Business Insight Zone

I admit I have a soft spot for Ford Motor Company. My friend Scott Monty has been leading their social-media efforts for a while — and was nice enough to let me interview him on that subject late last year. Through a connection of Scott’s, I was able to attend an impressive presentation by one of Ford’s sustainability leaders, John Viera, last year. And in the broader picture, it was clear even long before the bankruptcies and bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler that Detroit was no longer home of the “Big Three,” but rather of “Ford and the Other Two.”

Now CEO Alan Mulally’s turnaround plan — which emphasized “dealing with reality” from the start — is bearing fruit:

Ford Reports Nearly $1 Billion Profit
The latest and strongest sign of the automaker’s comeback comes as it pays down debt and adds to U.S. market share

Mind you, Ford isn’t out of the woods. Even with this big quarterly profit, it’s running a multi-billion loss for 2009. It has more than $20 billion in debt, though conversely it has a similarly large stockpile of cash. It’s also highly reliant for profits on its financing arm, rather on vehicle manufacturing itself. Beyond all that, Ford is reliant on a consumer economy that’s still quite shaky, and that may be facing a long jobless recovery.

Still, credit where it’s due: Ford took more hard business medicine, and did it earlier, than either of its Detroit peers — and now it is reaping the rewards.

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Related posts:

• What does the future hold for the Detroit car makers?
• Ford’s Sustainability Focus.
• Ford’s approach to social media: an interview with Scott Monty.
• What next for Detroit?

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Category: Management, Manufacturing & Heavy Industry