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Ford Tough: Bill Ford and the Battle to Rebuild America's Automaker

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When Bill Ford took over Ford Motor, the company was in dreadful shape. Under his leadership, Ford has made plausible progress. This book recognizes that, but it also recognizes there are still problems with the company, due in large part to industry ailments, the end of SUV sales and outdated products.
The books makes it obvious however that he is not hiding from these issues and is instead addressing them head on.
This is the first account of Henry Ford's great grandson and it offers much insight into how he sees the world and runs one of America's most important companies.

Ford Tough: Bill Ford And The Battle To Rebuild America's Automaker is the story of how Bill Ford revived and reshaped the Ford Motor Company, bringing the 100+ year old automobile manufacturer back from the bring of ruin. Ford Tough reveals the inner workings of the company while offering a detailed portrait of the first member of the illustrious Ford family to take charge of the company since 1979. A dedicated environmentalist and a man with a deep sense of personal and corporate responsibility to his employees, Bill Ford is revealed as the man who played a crucial role against seemingly insurmountable odds in creating the company's ultimately successful turnaround. Superbly narrated by Chris Ryan, this recommended, flawlessly recorded, CD format audio book is abridged on three discs with a total of a three hour running time.

My dad use to work for Ford in the late seventies, so he bought Fords well into the early eighties. So, as a kid growing up the eighties, all I saw was my dad trying to fix the Fords in the late eighties. I actually thought that a car breaking down every few months was actually normal. Needless to say, I own a Toyota now. So this book intrigued me. How could a company that my father was proud of revive itself to something that I might consider purchasing a product from?

Well, this book describes Bill Ford's life and the life of the Ford Motor company. To address the negatives first, while mostly honest, he tends to overestimate how bad things have gotten in the nineties while and overestimates how good Ford is in the present day and in the not so recent past. He gives the impression that Ford's quality issues and their financial problems were recent problems that are totally resolved. He makes Bill Ford look like a super genius who fixed everything in his first few year.

Now to point out the good. This book is part history lesson, part biography, part financial, part business book all mixed into one. Magee actually goes into depth with not just mere anecdotes and Bill Ford's life story, but gets into numbers and processes. He talks about management styles, he talks about strategies. He delves into design and the competition. More importantly, he brings a lot of relevant and pertinent information in a fluid, quick manner that doesn't bog down the reader.

I will definitely read more books from this author, and for anyone interested in the automotive industry, or anyone interested in large corporations, this book is a must read.

Rather than saving the company, little Billy Ford had to take it over to prove to his infamous family that he could handle it all by himself. Since then, the company has gone down the drain, the product plan is a mess, plants have had to be closed, and the company has had to shed tens of thousands of workers. He drove the company off a cliff and all but ruined everything.

Now, fortunately, he is gone - and the more important story is what comes next - if anything - out of the wreck.

Magee's book is mainly a adulatory puff piece on Bill Ford, great-grandson of Henry Ford. Magee opens with Ford's coommendable reaction to an explosion at its huge River Rouge plant - choosing to quickly go to the scene, followed by hospital visits and attending funerals.

Magee then goes on to delineate a number of problems that occured under its new CEO - Jac Nasser, a career employee. Unfortunately his strategies did not work out, resulting in large losses and deep dissension within the company and its dealer network. Sources of problems included implementing a "rank-and-yank" system (similar to G.E.'s) that pitted white-collar employees against each other, buying and operating 50 dealerships in an effort to try new approaches -> creating fear within the ranks of existing dealers, buying and operating servicing and fueling operations in England -> fear of similar intrusions into U.S. dealer operations, quality problems delaying and marring the T-Bird's re-introduction, squeezing dealer margins, expanding Ford Credit operations -> losses, and an excess focus on its premier foreign car line (Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo) -> perception that the basic Ford line was being unattended.

Again, Ford, to his credit, recognized the problem and took action to replace Nasser and change directions to correct the problems - restoring tranquility and profitability.

Unfortunately, that is not the end of the story. Ford (as well as G.M. and Chrysler) is losing market share to Japanese car-makers, its SUV moneymaker sales have declined with rising gas prices, its competitive position vs. Japanese car-makers is considerably weakened due to high legacy costs for worker healthcare and pension costs, and its credit-rating (along with G.M.) has been dropped to junk-bond status. Meanwhile, a loss is projected for 2005, its stock price has dropped about 40% in the last 15 months (90% since 1977). Latest information is that they will be cutting staff 70,000 - not a good omen!

This is not to say that William Ford is a poor manager - simply that it faces a very difficult and uncertain road ahead.