BUSI 330 Marketing: Situational Analysis of Ford Motor Company Plan

This report provides a situational analysis of Ford Motor Company's marketing strategies, focusing on company goals, product situation, key competitors, distribution, and environmental factors. It identifies opportunities arising from increasing income levels in emerging markets and threats from competitors' technological advancements. The analysis covers Ford's luxury and commercial vehicle segments, emphasizing fuel economy, environmental impact, and market share growth. The report also highlights Ford's commitment to sustainability, human rights, and employee empowerment. Desklib offers similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

Running Head: PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING 1
PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING-FORD MOTOR Draft 1
Jennifer Bean
Liberty University
Principles of Marketing 330

PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING 2
Company Goals
Ford Motor is a multinational automotive company founded by Henry Ford in 1903 and
whose headquarters are based in Michigan. The company is divided into two brands, Lincoln
brand which sells luxury cars and ford brand which sells commercial vehicles and automobiles
("Ford Motor Company: Company Information | Ford.com," n.d.).
i. Improving fuel economy for all products while adhering to regulations and
addressing stabilization of the climate
ii. Delivering the Company’s smart mobility plan through embracing budding
prospects in mobility
iii. Growing the company’s annual car sales to 9.4 million representing 45-55% by
the year 2022
iv. Extensively Increase its share in the markets of Europe, Middle East Africa, and
Asia-Pacific
v. Continued support for women and minority-owned business through material
sourcing
vi. Reduction of the company’s environmental footprint through sharing of best
practices and collaboration with selected suppliers.
vii. Helping suppliers in establishing their ability to handle sustainability issues
touching on their supply chain.
viii. Adherence to their the commitment to promoting and protecting human rights and
local laws through their manufactured and sourced products
ix. Saving water used in the manufacturing by 30% by the year 2020
x. Reducing the amount of Carbon Monoxide emitted in the production process for
each vehicle by 30% by 2025.
xi. Continued promotion safe driving practices through the provision of information
and educational programs
xii. Meeting or exceeding regulatory safety requirements through designing and
manufacture of vehicles with driver assist and innovative safety technologies

PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING 3
xiii. 40% Electrification of the company’s lineup by the year 2020
xiv. Continued provision of services and programs focused on employee
empowerment for the achievement of well-being and health of their employees
("Ford Motor Company Official Global Corporate Homepage ...", n.d.).
Situational Analysis
Product situation
There are two core products of the company which includes the luxury cars and commercial
vehicles. The luxury car products of the company use the state of the art technology in order to
provide enhanced comfort to the customers of the market. In terms of the commercial cars of the
company, the management has goals to improve the fuel economy so that it can attract more
customers of the market. Einwiller & Steilen (2015) stated that, fuel economy of the cars is one
of factors that influence buying decisions of the customers of the market.
Key competitors
The behaviors of the competitors are different based on the different segment of cars. While the
competition in the luxury car segment is tough, the competition in the commercial car segment is
less fierce. Audi, BMW is two of the main competitors of ford. Both the rival companies of ford
spend more than 6.5 billion USD each year for R&D (Xing & Tzeng, 2017). This allows them to
stay updated with new technology which can be used in the production of the cars.
Distribution situation
The distributional channels used by Ford Motor Company are almost same as the distributional
channels used by the other companies of the market. For the luxury segment of the cars the
company takes order in order to customize the products. It is done through the retail outlets
where the commercial vehicles are supplied directly for sales. However, in case of international
business, the company also uses the licensing channels in order to distribute the cars of the
company.
Environmental situation

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The manufacturing of the both the class of products requires a lot of water. Apart from that, the
manufacturing units also emits lots of harmful chemicals and gasses in the neighboring
environment degrading the quality if the environment. The degradation of the environment can
significantly affect the performance of the company in the future. The management of the
company also has goals in the future to reduce the use of water in the production process Laari-
Salmela, Mainela & Puhakka (2015). Apart from that the goals of the company also includes the
reduction in the emission of carbon mono-oxide so that the environmental degradation is
lowered.
Opportunity and threat analysis
The number of potential customers is expected to rise in the near future due to the projected
increase in the income level of the customers. One of the major markets for the commercial cars
of the company is the emerging markets. Shane & Magnuson (2016) showed that, in the coming
years the mean income of the people in the emerging market is expected to rise. This is due to
the increase in the number of middle class people in the emerging economy. Thus, in terms of
the commercial cars, the company has a lot of opportunity. However, luxury car segments run on
the principle of customer loyalty and hence technological excellence of the rival companies of
the market can come as an important threat to the company.

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References
Ford Motor Company: Company Information | Ford.com. Retrieved 2018, from
http://corporate.ford.com/company.html?gnav=footer-aboutford
Ford Motor Company Official Global Corporate Homepage... Retrieved 2018, from
http://corporate.ford.com/homepage.html
Einwiller, S. A., & Steilen, S. (2015). Handling complaints on social network sites–An analysis
of complaints and complaint responses on Facebook and Twitter pages of large US
companies. Public Relations Review, 41(2), 195-204.
Laari-Salmela, S., Mainela, T., & Puhakka, V. (2015). Beyond network pictures: Situational
strategizing in network context. Industrial Marketing Management, 45, 117-127.
Shane, J. M., & Magnuson, S. (2016). Successful and unsuccessful pirate attacks worldwide: A
situational analysis. Justice Quarterly, 33(4), 682-707.

PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING 6
Xing, J., & Tzeng, C. S. (2017, May). Investigation study on design of Ford Motor
advertisements from 1922–1936—taking automobile advertisements on Shun Pao and
Taiwan NichiNichi Shin Po as examples. In Applied System Innovation (ICASI), 2017
International Conference on (pp. 991-994). IEEE.