Ford and Microsoft announce extending their strategic alliance with the Hofm

The announcement of a new collaboration between Ford and Microsoft at the 2010 New York Auto show may have been big news but it was not necessarily a surprise. In the reinvention of Ford’s competitive strategy, strategic alliances have been a staple of the new direction.
While collaboration is nothing new for Ford, it has defiantly begun to align itself with differentiating partners. Eddie Bauer, Harley, and Shelby are some of the more well past collaborations by Ford; however, these alliances did not necessarily add much in the way of product innovations. They were merely not much more than brand name luxury models.
More recently Ford has been using its collaborative efforts for feature and product improvement. Thanks in part to the alliance with Microsoft Ford recently received the award for the most innovative auto maker in mobile technology at this year’s CES awards show. It looks like Ford and Microsoft are looking to extend their relationship further with announcement of the Hofm program.
The Hofm program is an aggressive plan to make electric vehicles and hybrids an affordable reality to general consumers. The program will work with electric companies and vehicle owners to better manage their energy consumption practices. This may seem like misplaced effort at first glance, but the shift of energy consumption from fossil fuels to the electrical grid is a growing concern. There are estimations that purely electric vehicles could double household energy consumption. Better management of the electrical consumption will be critical to states like California and New York.
Microsoft is not the only technological giant teamed up with Ford. De Walt, Serious, and Microlise are just a few of the collaborative partners. In 2011-2012 Ford is poised to be one of leading automakers in technological innovations and solutions.

Is a More Competitive Market Good for Ford?

While many will argue that foreign entry into US domestic markets is the downfall of the American auto industry it may well be the key to Ford’s newfound success. Shortly after WWII the big three were pretty much the only major players in the auto industry. The competitive nature at the time between said companies were at the least lax and the most bordering on collusion. Fast forward twenty five years and the threat of new foreign entrants was laughable compared to the US auto makers. So what has changed in the last forty years?
The American auto makers took their foot off of the gas and neglected to look in the rearview. By the time Japanese automakers flew past, the US automakers would fall further behind wondering how to catch up.
So how has this superior level of competition been good for Ford and bad for GM and Chrysler? Since the conglomeration of American automakers the companies to form General Motors Ford has been has been forced into a niche. Please don’t misunderstand when I write that Ford’s product selection has been relatively limited compared to other auto makers. For better or worse from that Ford has since been dependent on the synonymies of its models to its brand recognition. So in some way although Ford’s domestic level of competition was lacking, its corporate structure was much more capable of adapting to the entrants of new foreign competitors. As discussed in former blogs I relate Ford to Honda, because they both depend largely on the success of only a limited product line. Toyota, GM, and Hyundai share similar traits in that their success is based more on the large product mix.
In conclusion I believe Ford’s recent success compared to Chrysler and GM can be somewhat attributed to the fact that it was already competing against a lot of options. If Ford continues its recent trend of consolidation of resources and effort to a superior product they will America’s Honda.