FORD MOTOR COMPANY

Aditi Shukla B09004 Aishwarya Kalyan B09006

Pramath Verma B09040 Vasanth Rajarathinam B09057

Ford Motor Company started in 1903 and was one of the pioneers in the US Automobile industry known
rigid work conditions. But it has been going downhill since its early days of monopoly. In order to
improve its image and to become profitable again it will have to enlist in innovation in process, design
and implement a new structure. Thus, the case looks into how and if Ford can achieve the same in time.

Strategic Leadership

Since 2001, Ford was being led by William Clay Ford Jnr., who enjoyed 3 profitable years, before he
made a huge loss 1n 2006. This prompted a split in the top management with Ford Jnr. sharing power
with former Boeing CEO Alan Mulally.

Trends in US Auto Markets

US auto market is not high growth despite being large. The big US firms have been losing market share
not just to the domestic firms but to the foreign firms as well. Then there was consolidation between
Chrysler and Daimler-Benz. Therefore, Ford formed agreements with Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar and so on.
With the advent of competition, the US firms have also been targeting the smaller customer segments
by increasing the number of low cost models. Also, hybrid cars were becoming increasingly popoular
with them becoming commerliazed and it was predicted that if hydrogen cell could also be
commercialized it would mean a huge technological shiftfor the traditional auto companies. The direct
competition for Ford Motors include DaimlerChrysler, General Motors and Toyota.