Ford Motor Company
The Ford Motor Company is today, one of the leading automobile manufacturers in the world. Bill Ford, the companies chairman, believes, "A good company delivers good products and services; a great one does all that and strives to make the world a better place." (Elkington, D, 2000)
This Company was chosen because it has been a leader in the auto world for many years, dates back to 1903 and the vehicles that are manufactured by Ford are of a great quality. Ford Motor Company was also chosen for the corporate assessment project because it is a large corporation, which has gone through significant changes in history as well as caused significant changes. Another reason it was chosen is because I drive a Ford vehicle and I am interested in learning more about the history of this company.
Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 on a prosperous family farm in Dearborn, MI.
Portrait of Henry Ford (ca. 1919)
English: Ford Motor Company Headquarters, Dearborn...
1961 Ford H-Series trucksWhen he was sixteen years old, he left home to work in Detroit as a machinist. He started work at Edison Illuminating Company in 1891 and was promoted to Chief Engineer two years later. In 1896, after conducting various personal experiments, Ford completed his self-propelled vehicle, called the quadricycle. It had four wire wheels, like on a bicycle, steered with a tiller like on a boat, and had two forward speeds with no reverse (www.hfmgv.org). He was not the first to build a self-propelled vehicle with a gasoline engine; however, he was one of several automotive pioneers who helped this country become a nation of motorists. Ford was renowned at home and abroad for his technical accomplishments, which made him a popular folk hero (Blackford, Mansel, pg 249). He was admired by Adolf Hitler who remarked, "I am a great admirer of Ford, I...