Currently, the Ford brand experiences significant challenges from high competition and market uncertainties caused by the pandemic’s disruption of global supply chains. Moreover, the high proportion of product recalls undermines the brand’s reputation, resulting in a steady decline in yearly car sales (Shepardson, 2022). In these conditions, the company’s products cannot compete with more advanced competitors that prioritize environmental safety and promptly respond to changes in the customer market.
Firstly, the overall future strategy for Ford should focus on expanding the brand’s influence in more profitable segments of the buyers’ market and introducing more environmentally friendly vehicles. Considering the items from the worry list, the company should make more efforts to increase its customer audience with more digital marketing activities. Next, the company should review the production processes and pricing policy to reduce overall production while increasing the proportion of quality and affordable vehicles to restore its reputation. Therefore, the company should also reconsider its approach to the products’ conformity to the requirements of the modern market to ensure that it can respond quickly to changes in the market and environment.
Furthermore, the high competition presents one of the primary reasons for the company’s decline. Following Porter’s competitive strategies, the company should utilize its competitive advantages to a broad audience by implementing more effective pricing policies and capitalizing on product differentiation. Ford’s current mission prioritizes accessibility and mobility of the products, missing the opportunity to capitalize on the brand’s history as one of the oldest American automobile manufacturers (Ford, 2022). For example, introducing historically accurate elements into the current model line can be a significant marketing move to promote products and differentiate the company’s products from competitors.
In conclusion, this essay provides a summary of key issues that the Ford brand currently faces. The essay outlined the recommendations for the company’s future strategy, which focuses on restoring the brand’s reputation. The essay also explained that in order to succeed in the highly competitive environment, the company should prioritize affordable prices and make changes that will distinguish the company’s products from the cars of other manufacturers.
References
Ford. (2022). Our purpose. Web.
Shepardson, D. (2022). Ford recalls 634,000 vehicles worldwide over fire risks. Reuters. Web.