Ford has to adapt to different competitive strategies in order to overcome their strong competition such as Toyota, Daimler Chrysler, KIA, and Hyundai. Without implementing competitive strategies in the company, Ford is unable to overpower their competitors in the market who are growing stronger by the day. Therefore, there are four competitive strategies that Ford can implement into their management system which can improve Ford in various perspectives.
Firstly, Ford can implement a differentiation strategy. Differentiation is when a company chooses to do something out of the ordinary compared to its competitors. These differences can vary from colours of the car, different types of functions of the car, type of materials being used and the design of the car. In order for Ford to gain a large amount of profit, the cost of introducing a new feature must be affordable and there must be a reasonable expectation that customers will pay a higher price for the product which is redesigned. For example, if Ford has created a car that is able to park on its own (Ford Focus) when cars from other companies has not created such function, then Ford has created a differentiation which provides Ford with a strong competitive advantage. So, Ford can take this strategy into account to diverse themselves from their competitors. This also enhances the image of the company by creating such high quality technology and will attract more customers by making use of this technology. This is because customers are always looking from something out of the norm and this portrays their status, value and taste in the business world.
Secondly, Ford can develop a focus strategy. A focus strategy is a strategy whereby a company or an organization is concen...
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...ghts to be entitled to have a specific amount of leaves annually, emergency leaves, sick leaves and also leaves for pregnant ladies. Ford must also create a comfortable environment for its employees to work in. In order to do so, Ford can provide a cafeteria for the employees, a place where employees release their stress such as a gym and a swimming pool which can only be used after working hours. This can help employees feel less stressed and feel that Ford shows them respect and care as employees which then makes employees too respect and loyal to the company. Teamwork is very significant to the company as its employees are the core or the foundation of a good company. In consequence of this, Ford has another competitive advantage compared to its competitors as providing training and talks for employees can be costly and hard to be mimicked by other competitors.
Until recently, the Ford Motor Company has been one of the most dynastic of American enterprises, a factor which has both benefited the company and has brought it to the brink of disaster. Today Ford is the second largest manufacturer of automobiles and trucks in the world, and it’s operations are well diversified, both operationally and geographically. The company operates the worlds second largest finance company in the world, and is a major producer of tractors, glass and steel. It is most prominent in the US, but also has plants in Canada, Britain and Germany, and facilities in over 100 countries.
The Man’s Truck In the last thirty-eight years, Ford has known how to target the audience they have for the F- series of trucks. After the new advertisement that Ford produced, it can be implied that they replicated their success again. With the first commercial being aired on television and online during the 2014 college football playoffs, Ford had a marketing strategy. It is apparent in almost all of the advertisements, including this one that Ford produced, is to showcase the newest and the best of the best F-Series of trucks and that they aim to get all the hard working American man.
Henry Ford was born on July 30 in 1863 in Greenfield Township, Michigan he was one of the first American industrialists and wanted to make a difference in the automobile industry. Back then, before 1908 automobiles were expensive that only rich people could afford. Henry Ford wanted to change this and wanted everyone to have a vehicle to drive. He was able to accomplish this by the assembly line, in which it created more cars in less time. The first car Henry Ford made was the Model T created on the assembly line. Ford’s innovation in manufacturing created less expensive cars and higher wage jobs.
The 1920’s was a time of great social, political, and economic change. The early automobile industry was no exclusion. It appears that throughout history, the figures that stand out the most are either worshipped or despised, and there is very rarely an in-between. Henry Ford, an icon of the 1920’s and the early automobile industry is no exemption. Many people love Ford for his innovative and entrepreneurial skills, while on the other hand, Ford is disliked by many due to his association with Anti-Semitism. Regardless of how Ford is viewed, many decisions he made significantly impacted the automobile industry. These decisions included installing the moving assembly line in his plant, and introducing the Five-Dollar Day. Through the implementation of the Five-Dollar Day, Ford was able to drastically change how the Ford Motor Company company operated, and how business would operate for years to come.
Ford competes with other automobile industries on many factors such as price, quality, reliability, appearance, available features, and fuel economy just to name a few. Such intense competition within the automobile industry tends to put downwards pressure on prices, making it harder for Ford to put a price on vehicles that are similar to other cars produced by competitors. The challenging price environment puts pressure on Ford to increase value to customers while trying to dramatically reduce costs to achieve the similar pricing of competitors. Ford must be able to reasonably price vehicles so that customers still feel as if they are getting the best car for their money. Competitive pricing is a threat to Ford because it must increasingly rely on customer perceived value to differentiate its car quality from its competitors. Ford must be able to justify its pricing in an industry where resembling cars have similar pricing and nearly identical features. Ford’s pricing objectives must somehow be achieved as other competitors are cutting costs and improving their vehicles. Negative pricing pressure threatens Ford’s ability to provide outstanding value to its customers for smaller or comparable pricing within the competitive automobile
Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard business review, 86(1), 25-40.
So the discussion on internal and external analysis clearly defines that where the competitive advantage of Ford Motors is and where it is lacking. People who have durability as their first priority will go for Ford but they lack in some of their strategies which the management should consider and work on it. We also came to know that Ford is an innovative company from the very first and also serves local demands with the help of related and supporting industry. But in some points they have taken wrong decisions which compel them to sell some of their brands to others. The good news is they are doing hard job to maintain their performance regarding their star and cash cow products to remain in the competition.
Many economic factors exist that impact the development of Ford Motor Company's strategic plan and it’s no small task to project how some of these factors might change as the strategy is being realized. Consider the prospect of expansion into a new market like China or Mexico. Economic changes like currency devaluation will make Ford’s product more expensive to their target market potentially reducing overall sales revenue. Oil prices as we’ve seen in the U.S. economy can also play a big factor as large vehicles become less desirable and more fuel efficient compact cars gain market share.
In the modern world of conducting business, any company that wishes to succeed must differentiate its products or services from others in the industry. Differentiation makes it possible for consumers to point out notable differences between one company’s products as compared to those of competitors. Differentiation helps companies build brand loyalty as the uniqueness keeps customers fixed on a particular product. BMW is one of the most popular automakers in the world today. It definitely uses differentiation as a strategy to beat off competition by building products that are innovative, detailed and incomparable to those of competitors.
...when the company focused on further improvements of its pickups and SUVs instead of focusing on innovations required by the changing demand. If the management had not been ignorant and would have developed sound strategy as soon as it spotted the change, the company would have avoided the crisis. However the company just recently adjusted its production plan and plans to continue realigning its manufacturing capacity, product mix and cut costs to fix the situation (“Ford Adjusts Production”).
Over time, Ford business strategy has responded to the challenges of the motor industry. The corporate culture of Ford management is establishing strategic business units that complement the company's global scale and structure.
This paper takes a look at the ways in which the ideas of Fordism and Taylorism helped the success of the U.S motor vehicle industry. The motor vehicle industry has changed the fundamental ideas on the process of manufacturing and probably more expressively on how humans work together to create value.
Ford- focused differentiation, medium pricing, breadth of product line is high. A strength is their pick-up truck market share, a weakness is perceived reliability and styling on some of the lines.
The Ford family still controls the company through multiple voting shares, even though it owns a much lower proportion of the equity. Ford’s business strategy is the integrated cost leadership/ differentiation strategy; this involves engaging in primary and support activities that allow the company to simultaneously pursue low cost and differentiation. This strategy is flexible and enables Ford to use technology to control the production of a variety of products in moderate, flexible qualities and with a minimum manual interaction, whose goal is to eliminate cost verse product variety. Cost leadership is a strong strategy, but it can be undermined by the frequent changes in technology, the imitation of cost advantage and the loss of focus on consumers. Ford’s differentiation strategy focuses on developing a unique product that consumers are willing to pay for, and the combination of these two strategies enables Ford to stay on its core competencies.
With about 187,000 employees and 62 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and