With the North American International Autoshow only a couple of weeks away I'm sure there will be a barrage of articles on the plight of domestic automakers and their efforts to claw back some market share. The show inherently focuses on product design and branding, but business processes and strategy are always brought into the fray by industry analysts and other interested groups.
The next few weeks will also see a lot of comment and opinion around Ford's latest restructuring plan, set to be unveiled on January 23. Standard & Poor's has already commented by further downgrading Ford's credit rating last week, after a review of Ford's draft plan last month.
There is not a lot of detail available yet regarding the plan, but that is not preventing any predictions on the efficacy of the plan. Here's an article from today's New York Times:
Is there a future in Ford's future?
Stay tuned…
What do you think? Please scroll down (or click) to post a comment. Or please share the post with your thoughts on LinkedIn – and follow me or connect with me there.
Did you like this post? Make sure you don't miss a post or podcast — Subscribe to get notified about posts via email daily or weekly.
Check out my latest book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation:
Here’s a telling quote, it might be more of a challenge for GM than it is for Ford:
“G.M. proved again last summer that it was still willing to sacrifice long-term performance for short-term gain, offering consumers the deep discounts it usually reserves for employees.”
This is about 180 degrees reverse from the Toyota Production System, which encourages a long-term view. No wonder Toyota is doing so much better than Ford and GM!