Ford Motors Company in Myanmar

Martha Fernandez Global Management Perspective Professor Bobby Barrett August 4, 2013
Ford Motor Company, is in the process of opening its first dealership in The Republic of the Union of Myanmar also known as Burma. Ford Motors is a global automotive leader that owns Lincoln, Mercury, and has interest in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in England. Myanmar is a country that has long history of unrest and many years of military ruling. This regime has been accused of many violations including human rights violations. This is one of the reasons many countries imposed sanctions on Myanmar, but recently the sanctions were lifted to a certain degree and immediately major corporations from all over the world began to move in. Ford motors will be the first US automaker to sell new vehicles in Myanmar. It is not Ford’s foreign venture but there will be many challenges due to the type that has lead this country for so many years. Will Ford succeed or will it be too much for the automobile giant. Ford Motors, “A global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Michigan, manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 175,000 employees and 65 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company.” (www.corprate.ford.com 2013). Ford’s mission statement is used globally not only in the U.S.

Ford Motors Mission Statement:
One Ford Mission:
One Team
People working together as a lean, global enterprise for automotive leadership as measured by: Customer, Employee, Dealer, Investor, Supplier, Union/Council, and Community Satisfaction
One Plan
Aggressively restructure to operate profitably at the current demand and change model mix.
Accelerate development of new products our customers want and value.
Finance our plan and improve our balance sheets.
Work together effectively as one team.
One Goal
An exciting viable Ford delivering profitable growth for all (corporate.ford.com 2012).
The positives and negatives of doing business in Myanmar and other reasons for the sanctions. The country borders with Thailand, Laos, China, India, and Bangladesh and the bordering waters are the Indian Ocean and the Andman Sea. At the present time Ford Motors does business in Thailand, China, and India. The capital is Rangoon (Yangon). The country has a very diverse culture and many different religions. For many decades Myanmar run by the military. The regime has been involved in everything from genocide to human trafficking. Myanmar is not a rich country by any means and is people have struggled for years, it is considered the poorest country in Southeast Asia. In 1993 the US imposed an arms embargo on Burma and four years later added sanctions on investments. The EU also imposed embargos in 1996 and extended them in 2007. BBC News reported in (2009), “US President Barack Obama renewed existing sanctions against Burma in May 2009.” In 2012 many countries from the free world that had imposed sanction on Myanmar began lifting them due to government