¶ … strategy came up in my mind: What is strategy? Why is strategy important for an organization? I strongly agree with Rich Horwath in his article "The Strategic Thinking Manifesto" that strategy is all about creating a competitive advantage in the marketplace (Horwath, 2012). It entails knowing what to do in order to be a winner in a stiffly competitive business environment. Strategy can in fact be likened to a sailing race in an athletic competition. Winning the race is dependent on knowing not only the direction of the wind, but also your competitor's moves. It is also influenced by the degree to which members of your team are committed to make the boat remains ahead of the rest. Are they consolidating their efforts to win the race, or are they competing with one another? In essence, strategy is about creating a roadmap to reach a certain desired end, clearly taking advantage of the strengths and capabilities of your team and remaining constantly aware of events in the external environment.
There is no doubt that strategy matters a lot as far as the performance and survival of an organization is concerned. This is particularly true in today's ever evolving business environment. A well-crafted and executed strategy is important for driving revenue and profitability, accelerating market capitalization, and maximizing returns to shareholders. In essence, strategy is the major differentiating factor between high-performing and low-performing organizations.
There are several real world examples that demonstrate the importance of strategy. One such example is General Motors (GM), a well-known American automobile manufacturer. In the 1960s, GM was named as the most admirable company by the Fortune Magazine, particularly due to its dominance of the global automobile market. However, the 1970s marked a turbulent moment in the history of the company. The company was facing increased competition from Japanese manufacturers, notably Toyota and Nissan. With a manufacturing strategy based on total quality management and lean principles, the two Japanese companies managed to surpass GM in several aspects, including production volume, product quality,...
The economic environment is difficult. The United States may finally be showing signs of emerging from recession, but the recent economic difficulty has taken its toll of Ford. Following the short-lived spike provided by the 'cash for clunkers' program, auto sales have slumped again. Many competitors saw sales fall dramatically in the wake of that program. Ford, however, did not suffer as much. While two of its most popular models,
Ford Motors Company Ford Motor Company is an American Multinational company that was founded by Henry Ford in the year 1903. Ford's headquarter is in Dearborn Michigan in the United States where it specializes in the production of automobiles both commercial and luxury. Under its commercial category of vehicles, it trades under the Ford brand while its luxury cars trade under the Lincoln brand. Ford Motors is a well established company
There is little indication in Ford's financial statements that things are going to improve any time soon. The company actually hailed the 14.2% market share in North America as "the lowest market share decline in the past ten years" (Ford Motor Company, 2009). Ford's financial position is nothing short of awful. The company's condition has deteriorated steadily over the past five years, and its performance relative to industry peers is
The Taurus and Aerostar were star performers in their respective segments, as were the F-series trucks. The Explorer took advantage of the growing SUV market. The company's modern-era market share peaked in the mid-90s, and has come down steadily over the past decade and change. By the mid-00s, Ford was in financial trouble and undertook the leveraging of its assets in order to get the company through a multi-year restructuring
Ford Mustang Financials As a company, Ford has improved its sales in the past two years, after struggling during the recession. Ford's revenues in the last fiscal year (2011) were $136 billion, compared with $116 billion in FY2009 and $168 billion in FY2007. The company's profits have also fluctuated over that time period. FY2011 saw a profit of $20.2 billion, compared with $2.7 billion in FY2009 and a loss of $2.8 billion
Ford Mustang Marketing Research I spoke to five male car owners in their 20s. Three of them had purchased a vehicle in the past two years, the other two had their cars for longer. None of them had purchased a Mustang, but one had a Camaro. The four that owned other types of cars indicated that they did not want a pony car for a number of different reasons, from gas prices
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