Strategic audit for the ford corporation

Nowadays, it is easy for us to see brands like Sony, McDonald’s, Nike, or Calvin Klein in the nearest malls, shopping centers, or across the sidewalk in our neighborhoods. Interestingly, for most of us that have become those brands’ fans should not be worry if we have to travel abroad since the brands have evolved from local to global brands and are available anywhere in the world. In contrast, there are some brands that we used to know very well but suddenly they disappear or are eliminated in their respective markets.
Brands like Puma in sport shoes industry, Fiat in automobiles or USA. net in free email services are examples of slowing down and thus worst brands in the world. These conditions, while they are natural and common within today’s fierce competition, are the results of effectiveness of marketing plan including the incurred marketing strategy. Therefore, in business, it is common to find out companies that loose their market share and no longer have their dominance in their industry. At one occasion, these companies were predicted to last forever and help shape the future.
Then, reality became very different from general predictions. British Motorcycle Industry, for instance, was historically known to be the creator of the first’s motorcycles and pioneer in motorcycle industry. During the golden age, people think that the industry would grow forever and generate unlimited innovations for the global markets. However, in the beginning of the 20th century, the industry simply loses their existence. Concerning the rise and fall of a company, this paper will elaborate a `Strategic Audit` for the Ford Corporation.

The audit composes of eight sections such as current company performance, external and internal environment analysis, strategic alternatives and implementation. 2. Current Situation 2. 1. Current performance There are various factors contributors to the current downtrend of the Ford Motor Company such as the high employees’ benefits and pension costs, the increasing costs of fuels, and the decreasing business of manufacturing, and competitors’ better competitive advantages, to name a few .
However, the most recognized performance is inefficiency. It is said that Ford’s factories in North America are operating at only 86% capacity compared to 107% of their competition, Toyota Motor Corp. Management of Ford Motor Company stated that the downsizing program is crucial to address the excess capacity (Jani, 2002). In addition, Ford Motor Company also experiences declining sales in its main market, North America.
In 2005, the company sold 3. 4 millions of vehicles but a year later the sales declined into 3 millions of sold vehicles. In terms of revenue, in 2005, the company generated $153. 5 billions and declined into $143. 3 billions in 2006. The declining performance is due to the lose market share in SUV and small truck lines, which have taken most of the company’s investment and resulted in minimum returns (Ford Motor Company, 2007a).