Foundation Schools Project

Essay by tallgirl43University, Master'sA-, December 2009

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In the Ford and Firestone-Bridgestone issue there were very different corporate cultures at odds with one another. As a U.S company, Ford was accustomed to open communications and sharing information with the media and government authorities. Firestone-Bridgestone is a Japanese owned company and was not accustomed to sharing information about their product with anyone. This made the investigation and resolution of the tire failures very difficult for the Ford Motor Company.

Ford's CEO, Jac Nasser, assembled a team of people who were devoted to nothing other than problem solving the issue, dealing with the media and government agencies. Firestone-Bridgestone was reluctant to share information on the tires which forced Ford to gather whatever information was publicly available and conduct their own studies on the tire failures in an effort to find the missing pieces. Ford also embarked on a recall of all tires still in the field and replaced them without any assistance from Firestone-Bridgestone.

Outcomes from the way the Ford Motor Company handled this issue were both positive and negative. On the positive side, Ford remained in good standing as a U.S. automaker in the eyes of the public for taking the actions necessary to rectify the issue. However, on the negative side the issue cost Ford many thousands of dollars, which were in part, were the responsibility of the Firestone-Bridgestone Company. Ford employees suffered for sometime as the company temporarily closed several manufacturing plants in order to use the tires available for replacements. Jac Nasser lost his job as CEO of Ford as his solution to rectify the issue cost the company dearly.

General ElectricJack Welch former CEO of General Electric turned the company into a global powerhouse, by expecting his top managers to deliver results, those that did not would not be with the company...