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| China Ford Motor Co Tie Worth Pondering |
By:
Tom Watkins |
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What if the Ford "Way Forward" plan included an alliance with a Chinese auto manufacturer?
Certainly the players on the top floor of Ford's Glass House will scoff publicly at the idea, talk about the blue oval as an American icon and suggest that digging a hole to China is more possible than such an alliance.
Perhaps. But what if the impossible isn't?
We need to stop looking at the world through a telescope. With our myopic 20th Century view, is it possible that we have lost sight of how the world has changed? With China, India and Russia opening to the world, we have 3 billion new capitalists and consumers looking for part of the "American Dream." In a flattened world are we able to see over the horizons with our inward looking, nationalistic field glasses?
This state, and the company that helped put the world on wheels are going to have to make some dramatic changes to drive boldly into the 21st Century. Ford will not be able to cut itself to prosperity, but with deeper contacts with China it could grow itself very profitably.
There is an old Chinese proverb: "Pick up a sesame seed, lose sight of the watermelon."
When asked about the changes at Ford, Bill Ford Jr., replies: "Everything is on the table." Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas and the executive vice president leading the turnaround plan has repeated his statement, "Change or Die," so often that it is becoming the new Ford mantra.
And perhaps the most famous quote from the recently installed Chairman and CEO Alan Mulally is "China Rocks!" after China's President Hu Jintao visited a Boeing plant in April and announced the purchase of 80 of Boeing's jets.
As Ford picks up the "sesame seed," one hopes that company leaders are not taking their eyes off the "watermelon" to explore private alliances with one or more of the 120 manufacturers that make up China's auto industry.
There are benefits for both sides, including:
Creating an instant Chinese presence in the United States.
Creating a distribution system through the Ford Dealerships which would help struggling dealers, many that may go under without new product to distribute.
Adding an inexpensive low-end auto to the Ford mix.
Providing much needed Research and Development and technology transfer to, and from, Chinese partners.
Providing the expertise to the Chinese to navigate the costly and tough process of meeting safety and emissions standards in the U.S.
A good offense also is a good defense. In this competitive global auto market the correct global partner could block a competitor (think Toyota, VW, Honda) from doing the same.
A bigger piece of the fastest growing auto market in the world. Ford is a late-comer to China, and the right alliance would create a bigger footprint in this exploding global market.
China has excess capital and is looking for global partners.
As a student of China, having become attracted to its history, culture and people through a great fourth-grade teacher many years ago, and having visited China many times since 1989, I know that no business moves into China's fast lane without building strong, personal relationships, or "guanxi."
Alan Mulally and Boeing assembled "guanxi" with the Chinese that may have a payoff for Ford. There are similarities between Boeing and Ford. Both were at one time the King of the Hill and were victims of their own success. Both were mired in a sense of complacency and entitlement. Boeing climbed back up the hill while Ford continues to slip and fall. Can Alan Mulally's moxie and guanxi help Ford fly in China?
In the 1840s the Chinese looked at America and saw a "gold mountain." Perhaps in the 21st Century, a true gold mountain can be discovered by blending the Chinese symbol for crisis, which equals danger plus opportunity. The Ford crisis certainly provides the danger, but also the opportunity to think differently and create anew.
Perhaps company founder Henry Ford was ahead of his time and was thinking of the day his company would work with the Chinese when he said:
"Coming together is a beginning,
Keeping together is progress,
Working together is success."
All reality begins with a dream. In this flattened, fast-paced, global village, perhaps it is not so farfetched to think the impossible.
TOM WATKINS is an education and business consultant. He served as Michigan's superintendent of schools from 2001-05. He can be reached at tdwatkins@aol.com. |
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