Alan Mulally’s Restructuring of Ford Motor Company

GM is described as an organization with a dysfunctional company culture that somehow still manages to have amazing results in its work, on a global scale. The key attributes of GM, were primarily in the changes initiated by Mary Barra after the GM ignition switch recall crisis. Some of those attributes include her willingness to openly acknowledge the undesirable aspects of the GM culture and her efforts to take action towards a resolution. There are also several noticeable strengths and weaknesses within the organization. One of the biggest weaknesses is the company’s repeated inability to acknowledge that, lack of functional culture and leadership are truly the root cause of the company’s issues. Based on my reading I would describe the current behavioral organizational model as a Custodial Model. I chose this model because the managerial orientation is money, employee orientation is security and benefits and performance results are passive cooperation. All of these attributes were described in the reading.

Despite of these good things, Ford Motor faced a loss due to some wrong decisions taken by the management regarding their business strategy. The decision of centralizing the management made them think narrowly which results in too much Americanization and ignorance of local market in the rest of the world.

Organizations that strive to be a leader in an industry must look beyond their domestic boundaries and expand into international markets. The Ford Motor Company remains the second largest automotive manufacturer in the United States and fifth largest automotive manufacturer in the world with Toyota leading the way. This essay will address the Ford Motor Company’s strategic approach to compete internationally and identify which resources and capabilities make it attractive to compete internationally. Additionally, the Ford Motor Company’s diversification strategy options will be described. Lastly, we will identify how chosen diversification strategy options would lead to a strategic fit for the Ford

Ford Motor Company has tough competition with European and Japanese manufacturers, therefore the company did not respond well and suffered

The Ford Motor Company and General Motors have greatly influenced and shaped the global automobiles industry over the 20th Century. While there are other big car-makers both in the United States and elsewhere in the globe, the two companies have been the commonest and significant players across the entire sector. This research focuses on an argument of how competition between both companies has benefited them.

He decided to enlarge the goals of the company so as to include the marketing of the vehicles that they produced. This in itself is what entails planning. Therefore, management has affected planning in that the presence of a new CEO in the company has introduced other goals that were not there in the first place. The presence of an eligible leader led to the company building its own battery packs, power microelectronics segments and great proficiency automotive to enable them work without a license from AC Propulsion. Apart from influencing the planning of the company in a positive manner, the management also led to improved performance of the firm in that they now had extensive goals to achieve which required them to work harder (Hunger, 2010).

In order for Ford to be able to move forward and be successful they have had to make decisions that may have been difficult but also allowed them to become more efficient and more competitive in the automotive industry. We all remember when the economy started a downturn that affected many businesses including the automotive industry. Ford had already begun to make changes to ensure that they would be able to remain successful and it set Ford apart from other automakers.

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

Ghosn’s philosophy of change leadership was already developed at Michelin based on three principles: “assume nothing (find answers within the company); work fast; and earn trust and respect with strong results.” He diagnosed the complications that Nissan had as internal. His initial analysis was that the “company culture emphasized narrow, functionality based thinking at the expense of a larger strategic view.” Based on this analysis he formed cross functional teams bringing executives from all statuses and geographical locations to brainstorm and recommend solutions within three months. The plan was clear and straightforward: reduce procurement costs; reduce debt; and close plants that weren’t viable and introducing new models. These

Ford in 2011 is on the rebound, having recovered from the darkest hours in the late 2000s. The company for the company is that many of its competitors are also rebounding, and there are significant long-run changes in the automobile industry. Ford needs to determine a strategy that will take the company through the next decade, and improve the company's competitive position. The company has four of the top fifteen best-selling cars in America, but also needs to set strategy globally, as many of the best automobile growth markets are overseas. Another strategic consideration is that CEO Alan Mulally remains in the process of changing the organizational culture at Ford, which had become stagnant and unresponsive to the changes in the industry environment.

Mulally went at lengths to communicate and make people feel comfortable about the change and to explain their role in the process. His positive influence over the company eventually caught on and even his doubters begin to believe in his ability to pull this thing off.

Profitability is vital to success for Ford Motors. A profitable business pays interest to lenders, tax to authority and dividend to shareholders and bonuses to employees in time. It helps in satisfying all the stakeholders of FM. A profitable FM creates more opportunity for growth and a growing FM will generate further profit to satisfy the stakeholders. So, this

Alan Mulally, who was hired as CEO of Ford in September 2006, had not engineered, designed, or built any cars. He came from Boeing. After joining Ford, he devised a plan that identified specific goals for the company, created a process that moved it toward those goals, and installed a management system to make sure the company reaches those goals. Mulally demands weekly, sometimes daily, updates. “Alan's style is pretty relentless,” says chief financial officer Lewis Booth, a 31-year Ford veteran. “He says, ‘If this is the reality, what are we going to do about it?' not ‘We're going to work our way through it.'”

The customers (drivers of Ford) are the number one stakeholders that lost the most. They might not have lost much money or reputations, but they lost the one thing that you can never get back, their life.

Weakness - One of the weaknesses is higher cost compared to the competitors such as General Motors and Chrysler. In addition, Ford has an abundance of an expensive supply of vehicle models that cost to maintain. Ford is also known to have bad financial management and late in innovation.