Ford Motor Company has implemented several strategic initiatives to adapt to changing economic conditions and markets. These include downsizing its workforce and assets, introducing new electric vehicles, and incorporating robotics into quality control. Ford has rebounded from $14.6 billion in losses in 2008 to profits of $2.7 billion in 2010 due to these changes. Strong human resource management, like that led by Felicia Fields, has also helped Ford achieve its business goals and turnaround. Based on Ford's adaptations and current success, the author would be willing to invest in Ford as a mutual fund manager.

1. MGT 521 Week 6 Final Exam
MGT/521
Write a paper of no more than 3,500 words reviewing the
strategic
initiatives taken by the company relative to organizational and
operational adaptation to changing markets.
Explain the following in your paper:
recent economic trends are influencing the business
to changing markets, such as an economic downturn or
recession
to achieve their strategic goals
company achieve its business goals
mutual
fund manager
Write a conclusion for your overall business analysis. Be sure to
support your conclusion with information you have gathered
from
parts one and two of your business analysis.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Week 6 Business Analysis Part III
Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry Ford and
incorporated in 1903, the great depression and now the
recession we are in the company has survived and found ways to
become stronger. The company has rebounded in the past few
years and right now the company is booming and generating a
great profit which is pleasing for the company and its
stakeholders. As numbers tell no lies, in 2008 Ford suffered its
worst year in history with a $14.6 billion dollar loss (Starner,

2. 2010), and by 2010 reported a $2.7 billion dollar gain. With a
turn around like that one must assume Ford has figured out what
they need to change to survive. A few ways that the company
has turned around the business is by downsizing and changing
company values, to introduce a new, “Battery Electric
Vehicle(BEV)” ("Media.ford.com", 2011), and also they have
incorporated robotics into their Quality Control(Robotic Trends
Staff, 2011). Ford has a very strong human resource department
and a woman by the name of Felicia Fields (Starner, 2010), has
been a major player for the company. Ford is now as a company
who is striving and achieving great success that once again has
made them a top performer in the auto industry.
In 2008 the company hit rock bottom, with record losses and the
companies stock falling to about a dollar, the company has had
to regroup and focus. It has done just that and become a rock in
the auto industry once again. In 2008 with such a hard financial
year the company was forced to sell some of other car
companies that they had stake in, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo
and Ashton Martin were some of those names. Their CEO Alan
Mulally had a vision and his vision was, “ONE Ford: ONE
Team, ONE Plan, ONE Goal.” (Starner, 2010) The plan is a lot
like it sounds, the company would regroup and become one,
become more efficient and operate in a way that it had never
done so before. The company then soon downsized and went
from a company of 213,000 employees in 2008 and now it
operates with around 176,000, which is a sizeable difference.
Ford is now the number 2 U.S. auto seller and number 5 in the
world, pretty impressive for a company that was near bailout
funds in 2008. One thing Ford does pride itself on is that it did
not accept bailout funds from the Government where as General
Motors and Chrysler can not say the same thing.
The recession has also made the company downsize its vehicles,
where the Excursion is no longer being produced and cars like
the Fiesta have made a return and are more affordable and better
on fuel economy. Also they have plans to start producing a,
“Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), as a commercial van and

3. sedan, which will help the Go Green act and provide and
alternative to regular gasoline consuming vehicles. With the
BEV’s coming out Ford plans to lower cost them and try to
make them more affordable and better options, since other
electric and hybrid cars has been on the expensive side so far.
This is a game changer and could lead to BEV’s and hybrids
becoming more mainstream and better for our environment.
Another smart thing that has been brought to the company is the
use of robotics in Quality Control. The use of robotics would be
to get laser inspections to make sure the vehicles being built
would have higher quality components and reduce wind noise.
These small extras are luxury bonuses but people buying Ford’s
have the piece of mind that Ford does it all for them. Ford
wants to be the best and with all these new ideas and directions
they are showing the world that this is their intentions. If other
companies are not thinking the same way they should be
worried because Ford wants to do everything the right way.
The company has downsized, and in doing that the money saved
had to be enormous and made the losses of a few years ago
shrink just by doing so. They also had a trim of salaried
employees by 40%, which is tremendous since most salaries are
on the high end. The managers were sent to training and re-
engineered to develop a better way to let the employees that
were being released have a better transition from the company
and make sure everything was done with dignity. Things like
this separate Ford, in a time where companies were downsizing
and I am sure there were companies who treated people with no
dignity of respect, Ford made sure they did and this is what
demands respect. Ford has also announced they would sell their
5 corporate airplanes, which would save a lot of money in jet
fuel, maintenance and some people see the planes as an
unneeded necessity. As a company they are not making a moves
these days that people question, they are just doing everything
the right way and moving the company in the right direction.
When Alan Mulally came to the company in 2006, he came from
Boeing where he had major success, he brought over the, “ONE

4. Ford” vision and has made it a reality. He has brought the
company back from some of its darkest days, and now has them
in the position to have some of its largest earning years. He also
knew what it took, and knew he had to start in Human
Resources. He knew it would be his HR managers that would
help him lead this charge and that is exactly what he has done.
Felicia Fields, a third-generation employee has been great and
everything a company could ask for. She was put in charge and
knew there was some major overhauling to do, she had to issues
to fix and she also had to incorporate, “ONE Ford”. She wanted
for people who worked at Ford to love to work for Ford, and she
felt that was something that had been lost. She instilled, “ONE
HR” which restructured the way the company would work with
one another. The staff would not be segregated, from entry level
to the senior level everyone would be on the same page and
have the same rules. New functional meetings and events were
set up, the company would develop a new intranet for company
information to be passed on before it went to the public
(Starner, 2010), and these are just a few things that have
changed. These are the managers that companies need to survive
and keep their employees happy, Fields had a motto of, “ You
can’t take care of clients in the business if you have not taken
care of yourself first” (Starner, 2010), and to me that says it all.
People forget about things like that when they are caught up in
business and forget what they can do to others by neglect.
Fields is a model manager and more companies should strive to
find workers like her.
All in all, I would definitely invest in Ford, the company is on
the upswing and seems to be doing everything the right way.
They might have lost focused and the recession showed them
that, but they have been lucky enough to remain intact and are
now thriving as a company. ONE Ford is a model for success
and they have the right people in the company to make it run
properly. They know the economy still has not fully recovered
but they are not just worried about themselves, they are working
towards making there product affordable for people to buy. For

5. a company to be in a $12+ billion dollar deficit and survive they
know what it takes to do so, and what it takes to stay away from
failure. If it was my decision to give the approval to invest in
Ford, I would do so and with out thinking twice. Ford seems to
have it right.
Citations
Robotic Trends Staff. (2011). Industry and Manufacturing.
Retrieved from
http://www.roboticstrends.com/industry_manufacturing/article/f
ord_incorporates_robotics_into_quality_control_and_plant_er
gonomics
Media.Ford.Com. (2011). Retrieved from
http://blog.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=29505
Starner, T. (2010). Ford' Turn. Retrieved from
http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=439666514
MGT 521
Week 6
Final Exam
MGT/521
Write
a paper of no more than 3,500 words reviewing the strategic
initiatives taken by the company relative to organizational and
operational adaptation to changing markets.
Explain
the
following in your paper:
·
How recent economic trends are influencing the business

6. ·
Strategies the company has used or could use for adapting
to changing markets, such as an economic downturn or
recession
·
Tactics the company has implemented or could imp
lement
to achieve their strategic goals
·
The role human resource management plays in helping the
company achieve its business goals
·
If you would be willing to invest in this company as a mutual
fund manager
Write
a conclusion for your overall business a
nalysis. Be sure to
support your conclusion with information you have gathered
from
parts one and two of your business analysis.
Format
your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

7. Week 6 Business Analysis Part III
Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry
Ford and incorporated in
1903, the great depression and now the recession we are in the
company has survived and found ways to become stronger. The
company has rebounded in the past few years and right now the
company is booming and generating a great prof
it which is pleasing for
the company and its stakeholders. As numbers tell no lies, in
2008 Ford
suffered its worst year in history with a $14.6 billion dollar loss
(Starner,
2010), and by 2010 reported a $2.7 billion dollar gain. With a
turn around
like t
hat one must assume Ford has figured out what they need to
change to survive. A few ways that the company has turned
around the
business is by downsizing and changing company values, to
introduce a
new, “Battery Electric Vehicle(BEV)” ("Media.ford.com", 20
11), and also
they have incorporated robotics into their Quality
Control(Robotic Trends
Staff, 2011). Ford has a very strong human resource department
and a
woman by the name of Felicia Fields (Starner, 2010), has been a
major
player for the company. Ford
is now as a company who is striving and
achieving great success that once again has made them a top
performer
in the auto industry.