Ian Porter - March 4, 2008 The Age
NEW Ford Australia chief Bill Osborne faces a daunting challenge — building on the company's traditional blue-collar customer base by adding customers who have never considered buying a Ford.
He wants to increase the emotional appeal of Fords and not just rely on a value proposition. It will be a tricky balancing act, perhaps more familiar to a high-wire artist.
At the same time he will have to wrestle with the reduced circumstances of all local car makers, whose manufacturing operations have shrunk as demand has moved to other types of vehicles.
There may be hope in that regard as the latest survey of Australian manufacturers shows that demand rose in February for the first time in three years.
The performance of manufacturing index compiled by the Australian Industry Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers showed a rise of 2.2 points, which pushed the index past the break-even point to 51.4, meaning that, overall, manufacturing output expanded.
For the full story go to: http://business.theage.com.au/fords-new-chief-walking-a-tricky-high-wire/20080303-1wkz.html
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