Overview

Develop appropriate business strategies, policies, and solutions for Ford that will create a sustainable competitive advantage for the company. Case 34: Ford: An Auto Company in Transition can be found in the case section of your text and should serve as a starting point for your analysis. The strategic management process enables organizations to achieve a competitive advantage through three stages: strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation. Your strategic plan should progress through all of these phases, resulting in recommendations that establish the firm in the market with a competitive advantage they can maintain going forward. Assume you are creating a pitch to present to Ford leadership. You will need to analyze its external/internal environment and propose strategies, policies, and/or solutions based on those findings that will create a sustainable competitive advantage for the company. Please be sure to articulate what competitive advantage is and provide at least three real-world examples. Include applicable academic theory and examples of industry best practices.

1(a) What was CEO Mulallys business concept or strategic vision? Which direction was he taking the company to?

1(b) What was CEO Fields business concept or strategic vision? Which direction was he taking the company to?

2(a) What business strategy (cost leadership, differentiation, focus, or integrated strategy) did CEO Mulally implemented? What could be the key value and/or cost drivers of his business-level strategy?

2(b) What business strategy (cost leadership, differentiation, focus, or integrated strategy) did CEO Fields implemented? What could be the key value and/or cost drivers of his business-level strategy?

3(a) What corporate-level strategy (related or unrelated diversification) did CEO Mulally implemented? How did he do that?

3(b) What corporate-level strategy (related or unrelated diversification) did CEO Fields implemented? How did he do that?

4(a) Using strategic fit concept, evaluate whether CEO Mulallys strategies match with external environment opportunities/threats of that time as well as Fords internal strengths and capabilities.

4(b) Using strategic fit concept, evaluate whether CEO Fields strategies match with external environment opportunities/threats of that time as well as Fords internal strengths and capabilities.

5(a) What changes did CEO Mulally make to Fords organizational structure, procedures, and organizational processes?

5(b) What changes did CEO Fields make to Fords organizational structure, procedures, and organizational processes?

6(a) What kind of organizational culture do you think CEO Mulally fostered to support his strategy?

6(b) What kind of organizational culture do you think CEO Fields fostered to support his strategy?

7(a) Using structure follows strategy concept, evaluate whether CEO Mulallys organizational design support his corporate-level and business-level strategies? Why? Why not?

7(b) Using structure follows strategy concept, evaluate whether CEO Fields organizational design support his corporate-level and business-level strategies? Why? Why not?