Ford Motor Company is known to be one of the largest automobile firms. In the early 20 th century, Ford Motor inspired mass production assembly lines to allow the company to reduce manufacturing expenses. The firm has strived to remain competitive in the automobiles industry and has been developing strategies that enable it to compete in the business environment. From 1971 to 1976, Ford Motor fell into a sporadic-innovation trap in an attempt to compete with Japanese and German imports. During this period, Ford Motor focused on manufacturing cheaper and lighter cars, namely Ford Pinto and Mercury Bobcat, that would be less costly to consumers (Marques, 2015). As the vehicles neared completion of production, engineers found out that the cars failed rear-end collision tests. The reason for the failure was that the fuel tank was placed between the rear bumper and rear axle. Even though Ford Motor’s management was made aware of the problem, they decided to ignore the issue and left the vehicles as they were. In the end, the vehicles led to deaths, and this affected Ford Motor’s reputation, leading to a decline in profits and an increase in imported cars.
Ford Motor’s management missed warning signs about the failure of their innovations because of the lack of extensive research and development. Besides, the company was more focused on ensuring that it reduced production costs that it did not pay attention to ensuring the safety of their vehicles. Even after discovering the problem with Ford Pinto and Mercury Bobcat, Ford Motor’s management did not want to spend more resources on fixing the issues. In the future, Ford Motor should ensure that it invests in the initial process of research and development before developing a vehicle fully. Also, the management can decide to manufacture one vehicle first and test it before mass production. In the end, Ford Motor will remain competitive, profitable, sustainable, and with a good reputation.
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References
Marques, J. (2015). The confluence of diversity and ethics in global managerial performance. \ In Global Enterprise Management (pp. 61-78). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
