Ford Financial problems
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From: TEXAS
Ford Financial problems
From http://www.blueovalnews.com/ link to
http://biz.yahoo.com/ts/011217/wrong_011217.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/ts/011217/wrong_011217.html
Ford is more difficult. Unlike AT&T, Ford has competition, not just incompetence, helping to destroy the franchise. General Motors (NYSE: GM - news) calculated how much cash it has on hand and recognized it could give cars away with 0% financing long enough that Ford might just run out of cash. I think GM didn't bank on Ford imploding all on its own, with a combination of cars that nobody seems to want and lawsuits that nobody seems able to beat. The fact that Ford still pays a dividend is a sign of how out of touch the board is with the day-to-day finances. Ford is in one of those positions where it might be losing millions every day it turns the lights on. The layoffs it is announcing seem to make it doomed to be a small company when this is all through. Whether it will be a solvent company is another question.
Unlike AT&T, which has been on a steady path into oblivion for as long as Armstrong has been at the helm, Ford was actually doing quite well for a long time. In fact, I still can't get my arms around how it all went bad so fast.
Unlike AT&T, which has been on a steady path into oblivion for as long as Armstrong has been at the helm, Ford was actually doing quite well for a long time. In fact, I still can't get my arms around how it all went bad so fast.
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From: Westland, Mi
If you worked there and did not have your nose up someones butt you would have known that a day of reckoning was due. Me thinks they have a good man at the helm now. If only they can fine some middle management that have vision and passion for the product.
Last edited by BillyBob; Jan 6, 2002 at 03:38 AM.
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From: HUDSON VALLEY, NY
In a worst case scenario, does this mean that Ford might go the same route as Jaguar? OOPS! It seemed to have momentarily slipped my mind that FORD acquired them, too! 
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From: Canton, MI, USA
I have spent several years in and around Ford as a consultant and contractor. The culture in that company is unhealthy. It always has been.
Managers are afraid to take risks. Rank-and-file employees are either complacent toadies or disaffected obstructionists. Everything is decided slowly, by committee.
It does not surprise me that Ford is having another crisis. Frankly, crises are the only thing that gets Ford off dead-center, and FORCES change.
Managers are afraid to take risks. Rank-and-file employees are either complacent toadies or disaffected obstructionists. Everything is decided slowly, by committee.
It does not surprise me that Ford is having another crisis. Frankly, crises are the only thing that gets Ford off dead-center, and FORCES change.
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From: NW, Indiana
Maybe Ford needs to concentrate on building a quality product instead of just pushing cars out the door. From what I've heard, layoffs could hit 30,000. That's a lot for a company that employs 105,000 or so.
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BadDog, that is exactly why even though i have an ME degree, i still work for myself, i get sick when i run into ford engineers who when i ask them what they do for a living, they can't even give me a definative answer. No offense to the good employees there, but from what i've seen and heard, much of ford is full of engineers who sleap for a living. Again no offense to ford employees is general, i just hate it when they come into my store and brag to me about doing nothing at work and getting paid for it. i also wouldn't really complain, but there seem to be more then a few who feel this same way, and its people like that that **** me off cause when 30,000 people lose their jobs, many good people have to lose their jobs, not just the toadies.
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I left there 1 year ago (I was working contract in a fix head count department). The writing was on the wall even then, and everyone knew it. Just didn't know what to do about it. I still keep in touch with friends there, they feel heavily under-used. Most people do not know what they are doing there, and the kicker is they don't know that they don't know what they are doing. It isn't their fault, ford is poorly managed.
What is even funnier is ford new-hire recruiting for engineering:
Simply put, Leadership skills are much more important than any other skills. (Trust me this will not get you the best engineers)
I don't think Billy at the helm is going help, Jac was crazy, but at least he knew the money side.
What is even funnier is ford new-hire recruiting for engineering:
Simply put, Leadership skills are much more important than any other skills. (Trust me this will not get you the best engineers)
I don't think Billy at the helm is going help, Jac was crazy, but at least he knew the money side.
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From: Houston, Tx, USA
It's the problem with most big companies. In the 50s and 60s top management came out of manufacturing and sales. Today they come out of accounting with no loyalty to anything but the stockholders and the bottom line. Stemple damn near killed GM and then left with a huge golden parashute. It happened to Eastern, TWA, and Enron here in Houston. These clowns should be shot, not given huge amounts of money for killing the company. Unfortunately the one in charge, instead of the stockholders, picks most of the Board members, who are usually totally out of touch with the company and only interested in whats for lunch!
Engineers should never be put in charge of anything, even the engineering department. Show me one engineer that had even one principles of management course in college. None. They don't know anything about managing so they try to apply engineering principles to management. It simply doesn't work.
noelvm
Engineers should never be put in charge of anything, even the engineering department. Show me one engineer that had even one principles of management course in college. None. They don't know anything about managing so they try to apply engineering principles to management. It simply doesn't work.
noelvm
Last edited by noelvm; Jan 6, 2002 at 03:21 PM.
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From: Westland, Mi
Having Bill Ford at the helm is an excellent move. It not only has historical significance it is a great morale booster. There were initiatives that came out of Ford 2000 that were simply not the best. Far too many to cite here and should not. In most cases it is a bum rap to lay blame on the worker bees. Yes there are lazy workers; they are like the poor they will always be with you. But even they can be motivated; it is only the Shameless Fool that would brag about nothing to do and being paid for it. They do it to impress others. What is just as bad is the one who does nothing all day and brags about how busy they are. These are the extremes--- the true worker goes unheralded. Ford has made great vehicles, still makes some great vehicles and will do so in the Future.
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From: Hammer Lane
Home-run for Noel! That is exactly the problem with many companies these days. Large and small. Middle management is in much the same boat. Fewer and fewer experienced and intelligent blue collars are being chosen for management jobs in favor of inexperienced pencil pushers who spend all their efforts trying to improve their quarterly bonus check instead of keeping the company healthy.
