Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

The problems that exist at Ford Motor Co. (F), give a good example of how not to do things. For a number of years the market has been telling them what they must do and they have literally had no solid plan in place in response to those realities.

While GM has had similar problems, they aren't being looked upon nearly as severely as Ford is because they had a plan in place that management, investors, customers and employees understand. They see where they are going and have the process in motion.

In contrast, Ford is already on its third plan and really going nowhere with it. About the only thing they can do now is cut back on expenses and cost as deep as they can; which isn't how a company grows. Don't get me wrong, controlling costs is important for any company, but cutting back on costs, while having nothing in place to grow with, isn't something that will make a company expand.

Another problem that Ford has is they are moving much slower to replace older models, and when they do, they aren't noticeably different to potential buyers.

They have one of those problems that we talk about off and on at managersrealm...and that is, to be profitable, we must be working on the right things. Even if great quality is there, if the wrong thing is being worked on, it won't matter to the success and growth of the company. Ford has been doing this for a while now.

John Casesa, managing partner Casesa Strategic Advisors concurs saying, "Detroit, in general, is not nimble enough to adjust to rapid changes in the markets, two long-term problems that have simmered in the industry -- that is very high labor costs and having the wrong product -- are boiling over."

There is the possibility that Ford may never recover from these huge mistakes. What happens when they bring out new products and customers are tremendously satisfied with what their competitors are offering? There's no guarantee that people will have any motivation to switch over. What are your thoughts on this?