- Ford Motor Company: How to Revitalize an American Icon

2012 ◽  
pp. 88-101
Keyword(s):  
Ford Motor Company

TransLighting group, inc. a small town, family business

2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-63
Author(s):  
Jeff Lowenthal
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Lake Michigan ◽  
Small Town ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
Ford Motor Company ◽  
Transportation Industry ◽  
The Third ◽  
Brake Light ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Model Year

TransLighting Group, Inc. consists of two companies all centered around the transportation industry. The original company, TransLighting, was started in 1962 by Henry Phillips. Henry was an engineer with Ford Motor Company specializing in braking wiring systems. Over an eight-year period, he designed and patented several wiring and harness systems that are used in cars as of the 2006 model year. Back in the 1950s Henry had the opportunity to learn about and use LED technology. He even came up with a process using this technology to increase brake light visibility (i.e., the third or middle brake light on most cars). In June 1961 over dinner with another engineering buddy, Bill Acken, Bill figured that they could use this same technology to display roadside messages for motorists. Following license approval from Ford, Bill and Henry started TransLighting in White Lake, Michigan.

scholarly journals Ford and the New Auto Industry

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Daniel Arroyo
Keyword(s):  
Market Share ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Ford Motor Company ◽  
Passenger Cars ◽  
Passenger Car ◽  
Market Expansion ◽  
Car Market ◽  
New Vision ◽  
Development Approach ◽  
The Masses

The iconic Ford Motor Company is considered one of the pillars of the automotive industry. Its first vehicle, the Model T, introduced the concept of mass production and automobile affordability to the masses. Today, the market is full of domestic and foreign competitors, yet, Ford has struggled to remain competitive, even though it promotes itself as America’s best-selling brand. Its stock was recently downgraded, and recently, it announced its intentions to only sell sports utility vehicles, trucks, Mustangs and Focus, in other words, it will stop selling most of its passenger cars. Conversely, Toyota continues to lead the market in passenger car sales, while newcomer Tesla struggles to deliver on its backlog of 500,000 electric vehicle orders. Ford has strong brand equity, has automated production facilities and a large franchised dealer network across the globe. Yet, it is rapidly losing passenger car market share, its profits are eroding, and its new vision is confusing. Furthermore, the company is facing a significant threat from well capitalized new competitors entering from the tech industry. The company, on the other hand, has enjoyed significant success in mainland China, where the demand for American automobiles continuous to be strong. Yet, the company needs to assume a cost leadership position and attempt to use this strategy to increase market share. The contention in this paper is that an adequate approach for the company appears to be a combination of market penetration in the domestic front, market expansion in Asia and other parts of the globe, and a product development approach that ushers cost reductions.

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