At the end of the year they had sold 418,812 Mustangs. The 1964 1/2, as it was later called, was available in only two models, the Coupe and the Convertible. In late 1964 Ford teamed with Carroll Shelby to build the fastback. They built it to compete with the corvette. There was 562 built in 1951, 550 street models and 12 race models.
Given the high cost and limited range, sales were disappointing. In 1997 GM develops its own fuel-cell stack technology including first fuel cell car prototype HydroGen1. The first mover strategy gave the company the capability to use patents and intellectual property difficult to copy from competitors. By 2000, the US market has matured and foreign competition has eroded the market share of the three domestic players to less than 60%. In 2000, GM started potential working on the interface between design and technology considering three important aspects for the new car: safety, environment and performance.
PRINCIPLES OF RESPONSIBLE COMMERCE (COMM 101) TUTORIAL PREPARATION WEEK 3 NAME: Chang Yee How UOW NUMBER: 4387296 Case Study: Ford Pinto 1. What moral issues does the Pinto case raise? The Pinto case brought up issue of abusing human rights and behaved unethically in business. Ford had the design to reduce the possibility of Ford Pinto from exploding. However, the company refused to implement it, although it can prevent 180 deaths from happening at a cost of $11 per car according to the cost-benefit analysis.
Without the trust of the hierarchy of Ford managers the project wouldn’t have been delivered or achieved in the manner it was. Trust in suppliers was a risky decision because it was the ford mentality to “force suppliers to adapt their technology to Fords specifications”. This showed a level of confidence and belief that the suppliers could use their knowledge and skill and produce results for the new diesel engine. It was a complete change in the tradition of product development or the “norm” associated with Ford headquarters. The systematic developed environment was removed to allow Alex and the team to meet the deadline and deliver the new and improved diesel engine within thirty six months.
Business Organizations and Unions Establishing business organizations or small companies require various issues to consider and is not limited to the financial aspect of formation and workforce but also requires adherence to numerous legal laws. It is therefore necessary to research and ascertain that both management and its employees acclimatize themselves on these issues and work hand -in-hand to obtain their goals and objectives, thus resulting to the success of the organization. This paper will expound on the relationship between Ford Motor Company and the United Automobile Workers Union from its early years and the effects of the union to the organization. Ford Motor Company and United Automobile Workers Union The Ford Motor Company is one of the largest automotive manufacturers in the world founded by Henry Ford in 1903. The company manufactures and distributes automobile around the globe with famous vehicle brands produced such as Ford, Lincoln, Volvo, and Mercury.
This created many redundancies in management, and this reflected in the products. Both Chevrolet and GM each made a van, the Astro and the Sierra. For all intents and purposes these vans are identical, but they were manufactured by two different companies under the General Motors umbrella. The higher levels of management decided what was required for all subordinate levels, and that was a one way street. The CEO’s, CFO’s, and top executives made all decisions for middle management down to the individual dealerships.
The automobile changed technology for a lifetime. It introduced the assembly line which led to mass production of cars. In 1921 there were one million cars produced. The last main idea in the chapter, at least in my opinion is how they talk about city vs. country living. Henry Ford came from a farming family.
With annual revenues of $50B, Unilever compared in size to Nestle ($69B), Procter and Gamble ($68B), and Kraft Foods ($34B). The consumer goods giant started to face the problem of control because of a huge number of brands it produces. Before 2000, Unilever’s brand management strategy was highly decentralized. Each brand manager competed with in-house brands. At that time, Unilever just focused on selling its products across nations and did not create the global image for each product category.
The Ford Pinto Case Review of the Case The Pinto is a car that was manufactured by Ford from 1971-1980. The Pinto was Ford’s answer to match the increasing popularity of smaller cars, also known as subcompact cars, which were being imported by Toyota and Datsun. Iacocca’s specifications for the design of the car were very specific. "The Pinto was not to weigh an ounce over 2,000 pounds and not cost a cent over $2,000 (Unlisted, 2006)." It was discovered in rear end crash tests, even before the car was sold to the public, that the fuel tank would rupture and begin spilling fuel in collisions over 25 mph and that collisions of over 40 mph would result in the front doors jamming making it almost impossible to get the passengers out of the car.
Decision about hiring Mulally was made by William C. Ford Jr., current company CEO at that time, who “concluded that an insider could no longer fix Ford” and “the job required the emotional detachment of an outsider” [BusinessWeek]. Despite internal resistance from employees, disbelieving opinions regarding reforms from top executives and other observers, new Ford President is praised for his lack of “intellectual biases and habits that have gotten Detroit into so much trouble” [BusinessWeek]. Mullaly who took over restructuring plan “The Way Forward” to reverse Ford business losses led the company to first profitable quarter in several years [Wilson, 2006]. The goal of this case analysis is to define, examine and propose answers to questions arising from the case study. The following objectives will be analyzed: the key issues Alan Mulally has to work with, his leadership skills that put the company back on track and possible solutions and their implementation to