Business strategy of Ford Motor Company

Ford’s vision, articulated in our Creating Value Roadmap, is “people working together as a lean, global enterprise for automotive leadership.” Automotive leadership is measured by the satisfaction of our customers, employees, investors, dealers, suppliers and communities.

We are focused on our three strategic priorities: accelerating the pace of progress of our One Ford plan; delivering product excellence with passion; and driving innovation in every part of our business.

The One Ford plan has been fundamental to the progress we have made in recent years, and it is fundamental to our performance going forward. In many ways we are starting to see the full benefits and strength of the One Ford plan, and we see an opportunity to accelerate our pace of progress to drive operational excellence and profitable growth for all.

Our second priority is to deliver product excellence with passion. Products are the lifeblood of our business, and our One Ford plan has allowed us to field the best product lineup we have ever had – and one of the freshest.

In 2014, we launched 24 all-new or significantly refreshed products globally, including the all-new Ford F‑150, Mustang, Escort, Ka and Transit and the Lincoln MKC. Our momentum will continue in 2015 with 15 new global product launches. Our strategy is to serve customers in all markets with a full family of best-in-class vehicles – small, medium and large; cars, utilities and trucks; each delivering the highest quality, fuel efficiency, safety, smart design and value – and to deliver profitable growth for all.

Our One Ford global product development process utilizes global platforms to deliver customer-focused programs rapidly and efficiently across global markets. We continue to make progress on our commitment to consolidate platforms.

We now have 12 total platforms, and we are on track to have nine global platforms in 2016, with almost 100 percent of our global vehicle volume coming off the nine global platforms. We are able to reinvest the savings resulting from of our platform consolidation back into product development, to introduce more products at a faster product cadence; our cumulative refresh rate for the 2015 to 2019 period is expected to be the best in the industry. Over 50 percent of our global volume in 2015 will be from vehicles launched in 2014 and 2015. These launches help set up our next stage of growth, and this will drive revenue and profit growth.

Threats to Ford motors

The growing presence of German and Japanese automakers in the vital North American auto market, particularly Volkswagen and Toyota. Toyota is now competing directly with Ford in the pickup truck market, and Volkswagen is considering entering that market. Mercedes and Nissan are now competing directly with Ford in the commercial van market.

Some companies have a head start in alternative fuel vehicles. Toyota and Honda are ahead in the production of fuel cell vehicles. Volkswagen has greater expertise in electric cars.

Widespread adoption of electric vehicles could force costly upgrades to plants and expensive changes to dealerships. This could reduce Ford’s profits.

Lower fuel prices could limit demand for costlier alternative fuel vehicles such as hybrids and electrics.

The Volkswagen scandal could limit the demand for diesel-powered vehicles, including the Ford F150.

Today’s young people are driving less than previous generations, news stories indicate.This means less interest in cars and could lead to fewer car sales at some point in the future.

Some experts predict that new technologies, such as uber and self-driving vehicles, could limit the market for cars and financing. This could limit vehicle sales volume at some point.

Opportunities for Ford motors

New automotive technologies, such as self-driving or autonomous cars. These could increase demand for new models and sales. The publicity-generated new technologies could also increase interest in car purchases.

Volkswagen’s diesel scandal. Ford has not marketed any diesel-powered vehicles in the United States, which means it will not be hurt by the scandal. Ford could take some market share by marketing disgruntled Volkswagen customers. Volkswagen will lose the competitive edge that diesel mileage gives it.

Ford’s alternative fuel cars, particularly the C-Max Electric and the Fusion hybrid, which are not dependent on diesel. Ford is marketing a C-Max electric plug-in hybrid. The market for these is growing, particularly with concerns about air pollution and a growing suspicion of electric cars created by the Volkswagen scandal.

Growing auto markets, particularly in expanding economies such as China, Mexico and India.

New uses for vehicles, such as app-bases serviced like Uber and Lyft and short-term rental services like Zipcar. These could create new markets for vehicles and for vehicle financing.

Increased levels of e-commerce, which could increase the demand for light commercial vehicles that are used for delivery. Ford manufactures one of the most popular delivery vehicles: the Transit Connect work van

Weaknesses ford motors

Inability to match the production capabilities or sales volume of the top five automakers: Toyota, Volkswagen, General Motors, Renault-Nissan and Hyundai Kia. Both Toyota and Volkswagen produced over 10 million vehicles in 2014, or twice as many as Ford data provided by Statista indicates.

Poor reputation of American auto brands compared to European and Japanese competitors. Lincoln in particular is widely considered an inferior product to British and Germany luxury cars, even in the United States.

Heavy dependence on U.S. and European auto markets. Most experts believe future growth in car sales will be in emerging markets such as China and India.

Large operations in Europe, where car sales have been stagnant in recent years.

Ford’s reputation as a working- or middle-class brand, which makes it hard to market vehicles to the upwardly mobile.

Heavy reliance on pickup truck sales. Pickups have limited appeal outside the North American market.

Dependence on some national auto markets that are in recession because of falling prices for natural resources, such as Russia, Brazil and Canada.

Ford’s reputation as a staid, conservative brand, which makes it harder to market to younger consumers.

Low stock price $15.26 a share on October 19, 2015.

Poor reputation with investors, which can limit the company’s ability to raise capital. Ford had a market capitalization of just $60.55 billion on October 19, 2015.

Strengths of ford motors

Strong position in the American auto market. Ford’s U.S. market share in the market for cars and light trucks in August 2015 was 14.8%, making it number two to General Motors Corporation.

Ford’s biggest market is the United States, which has been doing better economically than the two other large markets, China and Europe, in recent years.

Ford has some popular models, including the F150 pickup truck, the Transit Connect work van, the Fusion sedan and the Explorer SUV.

Strong financial position. Ford reported a free cash flow of $3.477 billion in June 2015.

Proven expertise in manufacturing, research and development and automobile marketing.

Strong dealership network. Ford currently has 7,500, according to Automotive News.

Ford’s expertise in the manufacture and marketing of light commercial vehicles, particularly vans. The demand for commercial vans is growing because of the increasing demand for delivery service created by growing e-commerce.

the great comeback by ford motors and the end of henry ford

Ford now had many cars which became the sensation in that period of time such as the ford Taurus which was the best selling in it 21 year long run which were sold over 70,00,000  this was right behind the sales of  F-150 , the unbeaten car the MODEL T and the youngsters favorite MUSTANG. In 1943 the end of edsel ford came to an end  as he sufferd with stomach cancer .this turned the tables of the company and it was when the legend came back mr henry ford was back as the president of the company but many people opposed this as he was 78 year old, had many heart problems and atherosclerosis.  This was very questionable because if he would die the company would collapse this would make the company vulnerable to any new president elected by the board ,so ford’s wife and daughter in law demanded the control over to the grandson this was opposed by henry but if the post was not given to his grandson, his wife and daughter in law would would sell their stock which was half the company shares thisleft him with no choice so he gave up and gave his post to his grandson henry ford II this move was bad as the company was losing $9million a month . here was the worst case scenario henry ford died due to a brain hemorrhage on april 7 1947 this was the greatest blow ford motors ,got there were more than 5000 people who had come to view him every hour in  greenfeild village in Dearborn .  the funeral took place in Detroit where the whole story of this young man started , it was held in cathedral church of st paul . on 9 april 1947 there were 600 people in the church and over 20000 people who stood out side the church while it was raining this attracted national attention and over 7million people mourned his death . henry II served as the company president till 1945 to 1960 and then he became the ceo form 1960 to 1980.ford was still a family controlled company they had 40% shares the also made their car superior to other brands by adding many safety features this   awarded them with car of the year by ‘ motor trend’ . ford  motors were to back track and the sales and the capital increased day by day 

development of the company before the war

In the year 1916, the company had a total excess capital of $60million, but henry ford did not give large amount of profits to the shareholder .but he reinvested the money in research development and also in new plants built to manufacture car the plant was named as river rouge plant. This helped ford to increase the sales of the company which also employed many workers, this also made his cars even cheaper in the market. This move made 2 shareholder who were john francis dodge and Horace elgin dodge to object to what henry ford had done so they filed a case against the ford company for the dividend they had to recive from ford after a while in the same year they won the case and ford company had to give $19million to the dodge brothers but this victory was not to long when the decision was moved to another court which was michigan supreme court which gave almost the same reply as the earlier court so henry ford said that he would buy all the shares dodge brothers had  and to make it even worse he threatened that he would set up a rival company which later he succeeded to make a deal with the brothers  in 1919 he gained complete control in July at a cost of $125million ,which was made up of $19million of dividend which the court had ordered and remaining of shares of the brothers of which summed up to $106million . This stage edsel ford son of henry ford took over as the president of the company. this was the change ford motors needed . the prices of the cars were low , new efficient machinery was used ,the old management  was removed and new methods were replaced ,but the neglected the need for the consumers for better cars  like the four wheel combined brakes were in vented in 1909 but these came to ford cars in 1927 then there came the existence of many foreign companies which gave the new and better models of cars this reduced their market share against Chrysler and GM (i.e. leading car brands) the competitors used various strategies to put up new idea such as credit sales . ford did not wasn’t to give credit as this would affect the company’s debts so he did not until the year 1927 he agreed because he did not want to lose against the new brands .he also wanted to bring new designs of cars in the market so he unveiled the model A which he redesigned and shut down the model after  massively producing 15 million cars and also changes in the company logo was made .

the growth of ford company in the early stages

The company started to manufacture the vehicles according to its need at that time the company introduced the ‘ford model A’ in the year1903. Then the model K and then model S was introduced to the market in the year 1907, it was also the last right had steering car produced in ford history at that period of time. The model K was quite fast and good looks which was also called as “the gentleman’s roadster and the silent cyclone and these car were sold for about US$2800 and the various other  brands which was enger was sold for US$2000, colt runabout US$1500. The high-volume Oldsmobile Runabout US$650, Western's Gale Model A US$500 and the Success hit the amazingly low US$250.

And then he started his new brad of cars which were the model T .this was to compete with low market here the car was very affordable and very economic. Over 10000 models T were as per the need of the market at that time (1910) .and every year the need of the car increased. In the year 1912 there were over 1, 70,211 model T cars were made. By the year 1913 the basic assembly line was built in the company it used to take 12and half hour to build a car, so he introduced a new modern technique were the assembly line would move and it took 2hours and 40 minutes to build a car because of that idea .these changes helped the company to help workers to work faster and this helped the employees to get a better environment  . The employees got a better salary of US$5 per day and also they worked for 8 hours per day and 5 days a week

 Ford also gained international reputation for his automobiles and in 1911 his company got rapidly expanded overseas in various countries starting in Canada in 1911 , 1917 assembly plant in Ireland and den followed by france and England , followed by Denmark (1923), Germany (1925), Austria (1925), and Argentina (1925), and also in South Africa (1924) and Australia (1925) and ford sold the highest number of cars in the upcoming years ,50% of the cars sold in US were the model T and the rest 40% were the british made .in 1920 the cars sold highest were the model T . this cause a drastic change in the market  his cars were sold more than any other brands in us this way in 1920 there were 200 car manufactures and in the run in 1940 only 17 of the manufactures  survived the rest  declared bankruptcy .he also introduced many color variants in the market such as red blue green. He also went on a peace trip to Europe to stop the World War 1. This increased his publicity. This way he also sold his model T to the allied troops and his automobiles were in used in war . this helped in proving the durability of the car which again helped in increasing the sales

The company came into existence

Henry ford started to manufacture automobiles in the year 1896in his garage he named his first four wheeler as quadricycle, and then he started his company which was named Detroit automobile company. He re-named the company to Henry ford company in1901. The company’s policy was value for money. After the company went under some financial problems he left his company with 900 dollars and rights to his name . With the help of his acquaintance alexander y malcomsom he asked him to fund a new automobile company. malcomsom started investing in for and the company name was ford and malcomsom. They had to purchase many parts for their automobile and then they went overboard on expenses so malcomsum was constrained to his exiting coal business so he asked his uncle and a friend john s gray who was president of a German savings bank. He asked his gray’s help because this would attract many investors.

 June 16 1903 ford company was incorporated with 12 investors and a total of 1000 shares were created out of which 51% of shares were owned by malcomson (255 shares) and ford (255 shares).

The following year the company made a profit of $37000. This was quite a start to the company which had no idea what would the future of the company.

Second year the company made almost 300% growth in the company and the total income that year was recorded 300000$.this was year1095 and there was lot of fights going on between malconson and henry as malconson was only a investor as he had to manage his coal business , ford was working day and nights to make a company he dreamt of this fight was won by ford as gray supported ford and malconson had to sell his shares to henry ford . this was just not it there was a sudden incident in the year 1906 which not only changed the face of the company. This was the death of gray . this put an end to gray’s president post and henry ford became the president of the company . There was also a case which was registered against ford for patents for gasoline run automobiles .this case was later dismissed in the year 1911 after many years of fighting in the court.

Introduction of ford motors

This is a real life story of a person who did dream big in his garage .This great personality had no investments no money to start his own firm. To begin with this personality he was born in farmer’s family, this did not stop him in perusing his big dream. This person who wanted to build cars in his garage in the year 1996 in his hometown Detroit.  his name is henry  ford also known as ‘lizze’ meaning horse.

This company has so many stories to tell .This company is the only company which has come up into existence after so many failures. This company is the largest family controlled company in the world controlled for over 110 years. This company once owned 5 most elite brands of automobiles in the world those are Volvo, Jaguar, land rover , Aston Martin and Mercury (mercury was discontinued later ). Now the company owns 2 brands ford and lincon. This company has always been the most competitive company in automobile industry. This company also has sold cars more than any other companies in the world .this company is one of the few companies which survived the great depression. The company wants to give value for the purchases of all coustomers. This company has also been the first company to face criminal charges for defective products and also the first company charged with murder.

Today this company is the second largest company in usa and fifth largest company in the world in automobile industry.

This Company now owns Australian car manufacturer FPV, the famous Brazil SUV manufacturer Troller and has couple of joint ventures with China, Thailand, Turkey and Russia. The company successfully manufactures and distributes vehicles across six continents in the globe. The company gets half of its sales from North America alone.