Ford Case Study Natausha Blakley Dr. Jayna Newell Principles of Management February 12, 2011

The case creates four options to choose from. Discuss at least three criteria the company should use to decide which of the four listed options is best and the reasons why each criterion should be used.

1. In my first opinion the company should close down old plants to realign production as well as sales. If the company continues to loose billions of dollars year after year adjustments need to be made somewhere, so the concentration should be put in the plants that are successful and slow production in the lagging plants or just simply close down. Second I would choose to reduce the SUV and truck lines because of the high gas prices throughout the country simply because the smaller cars would be more gas efficient, more cost efficient, and a lot of money being lost through the lack of being able to sell the expensive SUV’s which also doubles in cost to fill up and drive on a daily basis. Most Americans are buying the smaller cars because of the recession or the public opinion that we are in a recession. Third, would be to go ahead and sell the premium automobile group to somebody that would be able to make use and profit off of the lack of sales year after year. Cars like Jaguar and especially Aston Martins which are one of the most expensive cars in the world, don’t really sell on a large scale in the US except for the wealthy percentage of the population, so selling the premium automobile group should be a good business decision especially since the PAG group doesn’t fit the way Ford intended their business to be operated.
In light of the possibility that market conditions can and do change, discuss at least three examples of how the company should build-in flexibility to back-up its decision-making process. 2. Times have changed since Henry Ford and