Going Global & Managing Global Businesses Case Study

Ford in China: Learning from Experience

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Abstract:
Automobile giant Ford Motor Company is growing in China, but not fast enough to catch up with its competitors. Its rivals including Volkswagen, General Motors (GM), Toyota, Nissan, Honda, etc broke into China's market much earlier and have already established their brands among China's growing passenger car market. With the Chinese consumer becoming more sophisticated and demanding branded, stylish, qualitative and comfortable vehicles; understanding the Chinese automobile market became the challenging task for the automotive players. During 2007-2008, Ford missed its target market share in China, garnering only a miniscule 2.1%, against a planned 2.4% due to its marketing mistakes. Learning from the experience, Ford decided to rectify the mistakes and take full advantage of China's low cost of manufacturing. But industry analysts felt that, catering to an enormous market and succeeding in the Chinese automotive market was still a daunting task for Ford in China.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To analyse the dynamics of the emerging Chinese automobile market
• To understand the market positioning and brand image of Ford in China and its growth strategy
• To analyse Ford's marketing mistakes in China.
• To analyse Ford's strategies to rectify the mistakes and the challenges thereby.
• To analyse its chances of success in the Chinese automobile market.

Keywords : Structure and segmentation of the Chinese automobile market; Dynamics of Chinese automobile market; Competitive scenario in Chinese car market; Growth drivers of Chinese car segment; Critical success factor of Chinese car market; Major car players in China; Ford in China; Growth strategies of Ford in China; Ford positioning in China; Brand awareness of Ford in China; Ford's mistakes in China; Challenges of Ford in China; Opportunities for Ford in China; Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis of Ford in China