Is Ford robbing Boeing's boardroom?
A Reuters article released today suggests that Ford's new CEO Alan Mulally could attract a whole group of defecting executives from Boeing Co., Mulally's previous employer. Apparently Mulally is a pretty good guy to work for, being described by Reuters as a charismatic leader with a loyal following accrued over his 37-year tenure at Boeing. The jury is still out on whether or not Mulally's experience makes him the right man for the job, so one must also ask whether a team of Boeing ex-pats would be better capable of restoring Ford to its former glory or would only make things worse.
While everyone is saying Mulally has valuable experience in manufacturing, operations, labor and supplier relations, etc., in an interview with Bloggingstocks, Brent Wilsey of Wilsey Asset Management makes the very good point that Mulally has never faced more than one competitor: Airbus. Now Mulally will have to face the likes of General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen, the Koreans and soon the Chinese in a market that's begin to resemble an overstocked coy pond.
Mulally's impact on Ford, whether good or bad, is at least a couple of years out, so sit back and get comfortable.
[Source: Reuters, Blogginstocks]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lee Gibson 5:57PM (9/06/2006)
Overtocked with coy or koi?
Clever wordplay isn't, when you spell it wrong.
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Lithous 6:13PM (9/06/2006)
"Brent Wilsey of Wilsey Asset Management makes the very good point that Mulally has never faced more than one competitor: Airbus."
Wow, I never thought of that.
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Ryan 6:11PM (9/06/2006)
"1. Overtocked with coy or koi?
Clever wordplay isn't, when you spell it wrong."
-Ahh, if I had a nickel for everytime I screwed up spelling on this site...
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Lithous 6:18PM (9/06/2006)
And I know Karesh mentioned car companies getting subsidies but Boeing gets the state breaks (that any company bringing lots of jobs or money get) as well as some federal niceties.
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Steve 6:20PM (9/06/2006)
Deja Vu Whizkids!
Till now Mullaly drove a Lexus LS. I have noticed this.
Whether Bill gates, Larry Ellison, Steven Speilberg, Mel Gibson, And now Alan Mullaly, the most successful titans drive a Lexus.
I will test-drive an LS 460 in October. We will see then!
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Jon 6:44PM (9/06/2006)
Mulally was coy when asked on a tv financial info show today whether a partnership/merger between Ford and a certain japanese car co. was likley.My question...Is it a inevitability that once a merger is complete such a company would phase out competing american nameplates that overlap japanese nameplates in the same megacorp?Will the Americans sell out to the Japanese?
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David 7:00PM (9/06/2006)
Boeing faces only one competitor in part because it has outgunned and outlasted the others, most notably Lockheed and MacDonnell Douglas. It is in a sense the Toyota of its industry. And Boeing has come back from its own near death experiences on the commercial side and military sides of its business as well, so these guys may know something about turnarounds that Ford clearly doesn't.
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iQuack 7:07PM (9/06/2006)
"Will the Americans sell out to the Japanese?"
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Ford already makes what are essentially Japanese cars via its Mazda affiliation.
The only reason the Fusion/Milan/Zephyr (or watever it's called this week) is a decent car is that it's mostly Mazda derived.
I wouldn't call that a sell out--would you rather return to the days of the Pinto?
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Richard Warren 7:13PM (9/06/2006)
When thinking about this CEO of Ford think Robert S McNamara
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whofan 7:35PM (9/06/2006)
Consistency with good planning is what Ford needs most.
In the past Ford would start out with a new strategy then scrap it before it bears any fruit.
They then end up with a hodge podge of product.
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GhostDoggy 7:52PM (9/06/2006)
The new CEO could have been a dead chicken and I wouldn't expect things to get worse for Ford. Ouch!
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Jack Harris 9:54PM (9/06/2006)
Some of Boeings commercial success can be attributed to mis-steps by Airbus. Airbus has had a major mess with the design problems on the giant A380 and its 4 engined A340 didn't sell. Boeing had its own problems on its military side with some shady dealing with the Air Force on the lease of some 767 jet tankers. The real test for Boeing's future will be the success or failure of its new composite hulled 787 Dreamliner. Only time will tell.
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justme 12:27AM (9/07/2006)
I think it's typical American attitude to expect that just one guy is going to come in and fix all problems. I think Ford's problems are much deeper than just hiring a few people to fix them. I read they hired away a woman from Toyota to look into Ford Edge quality and she dug up a long list of problems blah blah blah. What happened to all the quality gurus and turn-around artists before? I thought Bill took over from Nasser to put things right.
My question is why is the world 3rd (2nd until recently) largest auto maker so clueless? Ford NA is not capable of engineering a modern car. They have to rely on Mazda, Volvo, etc. for that. They are basically a marketing and financing company. How can a car company not know how to engineer cars. That's pathetic.
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Dave 2:39AM (9/07/2006)
i think ford regained #2 status this month.
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