Table of Contents
Ford motors began back in 1903 and was founded by henry ford who was an individual that was very passionate in in mechanics and engineering. The company operates in two segment s which is the financing and automotive. With over 200,000 employees across the world the company has been able to cement its position and has offered tight competition for Toyota and General motors (Krause et al 2016). It has over the years experienced an increase in its overall earnings and market share which has seen it be the fifth biggest automobile company in the world. The high performance is based on the company’s mission statement which guides the company in the strategies that the company has put in place. Therefore, to ensure that the company continues with its past success, this paper proposes the implementation of the commercial production of Ford’s own electric powered vehicles as the strategic plan that the company ought to pursue.
Mission
The company’s mission statement over the years has been one team. One plan. One goal.
Vision statement
Its vision has always been “people working together as a lean, global enterprise for automotive leadership.” (Bradsher, 2017).
Core values
The success of the company can be accredited to three core values; profits, products and people. People provide the framework for the company’s strength. Therefore, it has always advocated for teamwork in its human resource to ensure that its goals are attained. The products are the company’s end results and therefore it ensures that they are made to fit the customers wants and needs. Profits ultimately are a way the company evaluates its success and how it fulfills the company’s needs.
Environment analysis
The implementation of a strategic plan requires an extensive analysis of both internal and external factors to access the viability of the plan. Ford’s plan to be the leading electric car manufacturer certainly will need to factor in the following factors;
Economic factors
Economic factors play a huge role in determining the future performance of many companies. Since the 2008 recession the economies of many countries have been on the uptrend and this therefore possess a viable environment for the expansion of ford to other developing countries. The main factors that currently affect the automotive industry include inflation, oil prices, unemployment and interest rates. In particular oil affects most of its customer as most of customers are sensitive to the gasoline prices. Therefore, it is important to note that by the company planning to diversify a product electric based cars, the economic problems posed by oil prices will completely be avoided. In this way the company is more likely to improve its market position. The developing countries in particular offer the best market for the company as countries such as India, Singapore, and China have in the recent times experienced an exponential growth in its markets which means that the company has a huge opportunity of exploiting these markets with its electric powered vehicles (Bradsher, 2017).
Legal factors
There exist very many laws that ford would have to comply with for them to be successful with their plan. Some of the laws that automotive companies need to comply with include product quality and safety, labor laws, environmental compliance just to mention a few. It would be important that ford ensures a repeat of the 1978 scandal where the company faced extensive suits due to pinto faulty fuel system design, ought not to be repeated (Ehsani, Gao, & Emadi, 2017). Therefore, as the company embarks in creating its first fully powered electric car it would need to ensure that all the standards and regulations are met. Failure to which legal tussles and suits will cost the company in terms of costs and also brand image loss.
Social factors
The automotive industry has in the recent times been faced with the needs for low carbon emitting vehicles. Therefore, companies producing fuel efficient and environment friendly cars have seen a rise in their market share. Tesla provides an example of those companies which are increasingly experiencing an improvement in their market share. Therefore, by ford deciding to create electric powered cars, then they are conforming to the current social trends. This will be by and large being viewed as a corporate social responsibility which will improve the company’s image.
Technological changes
The level of competition in the automotive industry has increased in the recent times as more and more companies have tried to come up with futuristic technologies so as to gain an edge over each other. The recent announcement by the company that it will create its driverless car by 2021 is in line with most other competing companies such Uber, Tesla, Google and Apple which want to create driverless cars by 2020. However, by the company beginning to commercialize its electric powered vehicles ones that will feature outstanding safety features then shall the company be differentiating from rival companies.
Objectives of the strategic plan
The main objective is to see ford become the leading electric powered car manufacturer in the world. It is certain that this space has in the recent times been occupied by Tesla but Ford’s customer loyalty together with the futuristic designs it seeks to create will see it surpass Tesla and other upcoming electric car manufacturers.
Financial capabilities
Ford’s success over the years has seen the company expand its financial resources with currently billions in its reserves. Therefore, there is enough money to ensure that the strategic plan becomes attainable. It certainly will take a lot of the company’s retained earnings in the research and development in ensuring that its electric cars not only bear futuristic designs but also have a higher performance that can outdo its current gasoline powered models. It is certain that rival companies such as Tesla have spent billions in its production of its tesla models and this means that it would take a considerable amount of time for the company to recoup its initial investments but in the long run will see it increase its share market and also maintain market leadership position. Failure for the company to undertake this plan will in the future render the uncompetitive and out of market as experienced by companies such as Nokia and blackberry
Short term and long term goals
The execution of this strategic plan certainly will not be attainable if there are no clearly defined goals in place to measure the company’s performance in the execution of plan. The short term of this plan is to see the company launch its first fully electric car by 2019 and also launch an electric powered truck by the end of that year. The company’s long term goal is the sale of its electric powered cars in the developing countries and by this the company targets to get to move up the ranks to being the top three biggest manufacturer by 2030. All these goals will be attainable if proper research and development is done coupled with setting aside a bigger marketing budget that will ensure that the company differentiates it from its competitors.
- Bradsher, K. (2017). China Hastens the World Toward an Electric-Car Future. New York Times.
- Ehsani, M., Gao, Y., & Emadi, A. (2017). Modern electric, hybrid electric, and fuel cell vehicles: fundamentals, theory, and design. CRC press.
- Krause, R. M., Lane, B. W., Carley, S., & Graham, J. D. (2016). Assessing demand by urban consumers for plug-in electric vehicles under future cost and technological scenarios. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 10(8), 742-751.