External and Internal Environments
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Week 3 Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness Assignment
Week 3 Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness Assignment
Technology and globalization comprise the determinants of the success of most organizations in this era. An organization that has adopted the latest technology has improved how they conduct their activities and provide exceptional services to their customers. Globalization, on the other hand, helps an organization to diversify its market. Ford Motor Company is one of those organizations in the motor vehicle manufacturing industry that has embraced technology and globalization as the key factors to realize success.
Globalization
Ford is among the first corporations to embrace globalization; its machineries compete with other products from different organizations in the global arena. The company has established manufacturing plants in some countries, and further has also found sales agents in other countries with low demand for motor vehicles (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2020)
. Some of the countries where Ford conducts its manufacturing operations include Canada, china, India, the United Kingdom, turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and South Africa. Besides the manufacturing operations, Ford also has sales agents in over 120 countries globally.
Globalization is one of the challenges that most organizations, especially those in the motor vehicle industry, have to face. It is not an easy task since it involves a lot of checks and balances. Ford’s consideration of globalization meant that it had to compete with other motor vehicle manufacturers. Thus, the firm was required to engage innovation and business strategies to realize success in different markets.
Ford has struggled in the global market since most of its products were considered expensive yet offering similar satisfaction with those offered by other organizations such as the Garman Manufacturer and the Japanese automobile. Thus, the company had to shift manufacturing practices outside America to other countries with low labor costs to minimize production costs and maximize its sales.
The global market venture has also affected the car manufacturer since introducing the Trump administration’s trade restriction, which increases the tariffs on the worldwide organization to shield the local firms. The countries affected reacted by also raising taxes on American firms, making them compete with other organizations.
Technology
The car manufacturing firm competes vigorously by using the technology to manufacture the motor vehicles that meet the current global environmental requirements and those that meet the customer needs. Apart from the manufacture of cars powered by electricity, car manufacturers are also striving to incorporate information technology into motor vehicles to enhance the driver experience.
Ford has made some significant strides in technology by incorporating information technology into the motor vehicle. Most motor vehicles are currently connected to a computerized software system that helps troubleshoot the car system for faults in case of mechanical issues(Yun et al., 2016). Also, most of the Ford car products are connected to the internet for the collection of real-time data. The internet has also significantly reduced the car dealer’s effort to produce and channel data to the organization (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2020). Therefore, Ford has significantly reduced the cost of manufacturing its vehicles.
The organization is currently striving and manufacturing vehicles powered by electricity as the world heads to electricity-powered engines. Also, the driverless cars through robotics are the talk of the day in the industry, and Ford is not left behind in determining in the research. It has financed most of the study and partnered with leading information technology firms on the same.
Industrial Organization Model
The competition in car manufacturing is stiff and needs every firm to develop a strategy that can guarantee them to beat the competition and earn the best returns from the entire operations. Ford beats the competition in the industry by understanding the external environment clearly. The strategy enables it to know how other industry players are performing and use the come up with unique strategy that allows the firm to earn more revenue.
Secondly, Ford has invested heavily in researching the industry and using it to attract clients across different divides. One of the products of clear comprehension of the industry is implementing the best marketing strategy, which has enabled the firm to sell its products beyond the borders (Adam, 2016).
The organization sought the best skills from the motor vehicle industry for undertaking different activities in the firm. First, in the technical sector, Ford has a technical team able to convert the project requirements into a product that can solve the organization’s problems.
Resource-Based Model
Ford has implemented the best resource-based model in its manufacturing process. Resources in any particular firm are crucial for the processes of the generation of goods and services. Fords have a wide range of resources distributed across different areas in which it operates.
Some of Ford’s critical resources have included land, corporate culture, culture, reputation, and equipment. It has come up with strategies that have allowed them to manage these resources and benefit from them effectively.
Ford is among the first motor vehicle manufacturing firms established in the 19th century when the car was invented. Therefore, it has a vast land that it considers as an asset. In the expansion, the organization does not spend much on finding extra land to expand their activities (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2020).
The international expansion or globalization only cost the organization in terms of land.
As the first organization to participate in the experimental cars, Ford has grown to be the most reputable firm. Its organizational culture has enabled us to beat many ups and downs for more the 100 years. The firm considers these two features the most critical resources that it must guard with all pride.
Vision
The vision of Ford is the reason for its success since when the company was established. The vision statement is crucial for the organization since it aligns its activities with its long-term goals.
Ford’s vision is given by its vision statement “to become the world’s most trusted company, designing smart vehicles for a smart world.” This vision statement shows the organization strives to be the leader in the automotive industry. The organization that becomes leaders in the industries spends a lot of time trying to come up with solutions to the problems and features that fit the clients’ needs.
Ford strives to be a leader in the global car manufacturing industry. Therefore, the firm wants to ensure most of its products are sold in most of the countries. Second, Ford strives to be the most trusted organization in the car manufacturing industry. Therefore, the organization strives to ensure that its products are the safest and fit the customers’ requirements and are designed to have most clients’ most features. Lastly, for is dedicated to creating smart vehicles that fit the needs of the intelligent world.
Mission
Ford’s mission statements show the main focus of the organization, that is, moving people. The mission statement “to make people’s lives better by making mobility accessible and affordable.” Therefore, Ford’s concentrate o manufacturing the cars that are affordable and meet the customers need for movement.
Currently, Ford concentrates on manufacturing the vehicle that suits the customer’s needs and their ability to acquire them. The firm has a wide range of products that fit the budget of different social classes. Also, the fords manufacture car to suit other environmental conditions of the car riders.
Ford’s success depends on the fact it has made people’s lives better through manufacturing cars that meet their current needs, which meets mobility accessible and affordable to a wide range of customers.
Stakeholders
Ford’s stakeholders play a critical role in its successful realization. The firm value each of the stakeholders equally. Ford concentrates on ensuring each stakeholder’s needs are addressed to maintain its position as one of the industry’s car manufacturers’ leaders. The key stakeholders include customers, employees, investors, and communities.
Ford prioritizes the customers by ensuring that their interests are met. The main interest of the stakeholders includes quality products and services (Gorovaia & Windsperger, 2018). The company understands the link between the organization’s revenue and the customers and ensures that it meets their needs, which will also enhance their image and reputation.
The employees come second in the Ford stakeholders’ priorities. Their need also must be gathered since they influence the business’s production and service capacity (Steger, 2017). Therefore, Ford has the responsibility of ensuring a sustainable workforce, facilitating online training, learning and development, and leadership development programs.
Investors and communities follow respectively in the Ford stakeholders’ priorities. Investors are critical to the firm’s capital, and their primary interest is profits and business stability. Finally, communities’ benefit from the Ford programs of giving back to the community through facilitating development and environmental conservation.
Sources
Gorovaia, N., & Windsperger, J. (2018). The choice of contract duration in franchising networks: A transaction cost and resource-based view. Industrial Marketing Management, 75, 125-133.
Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson. 2020. Strategic management: Concepts and Cases: Competitiveness and globalization (13th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning
Steger, M. B. (2017). Globalization: A very short introduction (Vol. 86). Oxford University Press.
Yun, J. J., Won, D., Jeong, E., Park, K., Yang, J., & Park, J. (2016). The relationship between technology, business model, and market in an autonomous car and intelligent robot industries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 103, 142-155.
