The sales figures wouldn’t paint the same picture for revenue was actually $118.3 billion, a decline of 14% from 2008 figures. Shareholders are giving a thumbs up to the company too. From a situation where the Ford share, at $1.7, was competing with dollar store merchandise in early 2009, the stock was at $13.40 on March 16, 2010. Salaried employees aren’t exactly in the festive mood yet, since Ford decided not to pay bonuses for 2009 performance to them. But the company has decided to share profits with 430,000 hourly wage employees as was decided in the 2007 UAW-Ford Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The man at the centre of it all is Alan Mulally, now being elevated on the pedestal of the new turnaround man in the auto industry after Nissan-Renault CEO Carlo Ghosn. John Hinrichs, Group Vice President, Ford Motor Company, states, “The ‘One Ford’ strategy has been a strong pillar in the turnaround of the company and is the lesson that we have learned in the downturn. We will be developing more vehicles under the ‘One Ford’ strategy which will be available in almost all the markets that we operate in. It was after Alan formulated the One Ford we came up with a different strategy to compete with the other small cars.” The strategy has been immensely successful in making Ford lean, mean and more focused.
Step by step, Mulally meticulously planned the divestment of brands like JLR and Aston Martin; even Volvo is now set to be sold off to Geely. On the other hand, he felt that Taurus as a brand needed to be revived. Ford took up a massive debt under Mulally of around $23.6 billion and the company made several changes to the line up, including a greater focus on hybrids (the ford Fusion hybrid was introduced). It was a high risk game, since the company had to give heavy collateral for that loan. Under the ‘One Ford’ strategy, he initiated an organization wide restructuring exercise to better streamline global operations. The entire team has now got a single minded focus of building the Ford brand globally. Also, under the new plan, products will be built on platform and the company would launch them anywhere across the globe; like the European Ford Fiesta was taken to the US market and the Figo will be exported from India to South Africa. A matched pair system was set up so that the purchase team could work with the design and engineering team to avoid duplication and wastage in sourcing. Nigel E. Wark, Executive Director – Marketing & Sales, Ford India, tells B&E, “There is no denying that it was the effort of the whole team but the leadership at the top makes a lot of difference... Undoubtedly, he (Mulally) has been successfully able to steer the company out of its problems.” Apart from the US market, the company is also setting itself on track in Europe and Asia, as they expect that 1/3rd of sales will be coming from each of these markets in the next few years.
The man at the centre of it all is Alan Mulally, now being elevated on the pedestal of the new turnaround man in the auto industry after Nissan-Renault CEO Carlo Ghosn. John Hinrichs, Group Vice President, Ford Motor Company, states, “The ‘One Ford’ strategy has been a strong pillar in the turnaround of the company and is the lesson that we have learned in the downturn. We will be developing more vehicles under the ‘One Ford’ strategy which will be available in almost all the markets that we operate in. It was after Alan formulated the One Ford we came up with a different strategy to compete with the other small cars.” The strategy has been immensely successful in making Ford lean, mean and more focused.
Step by step, Mulally meticulously planned the divestment of brands like JLR and Aston Martin; even Volvo is now set to be sold off to Geely. On the other hand, he felt that Taurus as a brand needed to be revived. Ford took up a massive debt under Mulally of around $23.6 billion and the company made several changes to the line up, including a greater focus on hybrids (the ford Fusion hybrid was introduced). It was a high risk game, since the company had to give heavy collateral for that loan. Under the ‘One Ford’ strategy, he initiated an organization wide restructuring exercise to better streamline global operations. The entire team has now got a single minded focus of building the Ford brand globally. Also, under the new plan, products will be built on platform and the company would launch them anywhere across the globe; like the European Ford Fiesta was taken to the US market and the Figo will be exported from India to South Africa. A matched pair system was set up so that the purchase team could work with the design and engineering team to avoid duplication and wastage in sourcing. Nigel E. Wark, Executive Director – Marketing & Sales, Ford India, tells B&E, “There is no denying that it was the effort of the whole team but the leadership at the top makes a lot of difference... Undoubtedly, he (Mulally) has been successfully able to steer the company out of its problems.” Apart from the US market, the company is also setting itself on track in Europe and Asia, as they expect that 1/3rd of sales will be coming from each of these markets in the next few years.
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