STM317 wrote: Overall, Wall Street doesn't care much about current health, they care about growth potential.
STM317 wrote: In reply to alfadriver: I didn't mean to imply that Ford isn't active in those areas, just that they're not as active as others, or their activities go unnoticed. Sensible or not, some (maybe even most) of this is about image.
Ding ding ding.
Fields had a story telling problem. He was unable to clearly dictate to shareholders the vision for growth of the company. This was something Mulally excelled at.
Prior to him being asked to step down, their was a pretty solid opinion piece in the Detroit News on that concept: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/columnists/daniel-howes/2017/05/18/howes-pressure-atop-ford-unlikely-ease-buyouts/101812614/
excerpt:
DetNews said:Fields is charged with maintaining that momentum amid a downshifting market cycle, even as he pushes the automaker into unknown territory labeled autonomy, electrification and mobility. That’s easier said than done, especially when a muddy strategy at a critical inflection point is complicated by an even muddier communications strategy — to the extent there is one.
Ford needed a new face to coordinate the vision and sell it clearly and consistently. In other words, to Alfadriver's point, it's not that they're not actually already doing a ton of work in this area, it's that the plan hasn't been sold in a way that people believe in it.
