passed down to Henry Ford II in 1945 who was the grandson of Henry Ford. Henry Ford died two years later at the age of 83 (Editors, 2009).

Operations strategy

An operation strategy is a ploy that shows how a firm would assign resources to its various departments in order to produce goods and services. It is mainly created to maximize effectiveness and efficiency while cutting down on costs at the same time but still producing quality products. In the USA, the use of the just in time strategy is used by most automobile manufacturers which is a strategy that decreases cost of operations and makes raw materials reach when needed at the right time, it was mainly used by the Japanese industry with Toyota being one of the main users of this strategy where Taichi ohno who was the sole designer of Toyotas production system gave recognition to Henry Ford as being the inventor of this production method (shmula, 2007) .Ford Motor company is one of the most successful automobile producers in the world with a steady growth in profit due to visionary leadership and management. Ford Motor company has evolved over the years and they always seek to produce the best quality of goods and services. The automobile industry is very competitive and is always associated with serious problems with other factors like expensive raw materials for production, Strict environment laws and alterations in currency from time to time also causing burdens on manufacturers. Due to this factors it has forced car manufacturers to make alterations to their business and operating strategies, making environmentally friendly vehicles and self- driving cars the main focus of production. Ford Motor company plans to incorporate some of these things into their major operations and to become the worlds trusted firm when it comes to mobility. They would not only make the technology aspect as the main area of focus but they would also make it important to ensure that the passengers’ lives are focused highly when production is being done. Ford Motor company has set that in the year of 2021 they would initiate the production of self- driving cars and make it available for public consumption, by doing this, Ford has partnered with major companies like Lyft, Postmates and Domino’s Pizza to help them with this vision. They also want to decrease heavy traffic in towns by providing traffic management software that would help with movement. Ford plans to attain these goals by cutting down extremely on costs of productions and assigned funds to products that have higher success rates in the consumer market. They have created special teams that focus on inventing quality electric cars for consumers and partnered with Jotye which is a leading Chinese company in the electrical field. They also want to provide a wide range of 40 vehicles in their fleet and make 16 of them electric with about $11 billion dollars being invested into the electric cars project. (Pratap, 2018)

Product and service design

Product design is the procedure of proficient and powerful thought, age and improvement with the objective of making new items. Item configuration incorporates all the building and modern structure work that goes into building up an item from the underlying idea to creation, which guarantees that it works dependably and is financially savvy to produce and looks great. Ford aims to always manufacture cars that are passenger safe, elegant and are of high quality. Ford always uses materials that are quality and have fewer negative impacts upon the environment and have high ranking performance as compared to the former ones.

The materials used for these products are made up of tree cellulose, tomato skin and dandelion roots by using this alternative, ford wants to decrease the carbon footprint. The cars are made up of 75% of metals including steel, magnesium, titanium etc., 17% is made up of plastics, elastomers, textiles and natural materials.4% consist of fuels and consumable liquids with 3% being electronics, ceramics, glass and other compounds, 1% is made up of miscellaneous. Ford products are now putting the safety of their passengers at the highest priority the procedures, devices and offices affirm that the vehicles line up with their own stringent inner rules on wellbeing configuration, just as Ford-indicated dimensions of execution for Public Domain tests, they normally reexamine and refresh these rules from time to time to make sure everything goes according to plan 60% of Ford and Lincoln nameplates in America have a U.S NCAP 5-star overall safety rating,36% of their Ford and Lincoln cars in china have the same rating with 69% in Europe having 5 star ratings. About 40,000 young and new drivers across 41 countries took part in the Ford Driving Skills for life program in 2017 (Ford, 2018)Ford produces cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs), as well as Lincoln luxury vehicles. The Company’s vehicle brands are Ford and Lincoln The Company sells its dealerships for retail deal, it additionally pitches vehicles to its dealerships available to be purchased to armada clients, including business armada clients, day by day rental vehicle organizations, and governments. The Company likewise sells parts and embellishments, essentially to its dealerships and to approved parts merchants which thusly fundamentally pitch these items to retailers. The Company likewise offers broadened administration contracts. The Company’s Automotive portion principally incorporates the closeout of Ford and Lincoln brand vehicles, administration parts, and adornments over the world, together with the related expenses to create, fabricate, disseminate, and administration the vehicles, parts and extras. The Company’s Automotive portion incorporates different territorial specialty units, for example, North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. (Reuters, 2019)

Process design

Process design has to take into consideration the fittingness of the procedures that help to achieve organizational goals. It requires a wide perspective of the firm and ought to have a nearsighted viewpoint, this procedures ought to convey client esteem with steady inclusion of the administration. In order to accomplish a decent procedure plan, compelling procedure methodology is required, which manages a solitary details required to make the finished result. Powerful procedure system manages crude material obtainment, client cooperation and innovation venture. (Juneja, 2012). Ford motor company was the first ever automobile company to create a moving assembly line which was created by Henry Ford and his associates hundred years ago. This process made the assembly of vehicles easier by breaking the Model Ts 3000 segments into 84 unmistakable advances performed by gatherings of specialists, as a rope pulled the vehicle undercarriage down the line. The procedure changed the generation and dropped the gathering time for a solitary vehicle from 12 hours to around an hour and a half. By lessening the cash, time and labor expected to manufacture autos as he refined the sequential construction system throughout the years, Ford had the capacity to drop the cost of the Model T from $850 to under $300. Ford as of now is understanding the advantages of cutting-edge producing innovations that will shape what’s to come. For instance, Ford engineers are building up a profoundly adaptable, first-of-its-kind, protected innovation to quickly frame sheet-metal parts for low-volume generation use. The innovation, known as Ford Freeform Fabrication Technology, or F3T, will bring down expenses and speed conveyance times for model stepping molds – inside three business days versus two to a half year for models made utilizing traditional techniques. Moreover, Ford is extending its abilities in 3D printing, which makes creation agent 3D parts layer by layer for testable models. With 3D printing, Ford can make various forms of one section at any given moment and convey model parts to engineers for testing in days as opposed to months. At last, through Ford’s virtual industrial facility the organization can improve quality and cut expenses in genuine assembling offices by making and breaking down PC recreations of the total vehicle creation process. This incorporates recreations of how sequential construction system laborers need to reach and stretch when fabricating a vehicle to guarantee the work conditions satisfy Ford ergonomic guidelines. Since the execution of this virtual procedure in 2001, the quantity of ergonomic issues amid physical forms has been decreased by about 20 percent. (Ford, 2019)

Quality management

Quality management is the demonstration of directing distinctive exercises and undertakings inside an association to guarantee that items and administrations offered, just as the methods used to accomplish them, are predictable. It accomplishes and keeps up an ideal dimension of value inside the association. Quality management is used in organizations to ensure that the people who have interest in the organization and are directly affected by activities of the organization work hand in hand to boost performance in the organization when it comes to matters of products, services and culture which in the long run optimum customer satisfaction would be achieved. Ford Motor company (institute, 2015). In 2018 Ford Motor company issued a recall of their most popular sedans which was the Ford focus. Ford issued the recall of about 1.46 million ford focus cars to fix problems that would result to serious destruction and put human lives in jeopardy. This review was done because it affected almost all ford focus from the 2012 model to the 2018 model which had GDI and GTDI 2-liter engines, when forced realized this problem they immediately put out a statement that cautioned their cherished customers to not fill their tanks to the full capacity. They were all told when filling their tanks, it would be advisable to do it halfway until the problem with the car was solved. This problem came from a flawed canister cleanse valve that if not fixed as soon as possible could end up being stuck in a vacant position which could cause serious distortion to the fuel tank. Ford recalled in total about 1.28 million vehicles in the USA, another 136,000 in Canada and 45,000 Mexico. The organization said that it had not distinguished any accidents associated with the deformity but the cars would be restored free of charge, the specialists were also tasked to reinvent a powertrain module with a totally new programming feature, which would also supplant different parts, including the canister valve. (Bomey, 2018)

Supply chain Management

Supply chain management is the expansive scope of exercises required to plan, control and execute an item’s stream, from procuring crude materials and generation through dispersion to the last consumer, in the most streamlined and financially savvy way that could be available. SCM incorporates the coordinated arranging and execution of procedures required to upgrade the stream of materials, data and money related capital in the zones that comprehensively incorporate interest arranging, sourcing, generation, stock administration and capacity, transportation and return for overabundance or blemished items (Rouse, 2010). Ford Motor company has a very complex material management in terms of the supply chain that was noticed in the recent human rights assessments. Ford Motor company always wants to make it a point to use materials that have been capable in terms of sourcing and are chipping away at various activities to build straightforwardness and duty in crude material sourcing. Ford Motor company is among one of many vehicle manufacturers who are supposed to report on conflict minerals in supply chains which is done through a specialized disclosure report, and as usual Ford came out as the highest rated vehicle manufacturer which includes protection of human rights also. Ford is also starting a project with other automobile producers to start a raw materials observatory which would take care of items relating to moral principles, human right issues and things relating to the environment. The distribution channel of Ford is made up of a retail system of approved retailers but was later abandoned after a few years, ford then created forddirect.com which was created to allude prompts Ford merchants for a charge. 80% of this was owned by the merchants and 20% was owned by Ford itself, they also adopted a smart order framework which would help merchants to give accurate guidance to merchants on vehicles that would sell better which made merchants make tweaks to their stock which would avoid prices from being cut down extremely. By keeping stock and creating massive adjustments to their delivery of goods and services to their consumers everything is solely dependent on the success of the supply chain management. A portion of the Ford Customer Service Division’s reaction has been to modify its association to exploit the carmaker’s worldwide scale, including the utilization of stages crosswise over business sectors and landmasses. For instance, contingent upon the lead designing nation for a specific model, FCSD’s territorial groups connect intimately with generation and obtaining partners to ensure parts are purchased from providers with a view for the whole lifecycle of a vehicle, not simply it gets together. Such arranging is especially critical if provider limit requirements ought to emerge; it tends to be hard to get need for a generally little supply of extra parts contrasted with tremendous requests for vehicles in sequential creation. Added to that measurement is the way that a few providers are likewise serving different OEMs and supporting their very own free brands in the dissemination of reseller’s exchange parts (Ludwig, 2016).

Conclusion

A brief introduction on the company of ford was given, the operation strategy was then explained critically, the product and service design were then shown in the assignment. The process design, quality management and supply chain were also highlighted.

References

1. Editors, H., 2009. Ford Motor Company. [Online] Available at: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ford-motor-company-incorporated [Accessed 1 february 2019].
2. Pratap, A., 2018. [Online] Available at: https://www.cheshnotes.com/2018/09/ford-motors-business-strategy/ [Accessed 2 February 2019].
3. shmula, 2007. Fords contribution to just in time. [Online] Available at: https://www.shmula.com/fords-contribution-to-just-in-time/371/ [Accessed 2 February 2019].
4. Ford, 2018. Ford Sustainability reports. [Online] Available at: https://corporate.ford.com/microsites/sustainability-report-2017-18/customers-products/improving-safety/index.html[Accessed 4 February 2019].
5. Reuters, 2019. Reuters. [Online] Available at: https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/F.N[Accessed 6 February 2019].
6. Rouse, M., 2010. Supply chai management. [Online] Available at: https://searcherp.techtarget.com/definition/supply-chain-management-SCM[Accessed 9 February 2019].
7. institute, C. f., 2015. Quality management. [Online] Available at: https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/strategy/quality-management/[Accessed 11 February 2019].
8. Bomey, N., 2018. Ford recalls 1.5million Ford focus cars that could stall with fuel tank problem. [Online] Available at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2018/10/25/ford-focus-recall-1-5-m-cars-fixed-avoid-potential-stalling/1759870002/[Accessed 13 february 2019].
9. Juneja, P., 2012. Proces Design anad analysis. [Online] Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/integrated-product-and-process-development.htm[Accessed 16 february 2019].
10. Ford, 2019. 100 years of moving assembly line. [Online] Available at: https://corporate.ford.com/articles/history/100-years-moving-assembly-line.html [Accessed 20 february 2019].
11. Ludwig, C., 2016. Supply chain upgrades. [Online] Available at: https://automotivelogistics.media/intelligence/ford-part-3-supply-chain-upgrades [Accessed 21 february 2019].
12. Towards Data Science. (2018). The Future of Technology in the Automotive Industry. [online] Available at: https://towardsdatascience.com/the-future-of-technology-in-the-automotive-industry-11081c8a1999 [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].

Introduction

Ford Motor Company is considered as a radical innovative automobile company. Ford also is the first company to use an idiosyncratic approach such as moving assembly lines in manufacturing under the leadership of Henry Ford. Ford is always seeking the leadership of the market which was achieved earlier by inventing Model T1 that caused the global standard for cars manufacturing to be changed.

The management of Ford innovation didn’t only include manufacturing processes and quality but also it included a new era of corporate cultural for their workers. After sometime, Ford reached the point that they needed to change their pricing of the cars and make it affordable. Ford become focused on the customers needs. Since then and till now, Ford keeps changing its innovation strategy to be always on the top of the summit of the automobiles industry.

Ford faced many challenges and some loses during its history but it came back every time more determined and more powerful. To reach that summit of the industry, Ford made and still making an enormous effort to reach its clients all over the world. Ford keeps a close eye on its clients though every possible channel especially the social media. And based on the collected information about the clients’ needs, Ford changes its marketing and pricing strategies in order to keep its customers devoted to its brand.

Background

According to Ford cooperate (2000),Ford Motor company was founded by Henry Ford in 1903. Only five years later, the outstanding Model T was introduced in 1908. This model’s demand was tremendous so that Ford developed new method for mass production to manufacture this huge required numbers of the model. In the same year, Ford oped its first international branch in Paris.

Ford Motor company owns different brands such Lincoln and ford. Ford also owns some shares of Mazda Japan and Martin Aston in the United Kingdom. Moreover, Ford has owned some other brands such as Jaguar and Land Rover which were sold to Tata Motor in 2008, and Volvo which was sold to Geely Automobile in 2010. Based on the annual vehicle sales report in 2015, Ford comes the second main auto producer in the united stated and fifth-biggest in the entire world.

Ford Mission statement is “One team. One plan. One goal”. The company believes that they can meet the customers demands if they increase the pace of development of their products which will lead to enhance the financial situation of the company and eventually the teamwork will be better. This mission statement is the core of Ford’s competitive strategy which led them across the years to success one after another.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis is a powerful method to analysis the business and helps to build a strategy that makes the business to grow and be profitable. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The strength and weakness terms are internal factors of a company. On the other hand, the opportunities and threats terms are external factors of a company. Using the SWOT analysis is common for companies. We are will use it to know the different factors that build the marketing strategy of Ford Motor Company.

Strengths

Strong and global brand recognition: Ford is known for its robust brand image which is one of the most resilient reasons to attract Ford’s customers and keep them loyal. The value of Ford’s brand reached to 11.2 billion dollar as shown in Fig.(1) and according to Statista 2019.

Research and development is considered as one of the most main strengths of Ford because they are dedicated to develop new products. Ford keep improving various factors such safety, efficiency, fuel and client’s satisfaction. Their budget of the research and development reached to be 8.2 billion dollar as shown in Fig. (2) and according to Statista (2018).

Diversity and Hugh network: Ford offers diversity across 62 countries around the world. They offer different vehicles models to meet the various needs of the different clients.

Weaknesses

The major weakness of Ford is its dependence on the US and European market which limits its profit and revenue because the experts forecast that future markets such as India and China will be the top markets for car selling.

• Higher costs: Ford’s costs and prices are higher comparing to the other competitors like Toyota
• Products recall: Ford’s product recalls frequency is higher than industry average. In may 2016 and according what was published in CNBC website, 2016 that ford recalled about 830000 vehicles to replace faulty side doors . This caused a massive loss and affected the brand image.

Opportunities

There are several opportunities that Ford can create in the markets in order to create new segments of customers around the world . For example, producing cars that are friendly to the environment which will attract the customers who cares about the eco system.

Moreover, Ford can penetrate other markets such as China and India to get shares of those markets and expand in those developing countries. One more opportunity for Ford is the AI vehicles because Ford spent 1 billion dollar on Argo-AI to build the self driving cars. This was published on TechCrunch website by John Biggs, Feb 2017.

Threats

There are many threats that Ford faces such as the aggressive competition between the rivals of the industry. This aggressive competition causes Ford to struggle to maintain its innovation position in the market.

The increase of the raw materials al so be serious threat for Ford affecting its profit’s margin.

Another threat is the technology corporates like Apple and Google because they also investing in building driverless cars. Those cars can compete against Ford’s driverless cars and take many shares of the markets as well.

The SWOT analysis shows how Ford is strong brand in the global markets. Also, it presents great opportunities for Ford to grow and to expand. On the other hand, the analysis demonstrated some of the weakness that Ford has and need to fix and to avoid. Furthermore, the analysis exhibited some threats that Ford need to handle carefully. Thus, Those four aspects of the analysis are considered as an efficient initiatives to start a solid and new marketing strategy.

Abstract

We have accomplished a lot in the last hundred years. Find out more about where we came from and where we are headed. The paper is all about the history of the Ford Motor company and there their annual income statement with the profit and loss. In this paper we will discuss all the income statement of the company with in detail. Paper includes all the current offering products of the company which they are offering in the world with the different name and body style. They are offering in Gas, Hybrid, EcoBoost and Plug-In hybrid. it’s all about the energy source lets talk about the body style. Ford is famous for its Trucks they produce best truck in the market, beside this they also manufacture Sedan, Convertible, Hatchback and SUV& Crossover. They offer the commercial Vehicles as well.

HISTORY

The founder of the Ford motor company was the Henry Ford. Wo himself was the car racer and the first car were made by him in 1896 was known by the name of Quadricycle which was only with the two gear forward but no reverse. It was four horsepower engines without the steering wheel. It has a tiller instead of steering wheel.

In 1903 the company was incorporated as the name of Ford Motor Company with number of 12 investors and 1000 shares. They had invested all the money they had $28000 and sold their 1st vehicle model A on 23th July 1903. They closed there October month with the profit of $37000.

The First international plat was established in Canada in 1904 which was used as a separate identity with its own shareholder it was also used to deal with the British market. Later in 1907 the ford logo was designed. In 1908 Ford introduces the new model T which was there one of the best model to be sold more then the 15million model Ts were sold it was more reliable and easy to maintain. It was the famous model of 1908 in the world. In the same year Ford open its 1st international sales branch on Paris.

With the passage of time company bring improvements in its assembly line and the bestselling model T assembly reduces from 12.5 hour to 1.5 hour. It helps the company to produce more car with less in cost, they also decrease the price for model T. Then the company increase the pay for its worker in 1914 $5 was doubled in their wages and working duration was reduced from 9 hours to 8 hours. It allows the company the company to have 3 working shifts instead of two and make the employees happy with increase in the pay and they put there best in the company. Then in 1917 Ford begins its River Rouge Complex which was helping to fulfill the industry need to manufacture the car like glass factory, steel mills. There were more than 100000 employees in the factory in 1930.

Ford motor introduces its 1st truck in 1917 with the name of model TT. Later in 1919 Edsel Ford succeeds the Henry Ford as a president of the company. Edsal was more focus on the luxury and the beautiful design of the car. With the successful period Ford acquired the Lincoln motor Company which was one of the producers of the luxury cars. Ford begins its 1st production of the Airplane. They launch their model A again in 1927 with the new logo, safety glass and many more with new features. More then five million model were sold.

In 1941 Ford manufactured the Jeep for the US military for the 1st time. The company produce the military items tanks, aircraft engine and many other things for the war, till the end of WW11 they had produced more then 8000 bombers. After the WW11 in 1942 the president of the Ford Edsel died in 1943. The new president of the company was the son of the Edsel and the grand son of the Henry ford, he remains the Chairman of the company from 1945 to 1960 and later he become the CEO from 1960 to 1979.

In 1949 ford introduces the new American style car, it was new with the V8 engine and it was the new model with the change of 1928 model A. then in 1954 the company made the more classic car with the porthole windows it was the classic car from the company of that time. Then the company design a new car in 1957 on the name of their former president Edsel in the united states but it was not the right time for the launch of that car but it was unique in its style. In 1959 company started to offer loan to the car buyers and for the car dealerships.

In 1965 company started to work in the field of electronic, they produce the computer systems and military systems. They also help NASA in the Apollo and Gemini space program by providing them with the transistors, sold-state device and microelectronics. They work for connecting the continents with the help of satellites, which is begin used even now a days. In 1966 for the first time on of the Ford model GT 40 won the race and they win same race consecutive for the 4 year from 1966 to 1969 with the different generations of the GT 40. For the 1st time Ford introduces the seat belt and self-adjusting in 1970.

1976 they introduce the 1st hatchback and the internationally front wheel drive it was at the top in the history of the company with the $870 million budget, plant was in Spain to manufacture the car and its sale was record sale in the history of the Ford. 1980 the Chairman was changed and he was the one who was not from the Ford family later become the CEO.

Company introduces the modular assembly line in 1986 at its plant in St. Louis, later these sub-assemblies were added into the main assembly line. In 1990 Ford launch its 1st SUV for the domestic use, for the family use. It was much better than the ford Bronco which was later discontinued in 1996. After the SUV success company introduces its new Sedan with the new style in Europe in 1993. In 1996 the company start working on the Electric Ford vehicle and launch more luxury SUV.

In 2003 the company celebrated its 100 year of success, here they offered limited production of their model T and in 2004 they introduce the GT premium which was the latest model of the GT40. In 2006 the CEO of the company was changed and there was on company in the Automobile who avoid receiving government bailout in US but the CEO of ford kept investing in the development so after the recovery of the economy they can lead the market with the new innovation in the auto industry in 2009 ford begin offering new turbo charged engine in its engine portfolio. It become the most popular in the US and abroad.

In 2014 company launch its 3rd generation truck in 2015 F 150 and later F-250. In the same year the CEO was changed and Mark Fields was the new CEO of the company, which later introduces the Ford Smart Mobility for the Ford members, it was basically for the autonomous vehicles in the snow. In 2016 the 50 year of GT 40 was celebrated by the company to remember the history of their proud model. In 2017 the CEO was changed and the new CEO was the member of board of director Jim Hackett.

Current products

There is vide range of the Ford Motor company, if we start talking about all the current products so it will take a lot of time, we will only focus some of the main and current portfolio of the company. Ford is offering in the four-power source Gas, EcoBoost, Hybrid and Plug-In Hybrid. In Gas model some of the Famous models are FIESTA, 2020 MUSTANG, 2020 FUSION and the 2020 MUSTANG SHELBY these are among the Sedan body style. Among these 2020 MUSTANG is one the convertible model of the company.

In Gas company have the Truck & Van and the famous are F-150, RANGER, and SUPER DUTY. In commercial company have STRIPPED CHASSIS, E SERIES CUTAWAY and many more. Then the company have Hatchback.

Ford have two model in the Hybrid 2020 FUSION and 2020 FUSION HYBRID is electrics. Company have a vide range in the EcoBoost which includes 2020 ECOSPORT, 2020 ESCAPE, and many mor e in the SUV & Crossovers. 2020 Ranger, 2020 F-150 in under the categories of Truck & Van. Then there is a list of the Car which are ECOBOOST those are 2019 FIESTA, 2020 FUSION and 2020 TRANSIT is under the Commercial use. At last company have Plug-In Hybrid vehicles which are 2020 FUSION and 2020 FUSION PLUG-IN HYBRID.

Revenue is the total income which is generated by the business, in this income statement total Revenue is $160,338,000,000 of the year 2018. Then the company have the total Cost of Sale, cost of sale is the total expense to prepare the product it is also known as cost of goods sold. Ford have cost of sale $ 136,269,000,000. When we minus the Cost of Sold from the Revenue then we will get the Gross profit. We have a total Gross profit is $ 24,069,000,000

Cost and Expense, then we have some of the Selling, administration and other expenses, operating and the interest which is $ 24,069,000,000. Selling and administration expense are those which are because of the sale of the product and the office employee’s salaries. Some of the other expenses are in the income statement $ 9,463,000,000. Here we will add all our expenses, our total expense is $ 20,866,000,000. Interest Expense on Auto debt $ 117,100,0000 and expense on the other Debt is $570,000,00. Total Interest expense is $ 122,800,0000.

Then the company have the some of the other income, the net other income is $ 22,470,000,00. Then there is some net income from the Affiliated companies which will be the income of the company, it is $ 123,000,000. Then the company have the total income before the Tax which is $ 4,345,000,000 now, we will minus the tax amount from the income to the Net income, income tax for the year is $ 650,000,000. Net income of the company is $ 3,695,000,000. Then there is some Non-controlling interest which will also be minus from the net income, it is $ 18,000,000. When we will minus it from the Net income and then we will get the Total income to the Ford which is $ 3,677,000,000.

Reference

1. Anastakis, D. (2004). From independence to integration: The corporate evolution of the ford motor company of canada, 1904-2004. Business History Review, 78(2), 213-253.
2. Rubinstein, J. (2005). Ford, 1903-2003: The european history. The Journal of Transport History, 26(1), 142-143.
3. Wells, C. W. (2007). The road to the model T: Culture, road conditions, and innovation at the dawn of the american motor age. Technology and Culture, 48(3), 497-523.
4. https://shop.ford.com/showroom/?gnav=header-all-vehicles#/
5. FUNDAMENTAL ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES, TWENTY-SECOND EDITION Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121
6. FINANCIAL AND MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING: INFORMATION FOR DECISIONS, SEVENTH EDITION Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121

Mission

Ford Motor Company’s mission statement and vision statement focus on product effectiveness and business leadership in the automotive industry. Farfan, B. (2019, August 15) ‘People working together as a lean, global enterprise to make people’s lives better through automotive and mobility leadership.’ (para. 2) they want to become the world’s most trusted company

Strategy

Ford automobile industry is known in the biggest company of the world. They use two types of strategy in which one is intensive strategy and another one is generic strategy. In the intensive strategy they focus on market penetration, development of product, and market development. The generic strategy is used to know that how they can target the business competitive. Meyer, p. (2017, february 5) “ford’s generic strategy and intensive growth strategies determine the company’s approaches to grow its business.” This statement reveals that both of these strategy combines together to let the ford motors grow in the business field.

Competitive priorities

Ford Motor Company’s market position as the fifth greatest car producer on the planet is upheld through the company’s serious development strategies adjusted to its generic technique for upper hand. Concentrated techniques are utilized to help authoritative development. For this situation, Ford’s business development is subject to the differing emphases on market penetration, item advancement, and market improvement. Fords Competitive Advantage – Built Tough – Ford reveals “By adopting a decentralized policy implementation approach, the company’s aim is to take advantage of centralized decisions being flexibly and rapidly implemented by their smaller companies.” (para. 3)

Sustainability strategy

Ford uses 5 types of strategy such as climate change strategy, sustainable materials strategy, renewable energy strategy, human rights strategy, and circular economy strategy. In all of these they say our future is in motion. (n.d.). “it is our conviction that the opportunity of development drives human advancement. Molded by this conviction, we seek to become the world’s generally trusted organization, planning savvy vehicles for a shrewd world. Our future is as of now in movement – we are moving individuals more effectively and reasonably.”

Ford Service quality

Ford motors make sure that there is a complete transparency between the customers and the company. Tangibles-appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials they keep their appearance of their vehicles in a very good shape that the customer wants to have the vehicle for example mustang series is one of the best series in the world and every youngster is attracted towards it. Reliability-ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. As promised by the ford motors their cars are considered best and they always perform the service promised. Responsiveness-willingness to help customers and provide prompt service to. They have opened their service centre in almost every cities to provide the best service to the customers for example car service, shuttle service, and many more. Assurance-knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence. In their website they have mentioned each and every required information to the customer to assure them that they are not being fraud or cheated. Empathy- they provide the shuttle service to the customers and in case of accident they provide very caring environment to the customer so that he should not feel depressed.

Ford Vs Other car industry

The U.S. car industry is confronting a troublesome if not one of a kind time of rivalry and capital spending in its efforts to compete with Japanese automakers and to meet pending government regulations on emissions control and safety. It is hard to separate fact from rhetoric on this issue. The Japanese are focusing on efficiency in Japan (U.S. Division of Commerce and Motor Equipment Manufacturers Association, 1990) under the risk of harder U.S. corporate normal efficiency (CAFE) laws and the likelihood that Japan will embrace its own variant of CAFE measures, and in light of the fact that the cost of gas is about $4 a gallon there and the Japanese government has been incredulous of declining mileage. Regardless, it must be noticed that as a rule, on a class-by-class premise, U.S. vehicles as of now have preferred mileage over comparative Japanese autos.

Performance Measures

The ford motors used five types of performance measures such as Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and time based. A developing business should be intently and deliberately figured out how to guarantee the achievement of new venture choices and extension plans. Nonetheless, numerous proprietor supervisors find that as their business develops they feel increasingly remote from its activities. The ford motors uses all the performance measures in order to excel in the business such as they take it very seriously that how their product can help in achieving the goals. But their operations are not that good to increase their sales because of competition given by the other companies.

Competitive Priority

Price

Ford’s financial related execution has improved reliably over past quite a long while. Its all out incomes developed from $149,558 million of every 2015 to $151,800 million out of 2016 and to $ 156,776 million out of 2017. The total compensation inferable from Ford Motor organization likewise improved from $4.6 Billion out of 2016 to $7.6 Billion out of 2017.

Quality

Ford quality is as yet going the correct way. This is the third year straight wherein the Ford brand has outpaced the entirety of its Japanese and American opponents, however it’s the first occasion when that Ford has figured out how to beat the entirety of the German brands too. (Volkswagen backup Porsche has for quite some time been an apparatus at or close to the highest point of the IQS, yet it tumbled to beneath normal in 2019.)

Flexibility

Building low-volume cross breed and every electric vehicle on a similar line as high-volume gas-fueled models introduces a special arrangement of difficulties to MAP designers and administrators. They should battle with an additional layer of unpredictability, including electric engines, electric inverters and converters, high-voltage batteries, charge ports, electronic control units and different segments that are not found in traditional vehicles.

Innovation

The Ford Mobility Innovation Challenge is an open door for up to five Enactus groups to get a noteworthy award (out of all out award subsidizing of $75,000 USD accessible) that will bolster the sustainment and development of a creative versatility venture that is new or effectively in progress and is indicating an effect, or to reproduce and grow a fruitful portability venture that has accomplished quantifiable improvement of individuals’ employments.

Business Analytics

(a) Structure of Goods and Services. Passage’s objective in this key choice zone of tasks the board is to accomplish worldwide consistency. The One Ford crucial such consistency in merchandise and ventures. This condition adds to Ford’s money related proficiency and its capacity to advance consumer loyalty.

(b) Quality Management. The primary worry in this key choice zone of tasks the executives is the fulfillment of value desires. Passage Motor Company does as such through standard quality confirmation rehearses. The firm likewise directs arbitrary clump tests on its items to guarantee quality. Quality assessment additionally includes information Ford gets through statistical surveying to distinguish clients’ quality desires.

(c) Procedure and Capacity Design. This vital choice zone of activities the board underpins generation objectives. Passage spearheaded the sequential construction system strategy, which amplifies generation limit. Additionally, Ford keeps on improving its ability by growing new offices for its creation system and store network.

(d) Stock Management. Portage’s stock administration underpins without a moment to spare assembling strategies, which require consistent checking to change the stock and limit its expenses. Notwithstanding, in this key choice territory of activities the executives, Ford’s real stock administration execution likewise indicates advertise based stock choices. Various markets present various difficulties, with the end goal that Ford has changing stock administration rehearses in various markets.

(e) Support. The objective in this vital choice region of activities the board is to keep up sufficient business procedures to fulfill request. Portage tends to this objective through a blend of methodologies for HR, IT, producing and different regions, just as upkeep groups for offices and different resources.

(f) Scheduling. In this key choice territory of activities the executives, the present moment and middle of the road calendars of procedures and assets are considered. Passage tends to these worries through mechanized planning for its generation offices, and semi-computerized planning for its workplaces, for example, corporate workplaces and territorial workplaces.

(g) Supply Chain Management. This strategic decision area of operations management focuses on streamlining and cost-effectiveness in the supply chain. Ford’s supply chain is global and involves company-owned production facilities, as well as third parties. The company-owned facilities, such as those in the Ford River Rouge Complex in Michigan, are a result of Ford’s backward vertical integration strategy. This strategy empowers Ford to control the supply of some of the materials used for manufacturing its vehicles.

References

1. Meyer, p. (2017, February 5). Ford motor company: generic & intensive growth strategies. Retrieved from http://panmore.com/ford-motor-company-generic-intensive-growth-strategies
2. Our future is in motion. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://corporate.ford.com/microsites/sustainability-report-2018-19/index.html.
3. Arlen, C. (2018, July 2). The 5 Service Dimensions All Customers Care About. Retrieved from http://www.serviceperformance.com/the-5-service-dimensions-all-customers-care-about/.
4. Ford Motor Company. (2019, December 2). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Motor_Company.
5. Kissinger, D. (2017, February 5). Ford Motor Company Operations Management, 10 Decisions, Productivity. Retrieved from http://panmore.com/ford-motor-company-operations-management-10-decisions-areas-productivity.
6. Farfan, B. (2019, August 15). The Spirit of Henry Ford is Alive in Ford Motor Co. Mission Statement. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/ford-mission-statement-2892363.
7. Fords Competitive Advantage – Built Tough – Ford. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/bba340summer/fords-competitive-advantage.
8. Rosevear, J. (2019, June 20). Like Its Stock Price, Ford Motor Company’s Quality Is Up in 2019. Retrieved from https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/06/19/ford-2019-iqs.aspx.