How Can We Do Better? Research Paper Example

An existing multinational corporation, which in my opinion is not doing well as expected is the Ford Motor Company. Ford is the second largest automobile company in the US and the fifth largest globally. It is one of the oldest companies, which has vast experience in the manufacture of automobiles. It has many outlet companies globally, which help supply its products to the potential customers. The different distribution outlets across the globe were primarily for the purposes of distributing manufactured automobiles to customers. However, Ford Motors Company is not performing quite well as a company in its position ought to be. I strongly believe that Ford has not explored the whole of its potential as a multinational automobile manufacturing company. This may be because of various factors including mismanagement and poor organization among others.

In the capacity of a multinational company, it was necessary for Ford to have some objectives, which would help it conduct its operations competitively in the market. The main objective of the Ford Motor Company, as it is obvious, was to be a leading company in the automobile industry worldwide. It was determined to be a multinational company that would avail its products to all its clients globally. Another objective of Ford Motors was to sell its automobile products across the entire globe.

Following these key objectives, Ford Motors had to lay down different strategies that would allow it achieve it with limited obstacles. This is crucial because its objectives are clear, but they will not be useful if they stay on paper. An action plan needs to be laid down to enhance the attainment of the objectives. Therefore, influenced by its purpose and passion to reach all people in the world, it opted to go multinational by establishing different outlets globally. This was a key strategy that was extremely helpful to the company. Currently, Ford has a supply chain business in almost all countries worldwide. This strategy has further helped Ford Motors to remain competitive in the automobile industry (Kitts, Edvinsson, & Beding, 2000).

In addition, Ford Motors Company also opted to strengthen its utilization of the media. Ford tirelessly advertised its products in the media across the globe. This strategy enhanced the understanding of the automobile products produced by the company. Indeed, this move was splendid because quite a large population was reached through the media. Ford did not stop there, but it went farther by advertising itself to the internet users. It set up its company website that clearly stated its vision, mission, and objectives. It enlisted the various products it has, and kept updating it whenever it came up with a new, designed model of an automobile. This indeed kept Ford in the competition amongst other multinational automobile corporations.

Among the best strategies that Ford Motors can use to take advantage of an external opportunity are the improvement of the after sales services and the lowering of prices. These are areas, in which Ford as the corporation has performed poorly, in the recent years. Their prices tend to be higher compared to the other competitors in the automobile industry. Therefore, Ford needs to improve on these aspects, to be able to take advantage of many external opportunities. Otherwise, its competitors in the global market will supersede it in profit maximization and growth. A strategy that Ford can use to address a potential threat, for instance threat of collapse, would be diversification of its products (Jyothi, Babu, & Krishna, 2008). This will ensure that the company avoids overdependence on the success of one product.

Below is a constructed Competitive Profile Matrix for Ford with some of its competitors (Adams, 2009):

The constructed External Factor Evaluation Matrix is as shown in the table below:

In conclusion, Ford still has many opportunities, to improve and farther its operations. This is the case despite the few nonperformance levels noted. It is upon the management of Ford Motors, to ensure that all the opportunities available for the company are explored. This will ensure that the company retains its competitive advantage, which it has taken some time to establish. Nevertheless, the management must ensure that it puts up measures that will help in dealing with the threats against the prosperity of the company.

References

Adams, P. (2009). CPM (Competitive Profile Matrix). MBA Tutorials, 32-37.

Jyothi, B., Babu, G., & Krishna, I. (2008). Object oriented and multi-scale image analysis: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats- A review. Journal of Computer Scienc,, 706-712.

Kitts, B., Edvinsson, L., & Beding, T. (2000). Crystallizing Knowledge Of Historical Company Performance Into Interactive, Query-Able 3D Landscapes. 12-23.

Menon, A. e. (1999). Antecedents and Consequences of Marketing Strategy Making. Journal of Marketing (American Marketing Association), 18–40