The Ford Motor company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Ford Motor company - Essay Example The company has established manufacturing and distribution units, research and development facilities, warehouses across South and North American, European, Asian along with African regions. The company also undertakes the business of car rental, leasing business, car finance and other activities related to finance (ABR, 2010). Correspondingly, the paper intends to describe the strategic business audit of Ford Motor Company which is very important to study the current situation of the company through a systematic approach. The main purpose for using the strategic audit approach in this paper is to provide an evaluation of the current strategies that have been used by the company to position itself effectively in the competitive market. External and internal factors of analysis have been used in this paper to clearly determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company that would provide an in-depth understanding of the position of the organization in the glob al domain. Qualitative research method has been used in this paper through the medium of secondary data in order to analyze the company. Ford Motors believes that change in the climate of natural environment poses major opportunities and threats to the company. The company concentrates on stabilizing the effects of greenhouse gas in the environmental atmosphere to a certain extent that would result in a minimal effect on the climate change through producing cars in which the level of carbon emissions is relatively lower.

PhD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

PhD - Essay Example ..51 7 3.34.REFERENCES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..53 7 3.48.CHAPTER 2 8 3.49.2.1 Fuel Economy 9 3.50.The fuel economy(FE) of any vehicle can be calculated as a ratio of distance travelled per unit volume of fuel consumed or as the ratio of fuel consumption per distance travelled (GFEI,n.d.). An et al (2011, p4) note that fuel economy standards can be of various forms such as liters of fuel consumed per hundred kilometers of distance travelled or kilometers travelled per liter of vehicle fuel. The global average vehicle fuel consumption hovers around 8L/100 km corresponding to 29.4 mpg and a global drive under the aegis of GFEI, whose partner organizations are the UNEP, IEA, ITF , ITCC and the FIA Foundation has been launched to bring it down to 4L/100km corresponding to 58.8 mpg by 2050 (GFEI,n.d.).The regulations pertaining to fuel economy followed by the four largest automobile markets, namely, the US, the EU, Japan and China differ significantly from each other (An et al, 2011, p4). 10 3.51.The fFactors affecting fuel economy of a vehicle 11 4.Power for consumption by accessories such as air conditioners and heaters is obtained from fuel consumption. The electric power required for operating an air conditioner in a vehicle can be split up into two components, namely, as the power for the compressor and the power for fans. It was found that there was an average increase in power consumption of around 27% in cars with air conditioners running at full power as compared to cars with air conditioners switched off OECD(2004,p124-125).The additional weight of the air-conditioning system by itself results in more fuel consumption due to extra energy required to beat the inertia of the system during acceleration and in turn increases the tailpipe emissions. Auxiliary heaters also contribute to increased fuel consumption and emissions . The ongoing technological developmental work for fuel economy carried out in vehicle air conditioners include reduction in component weight, improvement in compressor efficiency by adopting variable displacement or engine speed independent propulsion, intelligent control accuracy to increase temperature control accuracy, heat pumps, absorption systems, thermal storage, use of refrigerants with lower Global Warming Potential(GWP) with non-conventional system configuration and secondary loop systems(OECD,2004,p126-127).The power requirement of electrical equipment in a modern car is around 1kW and could go up to 12kW in the near future. Table 2.2 (Pundir ,2008,p20) gives the power consumption of accessories in a typical European car.The voltages of the auxiliary electrical systems being developed in vehicles are expected to be changed to around 42V.Since the advanced range of on-board equipment in cars would comprise of computer controlled systems, mobile internet, fax, GPS,TV and v ideo systems which need enhanced power input, highly efficient engines are required to be eq1uipped with alternator or Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) to supply the power(OECD,2004,127). 22 5. 25 6.Table 2.2 the power consumption of accessories in a typical European car ( Pundir,2008,p20) 26 9.1.2.2 Importance of fuel economy 26 9.2. 36 9.3.Table 2.3 fuel economy technologies for automobiles and light trucks ( NRC ,1992,p41) 36 9.5.2.2.1 Design and technology for fuel economy 36 9.6.Pundir(2008,p16-17) lists out the