capm
Introduction of Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is the world's largest producer of cars and trucks combined. Ford has manufacturing, assembly or sales affiliates in 34 countries. Ford companies employed 337,800 people world-wide in 1996.
Ford has manufacturing facilities in 22 countries on 5 continents, with 87 plants in North America and 41 in Europe. Europe 1995, Ford's combined vehicle market share, at 12.2%, was the highest for eleven years, with three of the eight best-selling cars.
On January 1, 1995, Ford merged its North American Automotive Operations and its European Automotive operations into a single organization, Ford Automotive Operations. Instead of being organized by geographic regions, the Company is now realigned by product line, with five Vehicle Centers, each responsible for one group of products worldwide. At the same time, Ford is reducing the time taken to develop a new vehicle from 48 to 24 months and reducing engines, transmissions, and basic vehicle platforms by 30% worldwide. Ford hopes that by pooling global skills and resources will result in more variations on each vehicle platform, increasing the number of vehicles introduced over the next five years by 50%.
Case Abstract
The case involving the explosion of Ford Pinto's due to a defective fuel system design led to the debate of many issues, most centering around the use by Ford of a cost-benefit analysis and the ethics surrounding its decision not to upgrade the fuel system based on this analysis.
Analysis: Although Ford had access to a new design which would decrease the possibility of the Ford Pinto from exploding, the company chose not to implement the design, which would have cost $11 per car, even though it had done an analysis showing that the new design would result in 180 less deaths. The company defended itself on the grounds that it used the accepted risk/benefit analysis to determine if the monetary costs of making the change were greater than the societal
Ford Motor Company is the world's largest producer of cars and trucks combined. Ford has manufacturing, assembly or sales affiliates in 34 countries. Ford companies employed 337,800 people world-wide in 1996.
Ford has manufacturing facilities in 22 countries on 5 continents, with 87 plants in North America and 41 in Europe. Europe 1995, Ford's combined vehicle market share, at 12.2%, was the highest for eleven years, with three of the eight best-selling cars.
On January 1, 1995, Ford merged its North American Automotive Operations and its European Automotive operations into a single organization, Ford Automotive Operations. Instead of being organized by geographic regions, the Company is now realigned by product line, with five Vehicle Centers, each responsible for one group of products worldwide. At the same time, Ford is reducing the time taken to develop a new vehicle from 48 to 24 months and reducing engines, transmissions, and basic vehicle platforms by 30% worldwide. Ford hopes that by pooling global skills and resources will result in more variations on each vehicle platform, increasing the number of vehicles introduced over the next five years by 50%.
Case Abstract
The case involving the explosion of Ford Pinto's due to a defective fuel system design led to the debate of many issues, most centering around the use by Ford of a cost-benefit analysis and the ethics surrounding its decision not to upgrade the fuel system based on this analysis.
Analysis: Although Ford had access to a new design which would decrease the possibility of the Ford Pinto from exploding, the company chose not to implement the design, which would have cost $11 per car, even though it had done an analysis showing that the new design would result in 180 less deaths. The company defended itself on the grounds that it used the accepted risk/benefit analysis to determine if the monetary costs of making the change were greater than the societal