Ford Mondeo A Model T World Car

Short Description
The Mondeo project posed two different kinds of demands on Ford’s. information systems. First there was a need for IT to support or replace. existing manual …

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Content
Ford Mondeo: A Model T World Car? 1
Copyright Idea Group Publishing
Copyright Idea Group Publishing
Copyright Idea Group Publishing
Copyright Idea Group Publishing
Ford Mondeo: A Model T
World Car?1
Michael J. Mol
Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This case weighs the advantages and disadvantages of going global. Ford
presented its 1993 Mondeo model, sold as Mystique and Contour in North
America, as a ‘world car.’ It tried to build a single model for all markets
globally to optimize scale of production. This required strong involvement
from suppliers and heavy usage of new information technology. The case
discusses the difficulties that needed to be overcome as well as the gains that
Ford expected from the project. New technology allowed Ford to overcome
most of the difficulties it had faced in earlier attempts to produce a world car.
IT was flanked by major organization changes within Ford. Globalization did
not spell obvious success though. While Ford may in the end have succeeded
in building an almost global car, it did not necessarily build a car that was
competitive in various markets. The Mondeo project resulted in an overhaul
of the entire organization under the header of…