Ford Motor Company Written Case Analysis

The Ford Motor Company’s Supply Chain Management ABSTRACT The influx of foreign automobiles that flood the United States market is higher than ever before and American companies are struggling to adapt to this decrease in market share. Ford is one of the organizations that has restructured its supply chain strategy to better integrate suppliers into their system reducing cost and

The intensity of rivalry, which is the most obvious of the five forces in an industry, helps determine the extent to which the value created by an industry will be dissipated through head-to-head competition. The most valuable contribution of Porter's “five forces” framework in this issue may be its suggestion that rivalry, while important, is only one of several forces that determine industry attractiveness.

Ford Motor Company has been and till the date is known as the king of innovations in the automobile industry. Their research & development department and innovation of interchangeable parts in moving assembly lines resulted in extraordinary global extension for them. They are an old heritage who ruled and still doing impressive jobs in the global automobile market. Some prestigious motor brands are also owned by Ford.

Porters Five Forces model evaluated Actual competition, Threat of new entrants, Threat of Substitute Products, Bargaining Power of Suppliers, and Bargaining Power of Customers. Actual Competition in the Luxury Recreational Vehicle industry is mixed due to low switching costs, constant growth, and high differentiation among products in the industry. Threat of New entrants in

Threat of new entrants: Intensified price competition as new entrants sought their share of mature market had negative effect. However, high capital requirements positively affect Ford Motor Company. High capital was allocated for research and development which was and advantage against new entrants.

In this world of technology and innovation even Ford Motor Company is investing in new technologies in order to improvised their supply chain management, build an environment with interaction between each department as well as suppliers in order to reduce the bridging gap between them. As it is a leader in auto market segment, needs to update and coop with time and technology periodically but due to huge competition from the Japanese auto makers like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan, Suzuki etc., who are strong and powerful with references to the supply chain process management due to which Ford market share dip compared to others as well as the sales also declined. During this time, Ford analysed the situation and thought positively and started improvement in the supply chain management.

Ford has had to face various challenges and current goals are to obtain the market share from its competitors and build the vehicles consumers are demanding. By meeting these needs, the company can redefine itself. With consumers trying to decrease their debt and an increasing number of competitors showcasing fuel-efficient vehicles, Ford needs to create affordable high quality and fuel efficient vehicles to remain competitive. An internal analysis of Ford Motor Company will evaluate its resources and capabilities. This analysis can aid in determining Ford’s cost position, competency, and competitiveness in the current marketplace.

One of the most notable outcomes of the competition between Ford and General Motors has been their control of the global automobiles industry. Both companies enjoy have many clients within the United States of America and other parts of the world. This would not have been the case had the two companies not been in direct competition with each other. Whenever Ford introduces a new model in the market, General Motors is always quick to do the same (Ford 14). Similarly, the development of a new model by the latter company serves as a lead for Ford Motor Company to introduce a new brand. This neck-to-neck tussle for the American and global market for automobiles has positively affected the exceptional success of both companies. In most cases, companies tend to view competition with a perception that is more or less negative.

Moreover, Autotech will have competitive advantage in terms of cost effective and unique products and services as these systems can support in Research and development of Products, services, production process. With ISs, Autotech will able to obtain innovative design of auto parts, production process, modify auto parts, improve auto parts quality, improve production schedules. IS recognise and generate new products and services to grow new markets to drastically change business process via adopting digital forming and simulation of product, design to diminish time and cost of market. Moreover, Information systems manage all the supply chain process from raw materials to where the end product is used. ISs keep records of supply, distribution, storage of goods, manage transport and distribution centres with accuracy and fast. Telecommunication network provides better capability and opportunities in logistics. Supply chain, production process, manufacturing process will impact on sale of Autotech company’s products as Autotech will have quality and cost efficient products. As well, these systems will help to demonstrate and present products to customers in strategic way and product design, scheduling, quality can manage through Information systems. Autotech needs to collect and analyse data of customers’ requirement and their feedback of their products which will be provided by these systems with less

The primary reason why Ford designed the VEP was that Ford believed its stock was undervalued and the undervalued stock was limiting the company 's ability to use its stock for acquisitions or to attract, retain or incentivize employees. Ford thought the VEP would enhance the value of its outstanding shares because the recapitalization will highlight its cash reserves and cash flow generating capacity, and also indicates management 's confidence in the future of the business. In addition, Ford believed the adjustments in the employee incentive plans by the recapitalization will tie Ford management 's compensation even more closely to the performance of its stock price.

Existing Competitors. Rivalry among competitors within an industry use price discounting, new products, marketing, and other techniques to be competitive. Profitability of an industry suffers from high rivalry. The intensity with which companies compete and the basis on which they compete determine to which degree rivalry brings down an industry’s profitability (Porter, 2008). Pure competition is considered by economists as a competition with a high

The Ford Motor Company, founded in 1903 by Henry Ford, is synonymous with American innovation and capitalism. With iconic branding and revolutionary

The key to achieving this goal lies in the ability to take advantage of the Ford Company’s size and global presence to invest in information technology. This can be accomplished by using its intelligence resources to renegotiate the way it does business with suppliers, including partial integration of the “virtual integration model”, such as Dell Corporation

Although the direct business model of Dell is most attractive, there are several key differences between the computer and auto industries which serve as barriers to Ford‘s implementation of uniform, supply chain virtual integration. Ford must tackle many diverse obstacles that were, simply, not a factor with Dell‘s implementation. These obstacles range down the delivery chain from the supplier to the manufacturer to the dealer and, ultimately, to the customer. Overall, the intricate and historic process of manufacturing and selling automobiles contradicts the technological innovation necessary for a true virtually integrated system to exist.

Porter’s Five Forces model is used to evaluate the degree of rivalry between competitors in a given industry through assessing the four forces that lead to this outcome. These forces are the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of buyers, and the threat of substitute products.