Ford's Consumers and Communities as Corporate Stakeholders
This paper examines the role of consumers and communities as two of Ford Motor Company's most important stakeholder categories. It explores how Ford has responded to consumer demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, expanded access to automobile financing through Ford Financial Services, and invested in product quality and complementary services. The paper also considers Ford's obligations to the communities in which it operates, evaluating the company's philanthropic and volunteer efforts through the Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services subsidiary, including food assistance programs and community development initiatives. The analysis draws on Ford's 2008 Annual Report and related corporate sources.
- Introduction: Ford's consumers and communities as key stakeholders
- The Consumers as Stakeholders: Ford's R&D, financing, and product strategies for customers
- The Communities as Stakeholders: Ford's philanthropy and community development programs
- References: Corporate reports and academic sources cited
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper clearly distinguishes between two stakeholder categories — consumers and communities — and dedicates a focused section to each, making the argument easy to follow.
- Concrete examples are used throughout, including the Ford Fiesta, the Mercury Mila hybrid, Ford Financial Services, and the Feeding America truck donation, grounding abstract stakeholder concepts in real corporate actions.
- The paper draws directly on primary corporate sources (Ford's 2008 Annual Report and the Ford Fund's 2008 Annual Report), lending its claims a degree of evidential authority.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates the application of stakeholder theory to a real corporate case. Rather than defining the theory at length, it uses Ford's documented actions as evidence to evaluate how well the company fulfills its obligations to each stakeholder group, connecting business decisions (plant closures, R&D investment, financial services) to stakeholder impact.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an introductory section that frames the two stakeholder categories and notes recent shortcomings in Ford's performance. Two body sections then analyze consumers and communities separately, each citing specific programs and reports. A brief reference list closes the paper. The structure is straightforward and mirrors a standard short analytical essay.
Introduction
Consumers and communities are two of the most important categories of organizational stakeholders. Consumers are the ones purchasing what Ford produces, thereby ensuring the company's future revenue sustainability. Communities are the global locations where Ford operates. Despite the general understanding of the importance of these two stakeholder categories, recent events in Ford's history have demonstrated a reduced emphasis on satisfying their respective needs.
In terms of customers, for instance, the company failed to recognize their genuine demand for fuel-efficient engines. With respect to communities, Ford reduced its efforts to support local development when it decided to close several plants, eliminating the jobs of tens of thousands of individuals. In both situations, however, the automobile manufacturer implemented various concepts and initiatives with the clear aim of articulating its expectations from customers and communities, as well as its own commitment to these two stakeholder groups (Svendsen, 1998).
The Consumers as Stakeholders
It is without doubt that the American automobile manufacturer's ability to serve the needs of its customer base suffered setbacks in previous years. Nevertheless, the company has since engaged in efforts to revive its research and development activities in order to develop and integrate more fuel-efficient engines in small-sized cars. Evidence of early success in this direction is the new version of the Ford Fiesta, constructed on the platform of the Mazda 2.
Aside from an incremental focus on R&D to serve customer demands, Ford also acknowledged that the economic crisis reduced consumers' purchasing power. This was compounded by banks and other traditional financial institutions offering fewer loans and imposing more stringent lending conditions. As a response to the growing need for financial resources to secure automobile purchases, the company established its Ford Financial Services subsidiary. Although the subsidiary's revenues for 2008 were significantly lower than those of 2007, it nonetheless supported customers in making their desired automobile purchases by offering reduced bureaucracy, improved interest rates, and more favorable financial terms (The Ford Motor Company 2008 Annual Report).
There are numerous other ways in which Ford strives to improve its relationship with customers while increasing their satisfaction. The company, for instance, has promised sustained investment in small-sized vehicles, assuring consumers that the 2011 Fiesta will be worth the wait — a strategy formally entitled Small Car, Big Plans. The year 2010 was expected to bring the launch of Ford's Mercury Mila hybrid car. Ford has also made sustained investments in the technologies it uses and incorporates, both to improve the final quality of its products and to enhance complementary services such as financial assistance and vehicle maintenance (The Ford Motor Company Website, 2009).
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