This 19 page paper considers the position of Ford in 2012. The company is examining looking at the external and internal environment and influences, including a PEST Analysis, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis and assessment of financial performance. The paper then discusses some of the current strategic issues, identifies in strategic alternatives and makes a recommendation for future strategy. The strategy recommended includes product diversification. The bibliography cites 22 sources.
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2.2.5 Substitutes 9 3. Internal Analysis 10 3.1 SWOT Analysis 11 3.1.1. Strengths 11 3.1.2 Weaknesses 12 3.1.3 Opportunities 13 3.1.4 Threats 14 3.2 Financial Analysis 15 4. Strategic Issues 17 5. Strategic Alternatives 18 6. Recommendations 20 References 21 1. Introduction The global recession which began
in 2008 has impacted significantly on the automotive industry. While many companies have suffered major losses while others, such as Chrysler and General Motors (GM) have faced bankruptcy. In many
countries the automotive industry has benefited from direct and indirect government support. In November 2008 when Ford, along with Chrysler and GM attempted to gain government aid through the congressional
hearings that took place in Washington, (Herszenhorn and Vlasic, 2008), but the help finally received by the US car industry in December 20081 failed to save GM and Chrysler. Of
these three automotive giants only one Ford has survived without bankruptcy. In this context Ford may be seen as a success story, in 2008 the firm was in a weak
position, making losses and suffering from weak cash flow with the cost of inuring debt stood at 68%, meaning that it would cost $68 to insure every $100 of Ford
debt (Brettell, 2008), today the firm is regaining ground, with increasing revenues and a net profit margin of 5.5%2 in the financial accounts for 20103. This indicates the company
is robust and has been able to adapt, but there are still many stresses in the environment which place pressure of the firm, there is only the potential for a
bright future when the firm is able to look forward and plan ahead, assessing not only the current influences but determine their potential impact and assess the way the market
demand will move. For this reason it is essential for the fir to assess the internal and external environment and influences in order to look at potential strategies and which
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