BBA 4951 Unit VIII Project

BBA 4951 Unit VIII Project

Columbia Southern University

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is one of the oldest, largest, and most recognizable automakers in the world and this did not just happen by chance, the company has created and sustained a reputation of quality, reliability, and innovation and offers a wide variety of popular vehicles that has catapulted them to where they are today. This project will address the final components of my implementation plan for Ford Motor Company, addressing specific aspects related to internal and external factors and concerns, Ford’s competitors, insight into the future outlook for Ford, and tools used to measure the success of the organization.

Internal and External Factors

Being unique as compared to most large organizations, Ford does not operate using a published vision statement. This could pose a potential problem, as it essentially does not allow the organization to inform stakeholders of where the company wants to be in the future. However, Ford has combated this by implementing a very in depth, detailed mission statement that covers four key areas or components. The four components of Ford’s mission statement encompass One Ford, One Team, One Plan, and One Goal. One Ford aims to align the efforts of employees towards one common definition of success and to optimize the organizations collective strengths globally. One Team establishes a culture where all employees work together as a collective in order to achieve leadership within the automotive industry. One Plan allows Ford to aggressively and continuously restructure as required to operate profitably while meeting ever-changing market demands. Finally, One Goal aims to establish excitement within the company, building Ford up as an organization that will deliver profitable growth for all stakeholders (David & David, 2017). Ford should consider adding a vision statement in the future, which will aid in providing a clearer outlook as to where the company wishes to be or wants to go in general. Until then, the company should continue to utilize an in depth mission statement to promote unity and cohesion and to establish a culture of working together towards one common goal. The organization may consider refreshing this mission statement as required to meet changing demands and to evolve with its organization goals.

Ford has placed a great emphasis internally on reducing warranty repair costs, decreasing energy use, and cutting emissions, and the company has done well to establish proper internal procedures and controls in order to accomplish this. With an increased focus on producing quality products through extensive research and development, Ford has managed to slash warranty repair costs in the first three months of ownership by 54% since 2005. Additionally, Ford has invested billions of dollars into its factories in order to reduce energy usage and the organization has excelled in the industry at cutting vehicle emissions with its line up of EcoBoost engines; which use much smaller displacements than convention V-8 engines, but have much higher power outputs while using less fuel (David & David, 2017). Ford should continue to invest in green technologies within their factories as environmental concerns are a very hot topic and are of a high priority for many stakeholders. Additionally, Ford can continue to expand on their EcoBoost line-up of engines and continue to push this technology into its entire line. Ford is also expanding into the realm of electric vehicles (EVs) and should place an emphasis on this area as it has began to expand very rapidly.

Ford has continued to address key external concerns such as government safety regulations and slow sales surrounding unpopular model line-ups in its European market. In an effort to improve the safety of their vehicles and to meet and even exceed government safety mandates, “many Ford products now include Blind Spot Information Systems, lane alerts, and rear parking assistance” (David & David, 2017, p. 523). As part of its plan to address lagging sales in the European market, Ford introduced for the first time ever, one of the most popular and most sold vehicles in history to the market, the Ford Mustang, which quickly became its top selling model for the particular region. Ford has also began the largest expansion in the company’s history, which includes an entirely new manufacturing plant in the European market (David & David, 2017). Ford can continue to address increasing government safety regulations by staying ahead of the game and introducing new safety features and technologies into its entire line up. The company can include many optional safety features as standard equipment in vehicles to show the companies commitment to safety. Additionally, Ford can continue to expand popular models into its European market and may even consider adding many of the very popular performance models to the market.

Competition

Ford faces very intense competition within the automotive industry as the industry itself is very large and is flooded with competitors. Some of Fords largest competitors include a few of the most recognized brands in the world such as General Motors, Volkswagen, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai-Kia, Mercedes, BMW, and the largest automaker in the world, Toyota. Ford continues to stack up well compared to most competitors as the company is the second largest U.S. automaker, behind only General Motors, and the fifth largest in the world (David & David, 2017). “Competition among competing models of vehicles and competing firms primarily boils down to price, fuel economy, reliability, and utility” (David & David, 2017, p. 526). While most customers typically focus on style and price, Ford, like other competitors, must be able to understand and deliver products based on the needs of each segment. In an effort to stave off competition, Many organizations, like Ford, are now increasing operations globally by offering new products in existing markets and expanding current products into new markets (David & David, 2017). Ford can continue to outdo many competitors by remaining relevant and offering new and updated models into current markets and by offering current models into other new markets. The company may also consider expanding into niche markets and offering certain performance vehicles as a means of increasing global popularity and setting themselves apart from competitors.

Future Outlook

Though there will be continued and evolving challenges, the future outlook for Ford is promising with a continued focus on global expansion and fuel efficiency through the introduction of smaller, but more powerful and more fuel-efficient engines. In 2015 Ford began production of its 2.0 liter and 2.3 liter EcoBoost engines which are available in the Ford Edge, Ford Mustang, Ford Explorer, and Lincoln MKZ. Shortly after, Ford expanded on this technology with the introduction of the 2.7 liter EcoBoost engine for its F-150 model and an updated version of the 3.5 liter EcoBoost previously used in F-150 Models. Fords top sellers are their trucks and the organization has seen an increase in truck sales from year to year. The F-150 is the top selling truck in the world and its F-series line-up is the top selling truck series overall. Ford has also seen a sharp increase in sales of both its Mustang and Explorer models from previous years and the EcoBoost version of the Mustang has proved to be very popular. Since the launch of the new Mustang in 2015, it has been the highest selling sports car in the United States (David & David, 2017). Fords future includes the re-introduction of some of the brands most popular vehicles, which include an all-new variant of the Ford Bronco, which is set to rival the Jeep Wrangler. The company also reintroduced the Ford Ranger pick-up in 2019, which it ceased production of in the mid-2000’s. Finally, Ford has placed a large emphasis on the expansion of its performance line-up and its Ford Performance brand. The company reintroduced the Shelby GT350 version of its Mustang in 2016 and has recently revealed the all-new 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, which is a 760 horsepower monster, making it one of the most powerful production cars ever built and the mot powerful Mustang ever produced. The future looks very fun for Ford, and for some of their customers.

Measuring Business Success

Ford measures the success of their organization “by the satisfaction of our customers, employees, and essential business partners, such as our dealers, investors, suppliers, unions/councils, and communities” (David & David, 2017, p. 523). Ford should continue to implement tools such as the strengths, weaknesses, opputunirites, and threats (SWOT) analysis in order to identify strengths that it can use an expand upon in order to overcome weaknesses, exploit opportunities, and eliminate threats. The SWOT analysis should remain a focal point within formulating and implementing strategies and should also be updated regularly to identify any new strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats that the organization may encounter. Finally, a SWOT analysis will allow Ford to determine customer satisfaction and identify internal and external factors that may be affecting customer satisfaction as well as other internal or external factors that are hampering the success of the organization.

References:

David, F. R., & David, F. R. (2017). Strategic management: A competitive advantage approach, concepts and cases (16th ed.) [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134167947

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