CASE STUDY: FORD MOTOR COMPANY

Ford Motor Company, one of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers, founded by Henry Ford at the age of 39 in June 1903 (113 Years ago), is

headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. Ford sells automobiles and commercial vehicles and most luxury cars under the Lincoln brand. Ford owns a 2.1% stake in Mazda of Japan, and 8% stakes in Aston Martin of UK, and a 49% stake in Jiangling of China. Ford also has the number of joint ventures, One in

Taiwan (Ford Lio Ho), one in China (ChanganFord), one in Russian (Ford Sollers), one in Thailand (AutoAlliance Thailand), and one in Turkey (Ford Otosan). Ford is

listed on NYSE and it has been in continuous family control for 100 years.Ford has manufacturing operations in six continents. In Europe alone there are 35 factories located in nine countries. In the UK, Ford employs around 14,200 people

at 10 different locations. It has led the UK market in car sales for over 28 consecutive years.

• Challenges:• During the Financial crisis at beginning of the 21st century, Ford was close to

bankruptcy. Providing real-time supply chain and visibility and to improve performance and accountability was the biggest challenge for Ford.

• In the year of 2006, the automaker reported the largest annual loss of $12.7 billion and it estimated that it would not return to profitability until 2009.In the second quarter of 2007, Ford surprised Wall Street by posting a $750 million profit.

• On June 2, 2008, Ford sold its Jaguar and Land Rover operations to TATA Motors for $2.3 billion.

• Marketing Strategies:• A strategy is a carefully considered plan devised to help a company to meet

its objective. A strategy can relate to the company’s brand or how it meets customer’s needs.

• Ford has two objectives in its sponsorship strategy.• One is to reinforce and further build the ford brand.• The other one is to achieve a good communication between ford and its

customers.

• Ford cars at UEFA event• Ford is associated with the sporting event such as

UEFA champion league; Ford is able to directly reach its target customers for nine months every year.

• Automobiles:• Ford sells a broad range of automobiles under the ford marque

worldwide, and range of luxury automobiles under Lincoln marque in the United States. Currently, Ford has Three Marques:

• Ford Marque in the origin of the United States, owned since 1903, it is available around the globe.

• Lincoln Marque in the origin of the United States, owned since 1922, it is only available in North America and the Middle East.

• Troller Marque in the origin of Brazil, owned since 2007, it is only available in Brazil.

• And there were some other and former marques such as Mercury, Edsel, Merkur, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Volvo, Land Rover, Mazda and FPV

• Trucks:• Ford has produced trucks since 1908, Ford started producing trucks with

the Model Ford TT, Model AA and BB. From the late 1940s to 1970s Ford’s F-Series was used as the base for light trucks for North America.

• Ford Build heavy trucks for North America Market such as: