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... and the Internet is not yet capable of delivering such an experience. Fords new slogan Customer Job One emphasizes a fundamental shift from an automobile manufacturer to a more holistic company. Fords management has organized the company to become responsive to its customers and place them first, utilizing a management approach that extends throughout the corporate culture.
They have embraced and utilized the internet and information technology to learn more about their customers, to retail to the customers, collaborate with their suppliers and to share knowledge to streamline and speed up business. Although Ford embracement of the internet to be placed in their automobiles may have been premature and consumers were not ready to pay higher prices, I believe that day will be here soon. Ford in the meantime needs to regain their customer approval before venturing into this market. There is a small market niche for automobiles that are equipped with the web. Many more people are spending more time in there car from working on the road, to driving long distances to work.
There will be some people who will be able to afford higher price cars. Hand held internet devices run out of power in a variable short time. Some experts believe that the consumer prefer going to the car dealership to order their cars. That philosophy maybe changing because the younger consumer are more technology friendly and the internet is continuously growing to be able to provide realistic features.
An automobile and the internet with these capabilities will be the next shift in the era of automobiles. If Ford could possibly find a solution to the obstacles of virtual integration, it could turn a new supply chain efficiency into a core competency. Managers could overcome the burdensome and error-prone manual process of forecasting and procuring parts which would result in reduced OTD, lessened cost and enhanced customer satisfaction. Recommendation Over the last two decades, the search for the magic formula for successful organizations has moved from a preoccupation with structures and processes to a focus on management style and internal relationships as key indicators of sustained success.
Case studies of organisations which manage change successfully - examples being British Airways, Nordstrom, Dell Computers, Boston City Council, Are Brown Boveri, JCB, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, The Body Shop, Levi Strauss, Johnson and Johnson and so on, they overwhelmingly share the view that the real challenge is not in reshaping strategies, structures or processes, but in changing individual employees behavior in Ford Motors Company. The key to this is in creating an environment or culture which is conducive to change itself and then liberating or empowering employees to maximize the benefits Ford Motors Company. A host of researchers have demonstrated empirically how shared values affect personal and organizational effectiveness. As an example, a good understanding of job requirements and the organizations values has been shown to enhance peoples adjustment to their jobs, as well as their subsequent level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The fit between person-organization values has been shown to be an accurate predictor of job satisfaction and staff turnover.
The word alignment is often used in the literature on shared values - the point being that the organization maximizes the contribution from its employees if they are unified in support of the organizations aims and objectives. Again, empirical research has shown that organizational groups in Ford Motor Company with the greatest unity get more resources. These groups have more efficient internal and external communication; as a result, their co-ordination costs are reduced and joint action is easier to achieve. How strong the characteristics of corporate culture are in bonding the organization and supporting change programmers depends on many factors, including: leadership - leaders have to have credibility; employees quickly learn from leaders about behavior which is acceptable and rewarded length of service with the organization - attitudes and behavior patterns are more deep rooted in long-standing employees interaction with colleagues - how formal or informal this is; coffee breaks and chats by the photocopier are more fertile ground for reinforcing commitment to the organizations culture than formal meetings with agendas and minutes. the organizations environment - the external pressures, imposed pace of change, competitive situation and so on. We may conclude that we can do little about some of these factors in Ford Motor Company.
However, some can be tackled in the medium term (up to 5 years) and others in the short term (1 or 2 years). To be able to adapt to any form of change in Ford Motor Company requires an innovative, responsive and flexible culture. This is easy to say but tough to achieve, particularly in organizations where the management approach has evolved from the old militaristic models of organization i. e. people are directed rather than involved. Deeply embedded culture types which block change are: conventional culture - conservative, bureaucratic; employee are, above all else, expected to conform and follow the rules control culture - hierarchically controlled; centralized decision-making leads employees to do only what they are told competitive culture - all about winning; employees are rewarded for working against each other rather than with each other Although there are several key differences between companies, Dells direct business approach can be applied to every facet of Fords operation.
As noted previously, special care should be taken to address the unique dependency of Fords custom tier one suppliers. By the very nature of Fords tier network, tier one partners have fixed relationships with Ford and cannot be chosen by cost, alone. Therefore, a variation of virtual integration could be applied to Fords dependent supplier base, while the management of lower tier suppliers of generic components would be, more effectively, suited by the standard procedures used by Dell. In regard to supply channel communication and procurement, Ford can make substantial gains by standardizing all B 2 B transactions.
By offering an incentive program throughout the tier network, Ford can encourage all partners to make the necessary technological capital improvements in order to utilize an organization-wide extranet that will aid in fault-free procurement, real-time inventory and speedy OTD. Bottle-necking between channels would be averted as synchronous information will flow up and down the supply chain via one, standard medium. Cost savings derived from this direct working relationship should be ample enough to subsidize the development of the extranet project as well to reward the suppliers who successfully upgrade and integrate into the system. Perhaps, the most difficult obstacles for Ford to overcome are the traditional consumer buying habits coupled with the historical dealership franchises. Although relatively few consumers feel comfortable purchasing a new car over the Internet, an online virtual showroom could aid prospective buyers to find the right model and features to fit their budgets and needs. Dealerships could use the corporate extranet to locate and ship already manufactured automobiles from existing lots that would meet consumers specifications.
By doing so, dealers could lessen normally stagnated inventory stocks, while enhancing customer satisfaction with reduced OTD. Although, Ford may never be able to achieve the efficiency of the Dell computer Company, it can achieve a low cost position in the industry by integrating a direct supply network. (Finch, 162) Fords goal of TQM could be easily met by implementing a variation of Dells already successful virtual integration business model. Fostering cooperation through incentives is key since compliance of supply chain partners is necessary to gain first-mover advantage. Conclusion In todays competitive environment, it is important for any business to focus on the customer and to provide unique value in order to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Without virtual integration, competitive advantage is lost. Successful implementation of virtual integration initiatives allows supplier companies, which are performing only certain processes, to work together as one entity.
Therefore, operations become more efficient by reducing inventory, assuring quality, and reducing delivery time. More importantly, the organization maintains the ability to thrive in a competitive marketplace by achieving increased customer satisfaction through unique and strategic core competences. Virtual integration will redefine corporations and, eventually, entire industries as supply chains evolve into a new business model of cooperation and sharing. Bibliography: Bateman, Thomas S.
and Snell, Scott A. Management-Competing in the New Era. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002 China, Ely. Automobile Workers and the American Dream. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992 Gabor, Andrea. Management: Ford Embraces Six Sigma The New York Times. 13 June 2001.
Kerwin, Kathleen and Naughton, Keith Remaking Ford Business Week 1999 Milkman, Ruth. Automobile Workers and the American Dream. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992. Feldman, Richard and Betzold, Michael. End of the Line. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1990.
Finch, Christopher. Highways to Heaven. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1992. Author Unknown. The History of Ford Motor Company... An American Legend.
web (22 Oct. 1996). Ayella, Bob. History of Ford Motor Company. 19 Oct. 1998. Ford Motor Company, Inc. 10 Sept. 2002 < web >.
Eisenstein, Paul How Ford Motor Co. Got Back on Track CIO Insight. 14 January 2003 web Company Annual Reports, Ford Motor Company 2000 & 2001 web
Free research essays on topics related to: competitive advantage, ford motor company, university of illinois, shared values, supply chain
Research essay sample on Ford Motor Company University Of Illinois
