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Henry Ford and A Legendary Business Model

Guest post by: Nicolas DAlleva

Article Overview: Henry Ford made cars, he was able to mass produce many cars in less time and for less money than previously. Ford had a new way of making cars, and a safer automobile in the end.

Henry Ford and A Legendary Business Model

Henry Ford was a car maker who decided to build cars for the "common man" because he thought that the workers who made the cars should be able to be able to have them too. Although his backers at Ford Motor Co. told him to build a car for the rich, Ford followed his own mind and made an affordable car. The Model T was Henry Ford's mass produced car. He produced many cars in less time and money than ever before. It became so popular because it was suitable for all men. As a result, Ford created something called the "dealer-franchise" system. The dealer-franchise system is the system that companies use to sell their product in many locations. By expanding and creating more dealers across the country, Henry Ford's car became known and popular all over.

Ford not only changed the way cars were made, but his cars help improved conditions for the automobile. Ford pushed for better roads and more gas stations to help his company and to help all car owners. If a large business such as Ford's was to develop, the infrastructure had to expand as well.

While Ford was a visionary, he solicited help from others when necessary. One of those forefathers of the automobile who helped Ford was Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison was a great inspiration to Henry Ford. Ford asked Edison for his assistance in building a battery for the car. He gave him $1.5 million to develop an electric storage battery. Although Edison never made a perfect battery, the battery that was built was used and modeled after for successive models.

Ford's cars were built on an assembly line strategy. The assembly line is a production strategy that has each person do the same specific piece of work to build the final product. Ford's cronies, or skilled tool makers, organized teams to add each of the parts to the Model T. In 1914, Ford's assembly line could produce a car in 93 minutes. Wondering what these workers got paid? Ford had a $5 minimum wage which was very high for 1914. With his assembly line and great production time, he had plenty of money to give to his workers. He set a standard for other companies as well.

Today, we term Ford's advancements as a form of vertical integration. Vertical integration is the ownership of the companies that produce the things you need for your business. Ford was vertically integrated because he controlled rubber plantations in Brazil, a fleet of ships, a railroad, 16 coal mines, and thousands of acres of timberland and iron-ore mines. Ford and the Ford motor company were truly great early models of business.

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Article Tags: automobile, car, ford, henry ford



Related Forum Posts
Re: YOU CANNOT AND SHOULD NOT DO IT ALONE - Hello, Yinka: A spammer posted a comment here, bumping this topic to the top again, but I had to delete the spammer's post and ban the person. However, the topic is still relevant, so let's discuss it. I like the quote from Henry Ford, posted earlier: "If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself." ~ Henry Ford
Re: YOU CANNOT AND SHOULD NOT DO IT ALONE - [quote="GT Bulmer":1tttnqa3]Hello, Yinka: A spammer posted a comment here, bumping this topic to the top again, but I had to delete the spammer's post and ban the person. However, the topic is still relevant, so let's discuss it. I like the quote from Henry Ford, posted earlier: "If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself." ~ Henry Ford[/quote:1tttnqa3] In Africa we have a saying that " People are my clothes, without them I am naked" So you cannot do anything alone. You just need support of people around you
Profile S?ichir? Honda next? - How about a profile on the "Japanese Henry Ford" and founder/former President of Honda Motor Co. Ltd, S?ichir? Honda?
Re: Franchise 'due diligence' checklist - One of the things I focus on is this: Does the Franchise fit the Business Model you are interested in? Meaning, are you going to be doing what you want to do on a daily? For example, if you are a restaurant manager now and you hate your job because of the hours, then don't buy most food franchises. You have experience of course, so it is more comfortable, but you will basically be doing very similar duties and hours as you were before. I always go through a series of questions, answers, more questions, more answers etc... to help my clients figure out what Business Model they are most interested in, I do this before even discussing a single name with them, they tell me what the business model is and then I match them up to that type of business, explain the entire business model as best I can and then and only then do we discuss the name of the company. Too many times people come to me wanting to own "abc" name brand franchise, when they don't even understand what type of business it really is and what they will be doing every day.
Re: Blog sells for up to $15 million - [color=#FF0000:184yy5pe]If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself. ~Henry Ford[/color:184yy5pe]Someone must take control and recruit. There must be a "CEO"


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