...Henry Ford An Entrepreneurial Biography Throughout the birth of the automotive industry there were many attempts by assorted firms to create the first everyday automobile. However, this resulted in a vehicle that could only meet the expense of by the upper class. Due to the structure and strategy used by these firms the costs of mass producing their vehicles were too expensive for the average American to afford. It was not until an American named Henry Ford, revolutionized the automobile industry in the early 1900’s with his invention of the assembly line and his desires to produce a simple yet affordable automobile for the everyday American citizen. This biography will outline and examine the current industry, competitors and market trend at the time of the Henry Ford’s venture. As well by exploring Ford’s biography, we will be able to identify relevant concepts such as the Elevator Pitch, the 10x rule, the need for pain, competitive advantage, and the “3 C’s of leadership” used throughout Henry Ford’s prosperous career as an entrepreneur. During the early stages of the automobile industry, the number of firms that entered the market industry grew steadily from 1895 to 1907, peaking at 82 in 1907. (Klepper, 2001) It was apparent that this was a highly competitive market as the U.S was in the midst of the industrial revolution and to become successful a company would have to establish a competitive edge over...
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...A Leadership Analysis of Henry Ford Brief Historical Sketch Who knew that a young farm boy that loved tinkering with pocket watches and simple farm equipment would lead a manufacturing revolution. Henry Ford did. Even from an early age Ford understood that he wanted to change the world. His dream was to design and build a “horseless carriage,” a dream that he accomplish in 1908 (Ford, 2008). However, not even Ford could have predicted the magnitude at which both his invention and his business strategies would have on the world. Henry Ford was born in the small town of Dearborn, Michigan on July 30, 1863. The town was better known as the Greenfield Township. Ford’s parents were both European immigrants. His father, William Ford, emigrated from Ireland and his mother, Mary Ford, though born in the United States had strong ties to Belgium. (Henry Ford, 2012) The Fords were a successful farming family and never had to worry about money. While Henry Ford knew at an early age that taking over the family farm would have been a safe and advantageous decision, his ambition kept him focused on other possibilities. (Ford, H 2008) Ford’s teenage years were instrumental in helping him develop is dream and his career. There were two important memories that Ford could recall that sparked his interest in motor vehicles and engineering. Around the age of twelve, the Ford’s were traveling to Detroit with family when they passed a “road engine” delivering farm machinery (Ford, H 2008). This...
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...left home to look for work in Detroit. * First job was as an Engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company. First Inventions * Within two years Ford was chief engineer at Edison Co. * Using the money from his increased salary Ford began working on first invention, the quardricycle. * During his work on the quardricycle Ford formed a partnership with William H. Murphy, they were to work very well together in the future Ford Motor Co. * After his earlier inventions and several failed attempts at private business, in 1903 Ford created the Ford Motor Company, becoming its vice-president and chief engineer. * Not an instant success, at first only a few cars were made a day. Decision Making Widely noted for his dictatorial-style of management—he had a hand in most major decisions at the company and is said to have even monitored employee's activities outside of work—Ford was resolute in his vision. When investors wanted him to build a car for the wealthy driver, Ford thought that was the wrong way to go. When Wall Street balked at the company's move to increase workers' wages to an average of $5 a day and institute an eight-hour workday, Ford knew that he wasn't engaging in a charitable gesture but rather an initiative to retain employees and keep his factories humming around the clock with three daily shifts. Assembly Line Ford's strict managerial style and vision for building vehicles may have also been his Achilles Heel. With the assembly line-fed...
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...Great American Innovators America has gone through great change from its foundation to present day. Many people have helped to shape the great country in which we proudly call home. Our nation has produced some of the great innovators who shaped the industrial revolution, modern day communications and the use of electric light bulb. The simplest things that we take for granted once were the greatest innovations of their time. Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Henry Ford are three of the greatest men that have contributed directly to a many things that we use in our day to day lives and without these men we would not be the advanced society that we are today. Reaching for a light switch is something we do every day. This is possible due to the contribution of Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of the light bulb. Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio (Frith 5). He did not attain a formal education due to the poor family in which he was raised instead he started working on the railroad at age 12(Frith 14). Although Edison did not complete school, he continued to learn and experiment. Edison set up a printing press in the baggage car on the train and sold his own newspaper to the passengers (Frith 17). He retold the news from one end of the rail line to the other end of the rail line, allowing the people to be better informed of their neighboring towns. He was also able to have a small lab to perform scientific experiments, at least until his chemicals...
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...A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound and no spoken dialogue. Since there was no sound, dialogue was transmitted through gestures. Creators of the films would have used sound, but due to technical challenges, synchronized dialogue would not be possible until the late 20s. During the silent film era, a pianist or a theater organist would often play music to accompany the films. They would either play from sheet music or improvise. In the 20s the motor vehicle came to represent the American dream, by offering astounding adventure. Cars fell in price drastically, that made many Americans able to afford them. The cars could be sold to a massively because they could be made cheaply, using the assembly line method. Henry Ford’s Assembly line brought the average price of a car down from $850 in 1908 to $250 in 1925. As a result, car factories paid their workers higher wages that many people sought...
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... Henry Ford Henry Ford was founder of the Ford Motor Company and the man who ‘put America on wheels’ with his Model T Ford that was affordable to the masses. Early life of Henry Ford. Ford was born in his parent farm in Dearborn, Michigan on July 30, 1863. Ford is the third of eight children of William and Mary Ford. He worked with his father in the farm, he had limited education but he was always good with machinery. When he was 16 years of age he walked to Detroit to find work. He found work as a machinist because he was fascinated by machines and then later became an engineer. He held many similar jobs in over two and half year’s period. In 1879 left the farm to be an apprentice in Michigan Car Company and manufacturer of railroad cars in Detroit. Start of Ford. After years of getting different engineering jobs with different companies he returned home. In 1882 Ford returned home. He farmed a little and also operated and serviced portable steam engines used by farmers. In 1888 Ford marries Clara Bryant. He wanted to start a family and have children. In 1891 he moved to Detroit to take a job as a night engineer at Edison electric Illuminating Company. Ford did not know a lot about electricity and wanted the opportunity to learn. Early engineer. After years working with the Illuminating Company he was moving on up in the work force. In 1896 Ford was promoted to chief engineer of the Illuminating Company. One of Ford greatest invention was the Quadricycle...
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...rejection of traditional values by the youth of the generation (Napierkowski and Stanley). Deciding to write out against these feelings, Huxley wrote one of his best works, Brave New World, in 1931. Brave New World is a dystopian novel that takes place in a futuristic setting where extensive improvements to science and technology has created a world that is foreign to all readers. Throughout Huxley’s adult life, his interpretations of Henry Ford and the...
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...(In 1896 a horseless carriage chugged along the streets of Detroit, with crowds gathering whenever it appeared. Terrified horses ran at its approach. The police tried to curb this nuisance by forcing its driver, Henry Ford, to get a license. That car was the first of many millions produced by the automotive pioneer). Henry Ford is a very well known historical figure in our country because he was able to mass produce cars during the great depression. At that time only rich people could own cars but he made the Model T affordable to most people in the country. Not only did he make cars but he also resented war and sent a ship to Europe to help repair the continent during WWI. Henry ford truly is one of the greats of the car industry. Henry...
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...TO: Paul Welch, Vice President of Research FROM: Colten Harris, Jackson Wallace, Easton Heigley, Daniel Gift DATE: March 10, 2015 SUBJECT: America’s Wealthy Introduction Since America’s conception, new pioneers have walked this country not with a goal to finish a map like Lewis and Clark, but to strive for “The American Dream” and never settle for less than absolute success. Each man researched is from a different time period, with different circumstances surrounding them. With different presidents, different rules and regulations, even with different life expectancies. However, all men had one dream, to make America a better place. From oil pipelines to windows operating systems, these men truly did create things that changed the lives of all Americans for the better. They are the unspoken heroes. Not of war or battle, but of ingenuity, hard work and of sound mind. These are America’s Wealthy. Findings John D Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1836. He began with humble beginnings and is a perfect definition of a rags to riches dream that many Americans that try to live by. His life at home was somewhat shaky. His father was never at home very much because he was a traveling salesmen who sold elixirs. In his early teens his family moved to a suburb of Cleveland, there he took a 10 week business course that would help him later in his life as the richest man in America. His first job was with a bookkeeper at a commission firm. He excelled at keeping track of...
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...Henry Ford Leadership Styles The Leadership Style of Henry Ford Henry Ford is one of the most iconic industrialists in history. Despite his death nearly 70 years ago, a day doesn’t pass that we don’t see his name either in an ad, or on the back of a truck tailgate. We all know of his engineering and entrepreneurial achievements in the American industrial revolution, but it was his leadership qualities coupled with these strengths that led to his great success. Through his morality and vision for a better world, he revolutionized the automotive and manufacturing industries and laid a framework that all mass production facilities utilize today. One of the most important assets Henry Ford possessed that allowed him to drive his way to leadership success were his technical skills. Ford spent every spare moment of his childhood tinkering with any mechanical device he could get his hands on. When he could make it into town he spent time peering in a local watchmaker’s window observing his work. Despite his father’s wishes, he apprenticed at a machine shop in Detroit to learn the trade. All of this experience, combined with his natural mechanical ability would eventually lead to an invention that would create jobs for tens of thousands of people, of which, Ford would lead. Along with technical skills, Henry Ford possessed great decision-making skills that led to the large-scale commercialization of his automobile and more importantly the cult-like support of his employees...
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...When you hear the name Henry Ford mentioned, the first thought that comes to mind is the automobile and Ford Motor Company. Even though Ford was a major contributor in the beginning of the automobile era, he was more responsible for the mass-production of vehicles making them more affordable for the average American. Ford introduced new standards when he pioneered his greatest idea of the moving assembly line allowing for faster and more efficient production of automobiles. Henry Ford first developed his version of the automobile, the Model A, in 1903 selling for under one thousand dollars while other cars were selling anywhere from five to ten thousand. The Model T was introduced in 1908, when Ford decided to develop a vehicle for the masses....
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... From scientific discoveries to technological inventions to dreams of equality, there’s no doubt that we’ve come a long way since our ancestors first arrived here on a ship. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of great thinkers whose ideas dramatically improved our quality of life. In my opinion, three of the most influential people that helped turned the United States into the wonderful nation it is today include Benjamin Franklin, Henry Ford, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Benjamin Franklin had many accomplishments that bettered our lives. He is credited with establishing the first library and helping to create the postal system, as well as several inventions like bifocal glasses, wood stoves, and an early version of an indoor toilet. He was one of the founding fathers that helped draft the Constitution. His contribution that had the greatest impact on changing the world was his experiments with electricity. Franklin's book, Experiments and Observations on Electricity, was one of the most reprinted scientific books of the time. In his book, he discussed the principles of electricity that became the basis of our modern electrical theory. His work was so revolutionary that in 1756 he was awarded the Copley Medal. It has been said that the reason he is featured on the hundred dollar bill is because we don’t have a thousand dollar bill. Henry Ford’s greatest contribution wasn’t just the Model T car. He developed the idea of an assembly line...
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...Cameron Buffan U.S. History Mr. Campbell March 5, 2018 Henry Ford: Road to Success Henry Ford was one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the 1900’s with the invention of the assembly line and the creation of some of the first affordable cars for the common public. He is arguably one of the greatest, most famous businessmen in American History. Henry Ford had become a master in the development of automobiles, mastered business essentials , and had a personality that skyrocketed his capabilities to become a successful man. This man can be acclaimed as the one who pushed the U.S. into the American Century with the mass production of the automobile, but he didn’t start out in the automotive industry or in any industry for that matter....
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...WHEELS: THE CAR AS A CULTURAL DRIVING FORCE -PIERRE BURTON. Pierre Burton, in this essay talks about the evolution of the Car, and how we as a society have evolved along with it over the years. He addresses the various changes in our private and social lives which the car brought about. The main thesis of this essay can be said to be the relation between the Cars and the society, how the evolution of the car over the years has impacted it and to what extent it has changed. The first car to be manufactured and sold was built by a German, Karl Benz, in 1888, called the Benz Patent Motorwagen.1 There was no looking back now. Within two decades, an American by the name of Henry Ford built one of the most successful cars of that era. This was the Ford Model-T. This was closely followed by Ford’s concept of mass production and the moving assembly line in 1914.2 This was now the beginning of the creation of a middle class. The people could now afford the luxury of owning a car of their own and being able to go places whenever they felt the urge to do so, at their own comfort and without much planning ahead. Cars could cover greater distance in a shorter amount of time, could go longer and harder than horses. There was an immediate surge in related industries, such as glass, tires, mechanics etc. This also led to rapid expansion of the cities and the creation of the suburbs. There was a noticeable impact on the country’s infrastructure. Motor vehicles and paved roads had narrowed...
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...During the 1920’s flappers, a group of women, decided not to care what society thought, and did as they pleased throughout this time of opportunity. In the 1920’s it was a great time of opportunity, but it later led to struggle during the late 1920’s and 1930’s. In the 1920’s, the economy was booming. New inventions are constantly being created to make people’s lives easier. The invention of the automobile and the four-way tri-colored traffic lights made it easier for people to get around and traffic to easily flow. The automobile industry provides over 300,000 people with jobs. The industry was also producing a mass production of cars, like Henry Ford’s Model T, and people were spending money on them. People were spending money on the automobile so they could easily get around, and travel to...
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