FORD CASE STUDY

JAIPURIA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

LUCKNOW

TOPIC – DECISION MAKING IN FORD CASE STUDY

SUBMITTED TO – Ms A.S. Sandhya

GROUP MEMBERS
(SECTION A)

AMRITA SINGH – PGDM 14

ANKIT RAI – PGDM 20
ANKIT SHARMA – PGDM 21
ARADHANA SINGH – PGDM 33
ARADHANA SINGH – PGDM 34
AYUSHI MISHRA – PGDM 42
CHANDAN SINGH BHOJAK – PGDM 43
DANISH ABBAS RIZVI - PGDM 45
The whole case study is regarding the faulty strategy adopted by the FORD company.
When at first the Taurus was introduced in mid 1980’s it was a instant hit and the sales
were always shattering records, one after the another and at that price point it was the
best that a person can get. After the company decided to reinvent the wheel and
relaunched the car in 1996 keeping in mind the changing dynamics of the market,
thinking that it would again soar the sales charts, but something went terribly wrong and
the Taurus sales faced a steep decline in sales in comparison to it’s competitors like
Honda accord and Toyota camry. So there was something that was definitely a miss in
the whole planning and implementation.

What went wrong, the company had just redesigned the car and it was more sleek and
good looking but the basic difference was not the design of the car but the time that the
company had given to it’s potential buyers to adjust to the design and theme of the car
when it was first launched in the mid 80’s and that particular thing was amiss in the
second launch of the vehicle in 1996. people didn’t had the time to adjust to the new
looks and they rejected the whole concept but when the car was launched way back in
mid 80’s it was a hit as the company had given 6 whole months to the buyers to get ready
for the real taste of the car by releasing the sketches and other stuffs through media and
that contributed handsomely to the sales of the Taurus car. Clearly the company
executives were not able to understand the sentiments of the buyers and the involvement
of the customers was kept at bare minimum which eventually led to pathetic sales of the
Taurus cars in US in the second innings of the Taurus launch.

By involving consumers and taking their thoughts and studying market dynamics in detail
and paying attention to potential customers and doing surveys the company came to
know about the pulse of the market. By the time time the third launch was eventual the
company took the cutomers perpective and features like safety in the car were made the
brand attributes and that cemented the place of the car in the mind of the customer.
Everything was very logically and scientifically done through surveys. And the results of
the surveys indicated that consumers of the new era are very risk averse and that they
valued safety very high on their priority list. By incorporating safety as the key attribute
the car struck a emotional and utilitarian cord with the potential customers. The company
keeping in mind the preference of the consumers did away with the radical design themes
and concentrated on the utilitarian theme. The company learned that safety is one of the
most important criteria for consumers and the car is centered around the same theme.

The company should have taken the consumers demand in mind before coming out with a
radical new model. Change is the rule of nature, but a sudden change is always hard to
swallow and the company learned it the wrong way. This is a era of marketing concept
where the customer is the king and any product development should keep the customer as
the core of the planning and development strategy. The Taurus car relaunch was one such
case where the consumer was not involved and it showed very poorly on the sales charts
of the car. So we can say that the company learnt from it’s mistakes and went back to the
strategy that it adopted in mid 80’s and that is of adapting, involving customers and
getting them accustomed to the new product launch.