{"id":14058,"date":"2016-11-04T17:59:20","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T21:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\/"},"modified":"2016-11-04T17:59:20","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T21:59:20","slug":"think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Think Ford… Second? Sustainable Energy in the American Auto Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fighting<\/em> for American Automotive Sustainable Energy Presence <\/strong><\/p>\n

For 16 years, Ford Motor Company has published its annual sustainability report as a means to highlight efforts that position the company as the top traditional American automotive manufacturer, focused on long term sustainable energy. Ford is actively involved in a multitude of channels to improve its efforts in reducing its carbon footprint, however, how long will the company be able to maintain their position in leading these efforts? Competitors such as Tesla Motors are making significant strides in renewable energy markets and have more flexibility to react to changes in US auto regulations. Will Ford be able to maintain its competitive edge in this market by maintaining its current energy plans, or will they need to re-strategize to keep up with other emerging influences?<\/p>\n

The \u201cFord First\u201d Strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2015, Ford initiated a program wherein the company committed to focusing on \u201cenabling better communication and full engagement on sustainability across the enterprise; achieve alignment on Ford\u2019s Integrated Sustainability vision across business units and functional skill teams, looking for best practices and efficiencies; Inventory sustainability initiatives across business units and functional skill teams and determine where to go further; [and] establish a global integrated sustainability operating system.\u201d [1] In lighter terms, the company plans to facilitate global conversations and skill development regarding renewable energy into 2017, at which point, they will seek to leverage existing action plans, and execute sustainability strategies through 2020. [1]<\/p>\n

The company has already made several strides in the renewable energies market, including improved manufacturing facilities and vehicle technologies. While increasing company pre-tax profits from $8.6B in 2013, to $10.8B in 2015, the company has managed to increase average fuel efficiency among US fleet vehicles and has reduced vehicle CO2<\/sub> emissions. From 2013 to 2015, average fuel efficiency increased from 29.5 to 30 miles per gallon (mpg), and reduced fleet CO2 <\/sub>emissions from 302 to 296 grams per mile. [2] Ford also recognized operational improvements such as reducing its worldwide facility energy consumption from 15.2 to 14.6 billion kilowatt hours, and reducing worldwide facility CO2 <\/sub>emissions from 4.8 to 4.7 metric tons. [2] The company achieved these metrics by offering its \u201cEcoBoost\u201d engine on 32 different vehicles, investing $4.5B in their electrified vehicle strategy, and developing a lead in \u201clightweighting\u201d vehicles such as reducing the weight of the F-150 by c.700 pounds with their new focus on aluminum body manufacturing. [3]<\/p>\n

New Competitors in the Market<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAs of 2016, the number of American car companies that haven\u2019t gone bankrupt is a grand total of two: Ford and Tesla,\u201d as stated by Elon Musk, Tesla Motors\u2019 founder and CEO. [4] Musk has identified that the purpose of Tesla Motors is to generate enough financing from sales of low, medium, and high volume vehicles to provide solar power on a national scale. [5] And in October, 2016, Tesla Motors made good on its claim by unveiling its line of solar roofing tiles, which the company claims will be as cheap as a standard roof today. [6] While detailed information on the product\u2019s financials have not yet been made public, it is clear that this, among other renewable energy efforts released by Tesla, could derail Ford\u2019s position as the leading American auto manufacturer for sustainable energy.<\/p>\n

Government Regulations Impacting the Market<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTransportation is responsible for 26% of U.S. CO2 <\/sub>emissions, making it the second large source behind electricity (30%).\u201d [7] With this in consideration, the US Government under the Obama Administration, imposed new legislation in 2012, requiring an average fuel economy of 54.5mpg for model year 2025 vehicles, and 35.5mpg by model year 2017. [8] At this time, the US Government was seeking to reduce fuel costs for Americans by $1.7T, or $8,000 per vehicle by 2025. [8]. However, regulations on vehicle emissions are not the only renewable energy legislation sources affecting players in this industry. \u201cPerformance standards mandating the use of more efficient, or lower-energy technologies have been put in place for vehicles, appliances, buildings systems, and other technologies,\u201d as stated in the Financial Times. [9]<\/p>\n

Impact to Operations<\/strong><\/p>\n

These recent challenges from competitors and renewable energy regulations, pose a threat to Ford\u2019s current approach. With fuel efficiency only improving by .5mpg in the last two years to 30mpg, can Ford meet the 2017 35.5mpg target? Will Tesla\u2019s move into the solar panel industry create strategic advantages that allow them to surpass Ford Motor Company\u2019s renewable energy efforts? Significant innovations in vehicle emissions technology will be required to meet the 54.5mpg target in 2025, only 9 years away.<\/p>\n

It seems apparent that Ford will have to innovate their current manufacturing and design strategy to develop the next revolution to American manufacturing, as it did with the introduction of the assembly line. The world will be watching to see how the company reacts to the market\u2019s annually evolving inputs.<\/p>\n

Word Count 797 (without citations)<\/p>\n

[1] Ford Motor Company, Sustainability Report 2015\/16, Integrating Sustainability, http:\/\/corporate.ford.com\/microsites\/sustainability-report-2015-16\/sustainability-strategy-integrating.html<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[2] Ford Motor Company, Sustainability Report 2015\/16, Performance and Reporting, http:\/\/corporate.ford.com\/microsites\/sustainability-report-2015-16\/sustainability-performance.html<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[3] Ford Motor Company, Sustainability Report 2015\/16, Our Goals and Progress, http:\/\/corporate.ford.com\/microsites\/sustainability-report-2015-16\/sustainability-performance-goals.html<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[4] Ferris, Robert. \u201cMusk sees Tesla\u2019s future: Trucks, transit and solar in a push to sustainability.\u201d CNBC Autos, http:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2016\/07\/20\/tesla-motors-ceo-releases-new-master-plan.html<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[5] Musk, Elon. \u201cMaster Plan, Part Deux.\u201d https:\/\/www.tesla.com\/blog\/master-plan-part-deux<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[6] DiClerico, Daniel. \u201cHere\u2019s How Much Tesla\u2019s New Solar Roof Could Cost.\u201d Consumer Reports, http:\/\/www.consumerreports.org\/roofing\/heres-how-much-teslas-new-solar-roof-shingles-could-cost\/<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[7] \u201cSources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions,\u201d United States Environmental Protection Agency website, https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/ghgemissions\/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions<\/a>, HBS No. 2-317-032 (Boston: 性视界 Business School Publishing, 2016), pg. 11.<\/p>\n

[8] Vlasic, Bill. \u201cU.S. Sets Higher Fuel Efficiency Standards,\u201d The New York Times, http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/08\/29\/business\/energy-environment\/obama-unveils-tighter-fuel-efficiency-standards.html<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[9] Michael Kavanagh, \u201cA world map of subsidies for renewable energy and fossil fuels,\u201d Financial Times, July 26, 2016, http:\/\/www.ft.com\/cms\/s\/2\/fb264f96-5088-11e6-8172-e39ecd3b86fc.html#axzz4JbSJgjPI<\/a>, HBS No. 2-317-032 (Boston: 性视界 Business School Publishing, 2016), pg. 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With growing competition in the american automotive sustainable energy market, how will Ford Motor Company continue to compete as the leading sustainable manufacturer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2580,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[116,1549,1571,161,128],"class_list":["post-14058","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","hentry","category-automotive","category-electric-vehicles","category-ford-motor-company","category-manufacturing","category-tesla"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/climate-change-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"\nThink Ford... Second? Sustainable Energy in the American Auto Market - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Think Ford... Second? Sustainable Energy in the American Auto Market - Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With growing competition in the american automotive sustainable energy market, how will Ford Motor Company continue to compete as the leading sustainable manufacturer.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\\\/\",\"name\":\"Think Ford... Second? Sustainable Energy in the American Auto Market - Technology and Operations Management\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-04T21:59:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Think Ford… Second? Sustainable Energy in the American Auto Market\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Technology and Operations Management\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"性视界Action\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Think Ford... Second? Sustainable Energy in the American Auto Market - Technology and Operations Management","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Think Ford... Second? Sustainable Energy in the American Auto Market - Technology and Operations Management","og_description":"With growing competition in the american automotive sustainable energy market, how will Ford Motor Company continue to compete as the leading sustainable manufacturer.","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\/","og_site_name":"Technology and Operations Management","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\/","name":"Think Ford... Second? Sustainable Energy in the American Auto Market - Technology and Operations Management","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-11-04T21:59:20+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/think-ford-second-sustainable-energy-in-the-american-auto-market\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Think Ford… Second? Sustainable Energy in the American Auto Market"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/","name":"Technology and Operations Management","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"性视界Action","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/14058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2580"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/14058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}