Secondly we focus more on a case study of ford motor company which covers a brief background of Ford, then i consider the challenges of competing globally and end with product differentiation as an appropriate competitive strategy for the Ford Motor company.
The Automotive Industry
Global vehicle production has more than doubled since 1975, from 33 to nearly 73 million in 2007. The opening of new markets in China and India has helped to drive the pace of growth. While seven countries accounted for about 80% of world production in 1975, 11 countries accounted for the same share in 2005.( Starkey,K. & McKinlay, A 2007: 89)
Lead firms in the automotive industry, known as automakers or original equipment manufacturers, carry out most aspects of product design, the production of most engines and transmissions and nearly all vehicle assembly within their own facilities. They are large employers, traders and innovators. They have substantial coordination and buying power in the chain.
The automotive industry is distinctive because of its extremely concentrated firm structure: a small number of giant companies exert an extraordinary amount of power over smaller firms. Eleven lead firms from three countries, Japan, Germany and the USA, dominate production in the main markets. The global scope of both lead firms and the largest suppliers was enhanced by a wave of mergers and acquisitions, and equity-based alliances in the 1990s.
A second distinctive feature specific to the automotive industry is that final vehicle assembly, and by extension, parts production, has largely been kept close to end markets because of
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