Ford Motor Case

Executive Summary:

From 1995 – 1999 Ford has seen smaller companies with fewer capital assets and lower revenues and profits achieve much more market capitalization in comparison to Ford. With increased technology and economies of scope, companies now want to on the benefits of being a larger company, so we are seeing frequent merges. Two notable consolidations were Chrysler merging with Daimler-Benz in the summer of 1998 and, Ford acquiring Volvo in early 1999.

With the emergence of Information technology, the first public website was launched in 1995, and corporate intranet website in 1996. Ford has also launched a Business to Business website that connected the company to its suppliers. Ford has teamed up with Chrysler and General Motors to work on the Automotive Network Exchange (ANX), to create standards in the supplier network.

Through the creation and use of these Web sites, Ford positioned itself not only as an innovator in the automotive industry, but also in a position to capitalize on further Information Technology developments as they emerged.

There are other automobile companies as well who are trying to become virtual companies, owning only brand name and customers. In order to remain as the leader and innovator in the automobile sector, It becomes extremely essential for Ford to look at alternatives for its supply chain, such as Virtual integration.

With all of these changes going on in the automobile industry, it is imperative Ford needs to make some changes within its organization to compete.

Issues Identification:

The main area of emphasis for Ford Motor Company currently, is to increase its customer responsiveness and shareholder value. In order to do so, we need to determine if we need to redesign our supply chain activities, and to what extent should we use information technology in achieving our goals. Is virtual integration method used by companies such as Dell, help us in interacting with our suppliers, building...