Introduction
Ford motor company was established in the 1900s and has run its operations in an effective manner since then. Its products are wide and varied, and besides manufacturing, it offers credit services, sells vehicle accessories and conducts heavy repairs. Its standardization policy has enabled it to gain acceptance within the social, economic and legal sphere. In the recent past, the company is facing unprecedented competition from both the home and foreign motor manufacturing companies. As such, it has been compelled to make inventions in order to maintain and possibly expand its market share. It has also had to change various policies to survive in the market. Being in the economic sector, it has also suffered immense effects of market forces. Its main weakness pertains to reluctance of the employees to assume technological changes. However, the company has economies of scale that can enable it to enhance output. Its social and financial placement is also desirable.
At its inception, the company was looking forward to great business. Just like other traditional companies that have withstood the test of time, Ford’s beginnings can be considered to have been modest. With respect to capital, the eleven business associates had a significant $28,000 with which they decided to register the company as a corporation (Sam 65). Its business operations were consistent and improved through time, enabling it to have a total of 350,000 stock holders by 1956. Currently, the company operates on a global scale with more than 100 plants worldwide (Ford Motor Company 1). The company concerns itself with developing, servicing, designing and manufacturing trucks and cars on a global scale. Further, it also provides car rental services on a daily basis. Its affiliated and core automotive brand are Land Rover, Aston Martin, Mercury, Volvo, Lincoln, Mazda, Jaguar and Ford (Ford Motor Company 1).
The company offers wide ranging products as well as after sales services and vehicle parts. It offers its clients services related to heavy repair, collision, extended warranty, light maintenance repair, and vehicle accessories. It also has a financial sector under the name Ford Credit Services. This also provides varied services that arrange form retail financing, real estate refinancing, loans to dealers in automotive products financing, and wholesale financing. Also, it leases and finances various receivables related to loans and affiliates, purchases purchase-related receivables, and finances related insurance services (Ford Motor Company 1). The company also buys raw materials that are employed in production across the globe. The materials consist of non ferrous as well as ferrous casting iron. It has its personal license with respect to use of trademarks, patents and copyrights. Currently, company headquarters are located in Dearborn, Michigan (Ford Motor Company 1). A look into the history of the Ford Motor Company presents various events that resulted into market twists to shape the company in various ways.
Events in the History of Ford Motor Company
The establishment of Ford Motors Company marked the beginning of a long history of vehicle production. Florry indicates that “the company later started producing the vehicles in mass” (34). The employment of Model T in the First World War enhanced the popularity of Ford and subsequently led to a rise in sales. However, during the 1940s, as Clymer indicates, “the company faced stiff competition from other manufactures such as the General Motors who produced vehicles with diverse features” (45). This prompted it to make more innovations in order to be at par with its competitors. In addition, the new companies explored other markets and made it difficult for Ford to expand its operations. The great depression forced the company to reduce its production, and as such, the sales also reduced staggeringly. The workers were laid off and in the 1930s; the company was forced to address critical matters associated with unionism. The Second World War also provided a viable environment to increase the sales especially considering the fact that it was very popular. Since then, the company continues to make various innovations (Ford Motor Company 1).
The June of 1903 marked the onset of the current Ford Motor Company. In this month, Henry Ford, organized and met eleven other individuals to start the company. After signing the Articles of incorporation in Michigan, the company was as good as started. Five years later, the company had managed to build its first car, the Ford model T, it is worth noting that this model was among the most fashionable and liked models during its time (Brooke 49). The car lasted 19 years in production and sold a total of 15,458,781 cars; its production was brought to a halt in the year 1927 (Brooke 95). Also, the company remarkably hit the wage market with an increment of over $2 for every eight hours to land at $5 a day, as opposed to a previous $2.34 (Weiss 5). This made the company attract job seekers five times the number of job vacancies available at the company.
The growth of the company was rapid and constant with the assumption of an ever increasing capacity and sales. Due to this trend, the company moved on to increase production points both within and out of the country. In 1909, the company initiated the establishment of a branch in England (Geyer 8). This was followed by the Manchester plant which was opened in the year 1911. Further the company moved into Argentina in the year 1913, establishing the Ford Motor Argentina (Wilkins and Frank 244). By December 1915, the company managed to hit a million cars on sale since its inception which had only been seven years then (Brooke 11). It proceeded to open in other locations like France, 1916 (Geyer 8), and Australia, 1926.
The year 1919 marked a major change in the management of the company, during this year, Henry Ford relinquished the President and CEO positions of the company to his son Edsel Ford (Wilkins and Frank 115). A year later, the company was faced with reduced sales and had to shut down temporarily to reorganize its strategies. It reopened the same year with a streamlined budget and improved cost management. Before the end of this year, the company managed to hit a manufacturing capacity of more than a million cars every year (Wilkins and Frank 116). It proceeded to acquire the Lincoln Company in the year 1922 as an expansion strategy (Shurtleff and Akiko 264). It also expanded to Japan in 1925. Due to the ever expanding nature and the presence of unlimited resources, Ford Motor Company decided to venture into airplane production in the year 1925. Its first airplane model was the tri-motor plane. However, the venture in planes did not last long. It ended in 1933 after the company had produced a total of only 199 aircrafts (Brooke 141). By the year 1931, Ford had come to total sales of twenty million cars since its establishment in the beginning of the century (Oldman, Samer and Mark 123).
The gap between 1938 and 1959 was marked with a lot of activity in the history of the Ford Motor Company. It is during this period that the company’s capacity increased and its efficiency improved tremendously managing. Outstandingly, by June 1938 the company was produing a car in every three minutes. It launched the Jeeps brand for military options in the year 1941 (Wilkins and Frank 116). However, the company had to terminate production of cars to build tankers, planes and other war materials to aid in the World War II (WW2) in 1942 (Ford Motor Company 1). With the end of the war in 1948, production resumed, and Ford was able to attain great achievements yet again (Ford Motor Company). A V8 model of the famous Thunderbird was launched in 1954. This increased the general sales of the company, and in the subsequent years, Ford realized improved annual sales with more than 1.6 million vehicles in 1957(Ford Motor Company). Two years later, the company was at fifty million sales since its inception. Because of increased handling of company finances, the Ford Motor Credit Company was formed in 1959 with the main aim of facilitating the company’s automotive financing needs (Ford Motor Company 1).
1960 to 1978 was yet another remarked period during which various developments in the buildup of Ford Motor Company history occurred. Henry Ford II assumed the chair of the company’s position besides being the president after an election in July 1960 (Wilkins and Frank 442). This was done after Ernest Breech, the then chairman resigned. Ford models introduced into the market in this year included the Upscale Compact car, Econoline series, Galaxie, and Falcon (Wilkins and Frank 410). Later in the year, Henry Ford II resigned and was appointed Secretary of Defense. The V8 engines produced by Ford numbered thirty million by 1962 (Olson 104). By January the following year, history of cars produced by Ford reached sixty Million and Arjay Miller assumed the company President’s position (Ford Motor Company). In the year 1964, the company produced yet other new models and marked various achievements. The GT40 model and the Ford Mustang were both launched into the market in this year (Ford Motor Company). By 1966, the Mustang had realized sales of over one million within two years of its launching. The Ford Motor Company introduced a second version of the Ford Mustang named Ford Mustang 2 in 1973 (Olson 114). The Ford Motor Company marked its 75th anniversary in the year 1978 having sold one hundred and fifty million cars (Ford Motor Company 1).
Several major events occurring between 1980 and 2000 also influenced the position of Ford. The management changed hands yet again in 1980, with Peterson Donald taking the position of the company’s president and CEO and replacing Caldwell. Caldwell further retired from the chairman’s position in 1985 (Ford Motor Company 1). Later in the year, two more new products were launched by the company; the Taurus and the styling that was referred to as Aero design. The achievements between 1987 and 1990 were numerous and remarkable. For the first time in history after 1926, the profits earned by Ford surpassed those of the arch rival; General Motors. Other remarkable events during this year included the acquisition of Aston Martin Lagonda, Hertz Rent-a-Car and the death of Henry Ford II (Ford Motor Company). In 1990, the company acquired Jaguar at a cost of two billion, five hundred million dollars (Ford Motor Company). The company also unveiled the new model of Mazda MX-5 Miata. The largest loss ever made by the company was to come in 1991, which saw the company lose $2.3 (Geyer 93). However, this was followed by success in a joint venture with Volkswagen in 1992 and success in the sales of the F-Series as the United States best seller car brand for the tenth year (Geyer 32). Ford then moved on to initiate operations in China in 1993, and India in 1994 (Geyer 14). By the year 1999, the company had increased its global contacts and extended into the Middle East and even African markets. Ford Motor Company then established “The Premier Auto Group” an umbrella brand for producing and marketing Volvo, Jaguar, Lincoln, and Aston Martin brands (Geyer 99).
The turn of the century saw more events turn in on the history of the company. In 2001, William Clay Ford, Jr. became the next president of the company (Geyer 3; 82). In this year, the company sold over 7000 million cars and started constructing the Model T-100. By June 2003, the company had released another model, the Ford GT, and had its 100 years since its inception (Ford Motor Company). The company also produced Ford Focus in this year. The following year, Ford released a gas electric hybrid car called Ford Escape Hybrid. During this year, the company also sold out its Jaguar Racing model to another company - Red Bull GmbH (Ford Motor Company). This was followed by the subsequent selling off of the Jaguar brand as well as the Land Rover Models of the ford company to the Tata Motors (Hitt, Duane and Robert 296). In the year 2010, Ford went ahead to sell its brands of the Volvo Cars to the company called Geely Automobile, but further went ahead to launch and unveil the third generation of the Ford Focus models (Ford Motor Company 1). In the year 2011, Ford Motor Company discontinued the production of various cars and launched one more brand. Among those discontinued were Lincoln Town Car, Ford Ranger and the Ford Crown Victoria (Ford Motor Company 1). Their new car was Ford Focus Electric. In 2012, another new model; Fourth generation of the Transit/Tourneo was created with the company planning to reduce jobs by 30, 000, and eliminate some of its plants (Ford Motor Company 1).
It is certain that Ford Motor Company is stable and has undergone various transformations through time. It ventures in diverse products and services that generate significant revenue. The company employs sponsorship, supply chain management, promotions, strategic locations, sustainable and green production and the internet to reach its clients. Since its establishment, several changes have occurred to its operations, structure and management. These changes have acted to initiate various transformations to counter positive or negative fluctuations in the market and ultimately land the company at its present position.
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