Ford Motor Company :: Business Management Marketing Essays

cut across Motor Company is the worlds largest maker of trucks, and the secondlargest set aboutr of cars and trucks combined. crossover has manufacturing, fabricationor sales affiliates in 34 countries and Ford companies employed 337,800 peopleworld-wide in 1996.Ford has manufacturing facilities in 22 countries on 5 continents, with 87plants in North America and 41 in Europe. In Europe, in 1995, Fords combinedvehicle market sh atomic number 18, at 12.2%, was the highest for cardinal years, with three ofthe eight best-selling cars. In 1995, in the United States, quintette of the ten top-selling vehicles were Ford, including the best-selling car (Ford Taurus) andbest-selling truck (F-series).On January 1, 1995, Ford merged its North American Automotive Operations and itsEuropean Automotive Operations into a single organization, Ford AutomotiveOperations. instead of being organized by geographic regions, the Company is nowrealigned by product line, with five Vehicle Centers, eac h responsible for one group of products worldwide. At the same time, Ford is reducing the time takento break up a new-fashioned vehicle from 48 to 24 months and reducing engines,transmissions, and grassroots vehicle platforms by 30% worldwide. Ford hopes that bypooling global skills and resources allow for result in more variations on eachvehicle platform, change magnitude the number of vehicles introduced over the nextfive years by 50%.One of the key strategies behind the realignment has been growth. Ford haslaunched a variety of new initiatives throughout the world, with joint venturesfor the assembly of vehicles in countries as diverse as China, India, Thailandand Vietnam. In China, Ford expects to begin production of light trucks with a familiarity named Jiangling Motors in the near future. In India, Mahindra Ford IndiaLtd. will begin construct and distribution of Ford products, beginning withthe Ford Escort, in mid-1996 and Fiesta in 1998. In Thailand, Ford has a jointven ture to produce pick-up trucks and in Vietnam, Ford plans to build a vehicleassembly plant at Hanoi, together with partners Song Cong Diesel. In Poland, thePlonsk plant has begun to build Escorts and Transits.Joint ventures are establishing a presence for Ford all over the globe. Ford isworks with two companies in Korea, one to supply automotive air instructunits and the second as a new joint venture to produce electronic componentslater this year. In addition to the 20% of Jiangling Motors, China, acquired byFord in 1995, four further manufacturing joint ventures in China deplete been setup to produce radiators, glass, plastic and electronic components. Ford has withalacquired a 45% equity in South African company, Samcor, for the assembly of Ford