UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

M.Com

SUBJECT
ENTREPRENEURSHIP MANAGEMENT

PROJECT ON
“HENRY FORD AS ENTREPRENEUR AND HIS
CONTRIBUTION TO THE INDUSTRY”
Table of Contents
1. Meaning and definition of Management ……………………………………………………………………… 6
2. Meaning and definition of Entrepreneur ……………………………………………………………………… 7
3. Meaning and Definition of entrepreneurship ……………………………………………………………… 8
4. Difference between entrepreneur and manager ………………………………………………………… 9
5. Types of Entrepreneurs ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 10
6. Do you have what it takes? ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 13
7. Henry Ford ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 19
7.1 Milestones ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 19
7.2 Early life ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 20
8. Career ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 21

8.1 The early years ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 21

8.2 The first racing car ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 22

8.3 Establishment of Ford Motor Company …………………………………………………………………… 23

8.4 Model T …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 23

8.5 Inventing the assembly line …………………………………………………………………………………….. 24

9 Mass Production Vision …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 27

10 Ford Airplane Company ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 28
11 Labor philosophy ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 29

11.1 The five-dollar workday …………………………………………………………………………………….. 29

11.2 Labor unions ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 30

12. International business ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 32

13. What Can We Learn About Business from Henry Ford? ……………………………………………… 35
14. Key thoughts for entrepreneurs ………………………………………………………………………………. 42
15. Inspirational Quotes by Henry Ford …………………………………………………………………………… 43
16. Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 44
1. Meaning and Definition of Management

According to Follet management is ‘the art of getting things done through people’. This
definition clearly distinguishes between manager and other personnel of the organization. A
manager is a person who contributes to the organization’s goal indirectly by directing the
efforts of others, not by performing the task by him.

From the view point of economics, sociology, psychology, statistics and anthropology
management has different meanings. There are four views of management:

(1) Management is a process.

(2) Management is a discipline.

(3) Management is a human activity.

(4) Management is a career.

Management is a process: A process is defined as systematic method of handling activities.

Often we hear the statements “that company is well managed” or “the company is miss-
managed”. These statements imply that management is some type of work or set of activities,
these activities sometimes performed quite well and some times not so well. These statements
imply that management is a process involving certain functions and activities that managers
perform.

Management is a discipline: Discipline refers to the field of study having well defined concepts
and principles. Classifying management as discipline implies that it is an accumulated body of
knowledge that can be learnt. Thus, management is a subject with principles and concepts. The
purpose of studying management is to learn how to apply these principles and concepts at right
circumstances at the right time to produce desired result.

Management is a human activity: If you say that “the restaurant has an entirely new
management” or “He is the best manager I have worked for”, you are referring to the people
who guide, direct and thus manage organizations. The word ‘management’ used here refers to
the people who engage in the process of management. Managers are responsible for seeing
that work gets done in organization.

Management is a career: Today management is developed as a career focused on

specialization. Marketing management, finance management, personal management, Industrial
management, production management, quality management are some of the specializations in
management. Specialists are appointed at various positions of the organizational hierarchy.
Hence, management is career.

According to Koontz and O’Donnel, “Management is the direction and maintenance of an

internal environment in an enterprise where individuals working in groups can perform
efficiently and effectively towards the attainment of group goals”. It is the art of getting the
work done through and with people in formally organized groups.

2. Meaning and Definition of entrepreneur

The word entrepreneur has come from the France word “entreprendra” which means to
undertake, to pursue opportunities to fulfill needs and wants through innovation to undertake
business.

In the year 1725 the word entrepreneur was first brought into economics by a social scientist
named Richard cantilion.the expert who invented the theory of entrepreneurship was David mc
cellion in 1961.

There was various definition of entrepreneur.

According to America heritage dictionary; “Entrepreneur is a person who organizes operates

and assumes the risk for business venture”
The dictionary of social science has defined entrepreneur from functional viewpoint. According
to it “entrepreneur is a person 1) who exercise the function or 2) initiating coordinating
controlling or institute major change in a business enterprise and or 3) bearing those risk of
operation which arise from the dynamic nature of society and imperfect knowledge of the
future which can cast through transfer calculation or elimination

According to encyclopedia Britannica

“Entrepreneur as the individual who bears the risk of operating a business in the face of
uncertainty about future condition and who is rewarded accordingly by his profit or losses”.

So we can say that entrepreneur a person who takes risk for establishing a new venture or
business in order to create utility for the welfare of human being as well as for him of herself.
She or he is always a person who seeks out opportunities and takes on challenges.

3. Meaning and Definition of entrepreneurship:

Entrepreneurship is considered as of assuming the risk of an entrepreneur.

Webster highlights entrepreneurship as economic venture organizing and risk taking

capabilities.

Joshep a Schumpeter describe entrepreneurship is the force of creative destruction whereby

established way of doing things are destroyed by the creating of new and better ways to get
things done.

From the functional view point entrepreneurship is defined as the combination of activities
such as perception of market opportunities gaining command over scarce resources purchasing
input producing and marketing of product responding to competition and maintaining relation
with political administration and public bureaucracy for concession licenses and taxes etc.
4. Difference between entrepreneur and manager

Sometimes the word entrepreneur and manager are used as synonyms. In fact there are some
differences between them. They are described below –
The relationship between entrepreneur and entrepreneurship are discussed below:

Entrepreneur
1. Motive Thinking function. His main
motive is to start a new
venture by setting up an
enterprise
2. Status Entrepreneur is the owner of
the enterprise
3. Risk bearing Being owner of the enterprise
assume all risk and uncertainty
involved in the enterprise
4. Reward Reward is profit which is highly
uncertain.
5. Innovation An entrepreneur is an
innovator
6. Qualification They are not highly qualified
but have extraordinary
experience forecasting
After the above discussion we can say that at a time an entrepreneur can be a manager but a
manager cannot be an entrepreneur.
Manager
Doing function. His main motive is to render
service to the organization already
established
Manager is the service holder or servant of
the enterprise
As the servant don’t take or bear risk and
uncertainty involved in the organization.
Get salary as a reward which is fixed and
certain.
A manager is not an innovator in that sense
he implements the plan prepared by the
entrepreneur
They are highly qualified (institutional
education)

Entrepreneurship management is a process of Planning, Organizing, and Controlling,

performed to determine and accomplish objectives in business enterprises.
5. Types of entrepreneurs:

1. The Visionary

Examples: Steve Jobs, Anita Roddick

Visionaries are entrepreneurs driven by a desire to change the world – and the capacity to
imagine how to do so.

Vision on its own is just daydreaming, so such an entrepreneur needs other skills to make the
vision a reality. Steve Jobs boasted the attention to detail of a reigning monarch, as well as a
genius for design and consumers’ desires.

But it was his vision that made transformative products like the iPhone and the iTunes store,
and so turned Apple into the world’s largest company.

 Key strengths: Imagination, egotism, seeing the big picture, attracting brilliant followers.

2. The Adventurer

Examples: Richard Branson, Donald Trump

If Richard Branson had been born 600 years ago, he’d have been a tussle-haired knight with a
winning smile, eager for his next campaign.

Branson is in it for the means, as much as the ends. Obviously he likes money, but it’s an
enabler and a way of keeping score. It’s the excitement of execution that gets his blood going –
and when that’s not enough, he puts his life in danger some other way, such as his balloon
rides.

Adventurers may boast crossover traits with other entrepreneurial classes, but they’re primarily
adrenalin junkies who you couldn’t pay to give up their ‘fix’.

 Key strengths: Bravery, energy, tenacity, ‘work hard / play hard’ culture.
3. The Opportunist

Examples: Alan Sugar, Duncan Bannatyne

One reason the communists never stood a chance is that nothing moves as fast as money. From
market traders to multinationals, plenty of business is inspired by seeing an opportunity – a gap
in the market, a product that’s a hit in a distant land – and racing to profit from it.

Alan Sugar in the 1980s is a great example of an arch-opportunist. He only got into electronics
by accident, and he no more dreamed Steve Jobs’ dreams of a PC revolution than he imagined
he’d shave wannabe moguls calling him ‘Sir’ on the BBC. Yet for more than a decade nobody in
Britain did a better job at spotting gaps in the market and making a killing.

Opportunism doesn’t mean thinking small. At one point Amstrad commanded 25% of the
European PC market!

 Key strengths: Spotting gaps, speed of execution, cost to market.

4. The Asset Allocator

Examples: Warren Buffett

Some people wouldn’t call Warren Buffett an entrepreneur.

But I would.

Ultimately all successful entrepreneurs thrive because they put existing resources to a more
productive use for profit, whether they’re selling a job lot of fancy duvets at an East End market
or combining great design and a bunch of previously unconnected bits of technology to invent
the iPhone.
Asset allocators are the purest example of this – they cut out the messy production lines and
marketing campaigns.

When an asset stripper flogs apart a business to create something worth more in pieces – or
when Warren Buffett sees a company’s true worth before the market and directs his capital
towards it – I’d say they’re adding value.
 Key strengths: Valuation, number crunching, curious, thick-skinned.

5. The System-iser

Examples: Henry Ford, Akio Morita

Some people are brilliant at process. Henry Ford is an obvious example, having pretty much
invented the modern production line.

I think you could put a lot of creative industry wealth creators into this class, too. Such people
often think they’re visionaries, but really they’re great at turning creativity into something that
runs to a schedule, and therefore can be bottled and sold.

Process is what turns brilliant prototypes into consistent profits. Every penny you can shave off
every stage of the production pipeline – or every feature you can pack in that increases value
ahead of your cost – builds value.

 Key strengths: Strategy and logic, attention to detail, employee management.

6. The Specialist

Examples: Bill Gates, Felix Dennis

Some people have a calling – a field they were born to. Luckily for them, capitalism enables the
business-savvy ones to make a bucket of loot, too.
Bill Gates is a good example. Whereas it’s relatively easy to imagine Steve Jobs running Pixar,
the animation house he acquired in 1986, it’s pretty hard to imagine Bill Gates watching a Pixar
movie.

Jobs rose to eminence in computing partly because the number of technology-literate people
who wouldn’t wear socks in sandals is vanishingly small. In the 1980s, it was close to zero. Jobs
was a designer who could have turned his hand to many other different fields, albeit it less
mega-successfully. Gates would have been a patent lawyer or an engineer if born a couple of
decades earlier. He needed personal computers to unlock his brilliance.

This sounds a bit mean-spirited, but I don’t mean it that way. The world is full of specialists who
turn their love and aptitude for a certain field or product or service into something we all rely
on, from scientists to architects to artists.

They are lucky that a few can make a lot of money at it – because they’d be doing it anyway,
even if they couldn’t.

 Key strengths: Dedication, motivation, knowing themselves.

6. Do you have what it takes?

What are the traits of successful entrepreneurs that set them apart from everyone else? What
trait do entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Lawrence Ellison and Richard Branson have
that the ordinary entrepreneurs don't?

Below are various traits of successful entrepreneurs:

1. Strong leadership qualities

Leaders are born, not made. Do you find yourself being the go-to person most of the time? Do
you find people asking your opinion or to help guide or make decisions for them? Have you
been in management roles throughout your career? A leader is someone who values the goal
over any unpleasantness the work it takes to get there may bring. But a leader is more than just
tenacious. A leader has strong communication skills and the ability to amass a team of people
toward a common goal in a way that the entire team is motivated and works effectively to get
there as a team. A leader earns the trust and respect of his team by demonstrating postive
work qualities and confidence, then fostering an environment that proliferates these values
through the team. A leader who nobody will follow is not a leader of anything at all.

2. Highly self-motivated
You probably know from knowing even a little bit about some of the most famous business
entrepreneurs in history that leaders are typically pretty intense personalities. Nobody makes
progress by sitting back and waiting for it to find them. Successful people go out into the world
and invoke change through their actions. Typically, leaders enjoy challenges and will work
tirelessly to solve problems that confront them. They adapt well to changing situations without
unraveling and are typically expert of helping their teams change with them by motivating them
toward new goals and opportunities. Often you will learn that successful entrepreneurs are
driven by a more complete vision or goal than simply the task at hand and able to think on a
more universal level in that regard. They are also often very passionate about their ideas that
drive toward these ultimate goals and are notoriously difficult to steer off the course.

3. Strong sense of basic ethics and integrity

Business is sustainable because there is a common, understood code of ethics universally that
underpins the very fabric upon which commerce is conducted. While cheaters and thieves may
win in the short term, they invariably lose out in the long run. You will find that successful,
sustainable business people maintain the highest standards of integrity becauase, at the end of
the day, if you cannot prove yourself a credible business person and nobody will do business
with you, you are out of business. With importance in working with clients or leading a team,
effective leaders admit to any error made and offer solutions to correct rather than lie about,
blame others for, or dwell on the problem itself.
4. Successful Entrepreneurs are proactive learners
Entrepreneurship is a life long process and successful entrepreneurs know this.Things change so
fast in the business world; you could be an innovation todayand become obsolete tomorrow.
To stay on course and adapt swiftly to the everchanging trend, successful entrepreneurs keep
studying and learning.
They read industrial journals, books and magazines. They attend seminars and update
themselves regularly with the latest industrial trend. Successful entrepreneurs know that their
cup is never full; they know that they don't have the right answers to all questions. So they
humble themselves and learn when availed the opportunity.

5. They thrive on risk

I have never seen a successful entrepreneur who rose to the pinnacle of success without a
measurable amount of risk. Successful entrepreneurs are risk takers;they risk their time, energy
and resources with the hope of building a strong business. If they fail, they risk losing
everything they've ever owned. Risk is the main reason many employees fail to start a business.

6. They work for free

Working for free is one of the traits of successful entrepreneurs that set them apart from
others. It's hard to find individuals who will be willing to work for free, without pay for many
years but successful entrepreneurs do this. They work on their business for many years without
pay.
Being an entrepreneur, I can attest to this trait because i have built businesses without getting a
dime from them for some years. All profits generated are re-invested into the business. To be a
successful entrepreneur, you must always bear in mind that you are not building a job for
monthly pay. Instead, you are building an asset that can generate residual income for you and
add value to humanity in the coming years.

7. They work longer hours than employees

Successful entrepreneurs are known for their extraordinary resilience and longstanding
commitment to the course of building a business. Building a business is never easy and it
requires time and dedication. Some entrepreneurs are known to work for 70 - 80 hours per
week while average employees work less than that.
So if you are going to join the league of successful entrepreneurs, then you definitely need to
develop the trait of working longer hours than normal.

8. Successful entrepreneurs learn quickly from mistakes

Of all the traits of successful entrepreneurs, this one interests me the most. Many individuals
shy away from the game of entrepreneurship because of the fear of making mistakes. They
perceive mistakes as bad because mistakes sometimes cost money and pain; so they avoid it
like a plague. But successful entrepreneurs see mistakes as a learning tool; they see it as an
opportunity to learn something new.
"Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement." -
Henry Ford
Successful entrepreneurs make mistakes in business but they don't quit. They know mistakes
are part of the process of entrepreneurship, so they learn quickly from these mistakes and
move on. If you are being held back by the fear of making mistakes, i will suggest you read the
article "How to learn from your mistakes in business."
"Excuses cost a dime and that's why the poor can afford a lot of it."- Robert kiyosaki

9. Serial innovators
Entrepreneurs are almost defined by their drive to constantly develop new ideas and improve
on existing processes. In fact, that's how most of them got into business in the first place.
Successful people welcome change and often depend on it to improve their effectiveness as
leaders and ultimately the success of their businesses as many business concepts rely on
improving products, services and processes in order to win business.
10. Know what you don't know
While successful entrepreneurs are typically strong personalities overall, the best have learned
that there's always a lesson to be learned. They are rarely afraid to ask questions when it
means the answers will provide them insight they can then leverage to effect. Successful
entrepreneurs are confident, but not egotistical to the point that their bull-headedness is a
weakness that continually prohibits them from seeing a bigger picture and ultimately making
the best decisions for the business.

11. Competitive spirit

Entrepreneurs enjoy a challenge and they like to win. They would have to since starting a
business is pretty much one of the biggest challenges a person can take on in their lifetime. In
business it's a constant war with competition to win business and grow market share. It's also a
personal challenge to use all of this to focus inward and grow a business from nothing into a
powerhouse that either makes a lot of money or is so effective that it is sold or acquired for a
profit as well.

12. Understand the value of a strong peer network

In almost every case, entrepreneurs never get to success alone. The best understand it takes a
network of contacts, business partners, financial partners, peers and resources to succeed.
Effective people nurture these relationships and surround themselves with people who can
help make them more effective. Any good leader is only as good as those who support him.

13. They have the ability to run on debt

As a rule of life, we are all indebted to someone in one way or the other. With respect to
building a business, i have never seen a successful entrepreneur that hasn't been in debt.
Everyone owes but successful entrepreneurs know how to use debt to their advantage, they
know how to use debt as an instrument and leverage to build a business and get richer.
"Be careful when you take on debt. If you take on debt personally, make sure it is small. If you
take on large debt, make sure someone else is paying for it." - Rich Dad
14. They are accountable and responsible
Successful entrepreneurs are accountable and responsible for the failure or success of business.
They shoulder the responsibility of piloting the business through its trying times. If they
succeed, it becomes a plus to them but if they fail, they will be held responsible.

15. They thrive on criticism

Another trait successful entrepreneurs share in common is the ability to forge ahead in the face
of criticism. Building a business comes with its own challenges; as the entrepreneur, you are
bound to be loved and hated by the public. But successful entrepreneurs always devise a means
to use every bit of criticism to make themselves better and stronger.

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against
the wind, not with it." Henry Ford
"Sometimes, I think my most important job as a CEO is to listen for bad news. If you don't act
on it, your people will eventually stop bringing bad news to your attention and that is the
beginning of the end." - Bill Gates

16. Successful entrepreneurs are ambitious

Ambition is one of the traits of successful entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs think big
and do things big. They are never satisfied with their current achievement; they believe there is
always room for constant improvement and they go for it.
Take a look at Mukesh Ambani's achievement in building Reliance Group; the world's largest
refinery. Lakshmi Mittal built Mittal Steel, the world's largest steel producer. Look at Larry
Ellison's ambition to surmount Microsoft. In generality, entrepreneurs are very ambitious
personalities.
17. They are opportunist
This is another trait of successful entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs share a common
ability to see opportunities, where others see problems. They know that behind every problem
lies an opportunity. Successful entrepreneurs are the drivers of creativity and innovation.

"The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in thestreets." - John D. Rockefeller

7. Henry Ford

7.1 Milestones
1863 Born July 30 in Greenfield Township, now Dearborn, Michigan.
1879 Leaves family farm for Detroit to work in machine shops.
1888 Marries Clara Bryant moves to 80-acre farm in what is today Dearborn.
1891 Secures position as engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company; returns to Detroit.
1893 Edsel Bryant Ford, only child of Henry and Clara Ford, born.
1896 Completes his first automobile, the Quadricycle, and drives it through the streets of
Detroit.
1899 Ends employment with the Edison to devote full attention to the manufacture of
automobiles.
1899 Made chief engineer and partner in the newly formed Detroit Automobile Company
1901 Henry Ford Company organized with Ford as engineer. Ford resigns over dispute with
bankers 1902 Henry Ford Company becomes the Cadillac Motor Car Co.
1903 Ford Motor Company is officially incorporated. Model A appears on the market in Detroit.
1908 Ford begins manufacturing the famous Model T.
1910 Begins operations at factory in Highland Park, Michigan.
1913 Introduces first moving automobile assembly line at Highland Park manufacturing facility.
1914 Ford Motor Company' begins paying its workers $5.00 for an eight hour day
1917 Begins construction of industrial facility on the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan.
1918 Loses his bid for the U.S. Senate.
1919 Edsel B .Ford, son of Henry Ford, is named president of Ford Motor Company
1921 Ford Motor Company dominates auto production with 55 percent of industry's total
output.
1927 Transfers final assembly line from Highland Park plant to the Rouge
1927 Production of the Model T ends, and the Model A is introduced.
1937 "Battle of the Overpass" occurs between Ford security staff and United Auto Workers
union
1941 Ford Motor Company signs a contract with UAW.
1943 Edsel B. Ford dies at age 49.
1947 Henry Ford dies at age 83, at Fair Lane, his Dearborn, Michigan home

7.2 Early life

Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863, on a farm in Greenfield Township, Michigan. His
father, William Ford (1826–1905), was born in County Cork, Ireland, to a family that was
originally from Somerset, England,His mother, Mary Ford (née Litogot) (1839–1876), was born
in Michigan as the youngest child of Belgian immigrants; her parents died when she was a child
and she was adopted by neighbors, the O'Herns. Henry Ford's siblings were Margaret Ford
(1867–1938); Jane Ford (c. 1868–1945); William Ford (1871–1917) and Robert Ford (1873–
1934). Henry Ford's parents left Ireland during the potato famine and settled in the Detroit area
in the 1840s.

From the time he was a young boy, Ford enjoyed tinkering with machines. His father gave him a
pocket watch on his 11th birthday. Ford dismantled and reassembled the timepieces of friends
and neighbors dozens of times, gaining the reputation of a watch repairman.

1 year later he constructed his own time piece and endeavored to sell them to everyone for $1
apiece.

Ford married Clara Jane Bryant (1866–1950) on April 11, 1888. Henry Ford's father was a
farmer, and left him a plot of 40 acres, on which Henry Ford built a sawmill. He supported
himself by farming and running the sawmill. They had one child:Edsel Ford (1893–1943).

8. Career

8.1 The early years

In 1879, Ford left home to work as an apprentice machinist in Detroit, first with James F. Flower
& Bros., and later with the Detroit Dry Dock Co. In 1882, he returned to Dearborn to work on
the family farm, where he became adept at operating the Westinghouse portable steam
engine. He was later hired by Westinghouse to service their steam engines. During this period
Ford also studied bookkeeping at Goldsmith, Bryant & Stratton Business College in Detroit.

In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company. After his promotion
to Chief Engineer in 1893, he had enough time and money to devote attention to his personal
experiments on gasoline engines. These experiments culminated in 1893 with the completion
of a self-propelled vehicle.

In June 1896 in a brick shed behind the duplex, where Henry Ford lived with his wife Clara,
Henry Ford completed the construction of its first experimental car. The inventor spent two
days without sleep or rest, and two in the morning on June 4 came to inform his wife that the
car is ready and he's going to try it. He named that Ford Quadricycle. He test-drove it on June 4.
After various test drives, Ford brainstormed ways to improve the Quadricycle.
He got the idea when he when saw a "horseless buggy" plowing a field, hence it was the first
"horseless carriage" that he actually built which had 4 bicycle tires.

In a way it's the starting point of Ford's career as a businessman. Until the Quadricycle, Ford's
tinkering had been experimental, theoretical—like the gas engine he built on his kitchen table
in the 1890's, which was just an engine with nothing to power. The Quadricycle showed enough
popularity and potential that it launched the beginning of Ford's business ventures.

In 1899 Ford left Edison to help run the newly formed Detroit Automobile Company which
produced only a few cars. Ford quit Detroit Automobile Company and began to build his own
racing cars. In 1901, the Henry Ford Company is organized with Ford as chief engineer. Cars
were still built essentially one at a time. Ford hoped to incorporate ideas from other industries -
- standardized parts as Eli Whitney had used with gun manufacturing and George Eastman tried
in photo processing -- to make the process more efficient. This idea struck others in his field as
nutty, so before long, Henry resigned in a dispute with his financial backers. In 1902, the
company becomes the Cadillac Motor Car Co.

8.2 The first racing car

Next, Ford went to work on building a racing car. He designed, built, and successfully raced a 26
horsepower automobile in October 1901. With that success, stockholders in the Detroit
Automobile Company formed the Henry Ford Company on November 30, 1901, with Ford as
chief engineer. In 1902 Ford left the company bearing his name which was then renamed the
Cadillac Automobile Company.

Ford once again focused on building a racing car, producing the 80+ horsepower racer "999",
Ford also received the backing of an old acquaintance, Alexander Y. Malcomson, a Detroit-area
coal dealer. On June 16, 1903, Ford and Malcomson founded the Ford Motor Company, with
$28,000. In a newly designed car, Ford gave an exhibition on the ice of Lake St. Clair, driving 1
mile (1.6 km) in 39.4 seconds, setting a new land speed record of 91.3 miles per hour (147.0
km/h). Convinced by this success, the race driver Barney Oldfield took the car around the
country, making the Ford brand known throughout the United States.
8.3 Establishment of Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company was founded on June 16, 1903. The first Ford, the Model A, was being
sold in Detroit a few months later. When founded, Ford Motor Company was just one of 15 car
manufacturers in Michigan and 88 in the US. But as it began to turn a profit within its first few
months, it became clear that Henry Ford's vision for the automotive industry was going to work,
and work in a big way. During the first five years of Ford Motor Company's existence, Henry
Ford, as chief engineer and later as president, directed a development and production program
that started in a converted wagon shop.

As with most great enterprises, Ford Motor Company's beginnings were modest. The company
had anxious moments in its infancy. Beginning in 1903, the company began using the first 19
letters of the alphabet to name new cars. The earliest record of a shipment of a Model A is July
20, 1903, approximately one month after incorporation, to a Detroit physician. With the
company's first sale came hope—a young Ford Motor Company had taken its first steps.

Henry Ford's insistence that the company's future lay in the production of affordable cars for a
mass market caused increasing friction between him and the other investors. As some left, Ford
acquired enough stock to increase his own holdings to 58.5 percent. Henry Ford became
president in 1906, replacing John S. Gray, a Detroit banker who had served as the company's
first president.

8.4 Model T

In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create "a motor car
for the great multitude." At that time, automobiles were expensive, custom-made machines.
Ford's engineers took the first step towards this goal by designing the Model T, a simple, sturdy
car, offering no factory options – not even a choice of colour.
He still met resistance to his ideas for mass production of a car the average worker could
afford. But he stuck to his goal and finally in 1908, began production of the Model T. The
company began selling his famous Model T for $850 each. The Model T was inexpensive for its
day, and proved to be sturdy, reliable and easy to operate. It quickly became very popular; and
soon Ford found he was unable to meet the enormous demand for his cars.

By 1918 half of all cars in America were Model Ts and they were all black.
In the Model T's nineteen years of production, its price dipped as low as $280. Nearly
15,500,000 were sold in the United States alone. The Model T heralded the beginning of the
Motor Age; the car evolved from being a luxury item for the well-to-do to essential
transportation for the ordinary man.

8.5 Inventing the assembly line

Ford's solution was to invent a moving industrial production line. By installing a moving belt in
his factory, employees would be able to build cars one piece at a time, instead of one car at a
time. This principle, called "division of labor," allowed workers to focus on doing one thing very
well, rather than being responsible for a number of tasks.

Ford gradually adapted the production line until in 1913, his plant incorporated the first moving
assembly line. Demand for the affordable car soared even as production went up: before Ford
stopped making the model T in 1927, 15 million had been sold, and Ford had become the
leading auto manufacturer in the country. In addition to the moving assembly line, Ford
revolutionized the auto industry by increasing the pay and decreasing the hours of his
employees, ensuring he could get enough and the best workers. During the Model T era, Ford
bought out his shareholders so he had complete financial control of the now vast corporation.
He continued to innovate, but competitors (growing more powerful though fewer in number)
began to cut into Ford’s market share.

Perhaps Ford Motor Company's single greatest contribution to automotive manufacturing was
the moving assembly line. First implemented at the Highland Park plant (in Michigan, US) in
1913, the new technique allowed individual workers to stay in one place and perform the same
task repeatedly on multiple vehicles that passed by them. The line proved tremendously
efficient, helping the company far surpass the production levels of their competitors—and
making the vehicles more affordable.

By early 1914 this innovation, although greatly increasing productivity, had resulted in a
monthly labor turnover of 40 to 60 percent in his factory, largely because of the unpleasant
monotony of assembly-line work and repeated increases in the production quotas assigned to
workers. Ford met this difficulty by doubling the daily wage then standard in the industry,
raising it from about $2.50 to $5. The net result was increased stability in his labor force and a
substantial reduction in operating costs. These factors, coupled with the enormous increase in
output made possible by new technological methods, led to an increase in company profits
from $30 million in 1914 to $60 million in 1916.

Ford found his new system produced cars quickly and efficiently; so efficiently that it
considerably lowered the cost of assembling the cars. He decided to pass this savings along to
his customers, and in 1915 dropped the price of the Model T from $850 to $290. That year, he
sold 1 million cars.

Instead of constant turnover of employees, the best mechanics in Detroit flocked to Ford,
bringing in their human capital and expertise, raising productivity, and lowering training costs.
Ford called it 'wage motive.' The company's use of vertical integration also proved successful, as
Ford built a gigantic industrial facility on the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan that shipped in
raw materials and shipped out finished automobiles.

Ford became interested in politics and as a successful and powerful business leader, was
sometimes a participant in political affairs. In 1915, he funded a trip to Europe, where World
War I was raging. He and about 170 others went -- without government support or approval --
to seek peace. The war lasted another three years. After the war Ford ran unsuccessfully for the
Senate on the Democratic ticket. He never ran again, but was always outspoken on political
subjects.
The years between the world wars were a period of hectic expansion. In 1917, Ford Motor
Company began producing trucks and tractors. In 1919 a conflict with stockholders over the
millions to be spent building the giant Rouge manufacturing complex in Dearborn, Michigan led
to the company becoming wholly owned by Henry Ford and his son, Edsel, who then succeeded
his father as president.

The famous Ford Model T automobile ended production in 1927. During its production run from
1908 to 1927 over 15,000,000 Model T's were produced.. It is generally regarded as the first
affordable automobile, and the car which "put America on wheels".

He violently opposed labor organizations and actively worked against the United Auto Workers
trying to unionize his plants. After the "Battle of the Overpass" occurred between Ford security
staff and United Auto Workers union, Ford began serious negotiations with the UAW and a
contract was signed in 1941.

Ford suffered an initial stroke in 1938, after which he turned over the running of his company
to his son Edsel. Edsel's 1943 death brought Henry Ford out of retirement. In ill health, he
ceded the presidency to his grandson Henry Ford II in September 1945, and went into
retirement. He died in 1947 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 83 in Fair Lane, his
Dearborn estate, and is buried in the Ford Cemetery in Detroit.

Ford Motor Company started the last century with a single man envisioning products that
would meet the needs of people in a world on the verge of high-gear industrialization. he
company is beginning its second century of existence with a worldwide organization that
retains and expands Henry Ford's heritage by developing products that serve the varying and
ever-changing needs of people in the global community. When Henry Ford started building the
Model T on an assembly line, he didn't just revolutionize the fledgling automobile industry--he
changed the world.

Henry Ford was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of the modern assembly
line used in mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized
transportation and American industry. As sole owner of the Ford Company he became one of
the richest and best-known people in the world. Ford and his family spent a good deal of time
and money on charitable work. They set up an historical museum in Greenfield Village,
Michigan, and most notably set up the Ford Foundation, which provides grants for research,
education, and development.

9. Mass Production Vision

In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create "a motor car
for the great multitude." At that time, automobiles were expensive, custom-made machines.
Ford's engineers took the first step towards this goal by designing the Model T, a simple, sturdy
car, offering no factory options -- not even a choice of color. The Model T, first produced in
1908, kept the same design until the last one -- number 15,000,000 -- rolled off the line in
1927.

From the start, the Model T was less expensive than most other cars, but it was still not
attainable for the "multitude." Ford realized he'd need a more efficient way to produce the car
in order to lower the price. He and his team looked at other industries and found four principles
that would further their goal: interchangeable parts, continuous flow, division of labor, and
reducing wasted effort.

Using interchangeable parts meant making the individual pieces of the car the same every
time. That way any valve would fit any engine, any steering wheel would fit any chassis. The
efficiencies to be gained were proven in the assembly of standardized photography equipment
pioneered by George Eastman in 1892. This meant improving the machinery and cutting tools
used to make the parts. But once the machines were adjusted, a low-skilled laborer could
operate them, replacing the skilled craftsperson who formerly made the parts by hand.

To improve the flow of the work, it needed to be arranged so that as one task was finished,
another began, with minimum time spent in set-up. Ford was inspired by the meat-packing
houses of Chicago and a grain mill conveyor belt he had seen. If he brought the work to the
workers, they spent less time moving about. He adopting the Chicago meatpackers overhead
trolley to auto production by installing the first automatic conveyer belt.

Then he divided the labor by breaking the assembly of the Model T into 84 distinct steps. Each
worker was trained to do just one of these steps.

Ford called in Frederick Winslow Taylor, the creator of "scientific management," to do time and
motion studies to determine the exact speed at which the work should proceed and the exact
motions workers should use to accomplish their tasks. There by reducing wasted effort.

Ford put these principles into play gradually over five years, fine-tuning and testing as he went
along. In 1913, they came together in the first moving assembly line ever used for large-scale
manufacturing. Ford produced cars at a record-breaking rate. That meant he could lower the
price and still make a good profit by selling more cars.

Ford had another notion, rather original in its time: the workers were also potential consumers!
In 1914, Ford workers' wages were raised to $5 a day -- an excellent wage -- and they soon
proved him right by buying their own Model Ts. Ford was called "a traitor to his class" by other
industrialists and professionals, but he held firm in believing that well-paid workers would put
up with dull work, be loyal, and buy his cars.

Ford's manufacturing principles were adopted by countless other industries. The process was so
revolutionary that the term "to Fordize" meant to standardize a product and manufacture it by
mass means at a price so low that the common man could afford to buy it. Henry Ford went
beyond his 1907 goal of making cars affordable for all; he changed the habits of a nation, and
shaped its very character.

10. Ford Airplane Company

Ford, like other automobile companies, entered the aviation business during World War I,
building Liberty engines. After the war, it returned to auto manufacturing until 1925, when Ford
acquired the Stout Metal Airplane Company.
Ford's most successful aircraft was the Ford 4AT Trimotor, often called the "Tin Goose" because
of its corrugated metal construction. It used a new alloy called Alclad that combined the
corrosion resistance of aluminum with the strength of duralumin. The plane was similar
to Fokker's V.VII-3m, and some say that Ford's engineers surreptitiously measured the Fokker
plane and then copied it. The Trimotor first flew on June 11, 1926, and was the first successful
U.S. passenger airliner, accommodating about 12 passengers in a rather uncomfortable fashion.
Several variants were also used by the U.S. Army. Ford has been honored by the Smithsonian
Institution for changing the aviation industry. 199 Trimotors were built before it was
discontinued in 1933, when the Ford Airplane Division shut down because of poor sales during
the Great Depression.

11.Labor philosophy

11.1 The five-dollar workday

Ford was a pioneer of "welfare capitalism", designed to improve the lot of his workers and
especially to reduce the heavy turnover that had many departments hiring 300 men per year to
fill 100 slots. Efficiency meant hiring and keeping the best workers.

Ford astonished the world in 1914 by offering a $5 per day wage ($120 today), which more than
doubled the rate of most of his workers.A Cleveland, Ohio newspaper editorialized that the
announcement "shot like a blinding rocket through the dark clouds of the present industrial
depression."The move proved extremely profitable; instead of constant turnover of employees,
the best mechanics in Detroit flocked to Ford, bringing their human capital and expertise,
raising productivity, and lowering training costs. Ford announced his $5-per-day program on
January 5, 1914, raising the minimum daily pay from $2.34 to $5 for qualifying workers. It also
set a new, reduced workweek, although the details vary in different accounts. Ford and
Crowther in 1922 described it as six 8-hour days, giving a 48-hour week, while in 1926 they
described it as five 8-hour days, giving a 40-hour week. (Apparently the program started with
Saturday being a workday and sometime later it was changed to a day off.)
Detroit was already a high-wage city, but competitors were forced to raise wages or lose their
best workers. Ford's policy proved, however, that paying people more would enable Ford
workers to afford the cars they were producing and be good for the local economy. He viewed
the increased wages as profit-sharing linked with rewarding those who were most productive
and of good character. It may have been who convinced Ford to adopt the $5-day.

The profit-sharing was offered to employees who had worked at the company for six months or
more, and, importantly, conducted their lives in a manner of which Ford's "Social Department"
approved. They frowned on heavy drinking, gambling, and (what today are called). The Social
Department used 50 investigators, plus support staff, to maintain employee standards; a large
percentage of workers were able to qualify for this "profit-sharing."

Ford's incursion into his employees' private lives was highly controversial, and he soon backed
off from the most intrusive aspects. By the time he wrote his 1922 memoir, he spoke of the
Social Department and of the private conditions for profit-sharing in the past tense, and
admitted that "paternalism has no place in industry. Welfare work that consists in prying into
employees' private concerns is out of date. Men need counsel and men need help, often special
help; and all this ought to be rendered for decency's sake. But the broad workable plan of
investment and participation will do more to solidify industry and strengthen organization than
will any social work on the outside. Without changing the principle we have changed the
method of payment."

11.2 Labor unions

Ford was adamantly against labor unions. He explained his views on unions in Chapter 18 of My
Life and Work. He thought they were too heavily influenced by some leaders who, despite their
ostensible good motives, would end up doing more harm than good for workers. Most wanted
to restrict productivity as a means to foster employment, but Ford saw this as self-defeating
because, in his view, productivity was necessary for any economic prosperity to exist.

He believed that productivity gains that obviated certain jobs would nevertheless stimulate the
larger economy and thus grow new jobs elsewhere, whether within the same corporation or in
others. Ford also believed that union leaders had a perverse incentive to foment perpetual
socio-economic crisis as a way to maintain their own power. Meanwhile, he believed that smart
managers had an incentive to do right by their workers, because doing so would maximize their
own profits. Ford did acknowledge, however, that many managers were basically too bad at
managing to understand this fact. But Ford believed that eventually, if good managers such as
he could fend off the attacks of misguided people from both left and right (i.e., both socialists
and bad-manager reactionaries), the good managers would create a socio-economic system
wherein neither bad management nor bad unions could find enough support to continue
existing.

To forestall union activity, Ford promoted Harry Bennett, a former Navy boxer, to head the
Service Department. Bennett employed various intimidation tactics to squash union
organizing. The most famous incident, on May 26, 1937, involved Bennett's security men
beating with clubs UAW representatives, including Walter Reuther. While Bennett's men were
beating the UAW representatives, the supervising police chief on the scene was Carl Brooks, an
alumnus of Bennett’s Service Department, and [Brooks] "did not give orders to intervene." The
incident became known as The Battle of the Overpass.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Edsel—who was president of the company—thought Ford
had to come to some sort of collective bargaining agreement with the unions because the
violence, work disruptions, and bitter stalemates could not go on forever. But Henry, who still
had the final veto in the company on a de facto basis even if not an official one, refused to
cooperate. For several years, he kept Bennett in charge of talking to the unions that were trying
to organize the Ford Motor Company. Sorensen's memoir makes clear that Henry's purpose in
putting Bennett in charge was to make sure no agreements were ever reached.

The Ford Motor Company was the last Detroit automaker to recognize the United Auto
Workers union (UAW). A sit-down strike by the UAW union in April 1941 closed the River Rouge
Plant. Sorensen recounted that a distraught Henry Ford was very close to following through
with a threat to break up the company rather than cooperate, but his wife Clara told him she
would leave him if he destroyed the family business. In her view, it would not be worth the
chaos it would create. Henry complied with his wife's ultimatum, and even agreed with her in
retrospect. Overnight, the Ford Motor Company went from the most stubborn holdout among
automakers to the one with the most favorable UAW contract terms. The contract was signed
in June 1941.

12.International business

Edsel Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and Henry Ford pose in the Ford hangar during Lindbergh's
August 1927 visit.

Ford's philosophy was one of economic independence for the United States. His River Rouge
Plant became the world's largest industrial complex, pursuing vertical integration to such an
extent that it could produce its own steel. Ford's goal was to produce a vehicle from scratch
without reliance on foreign trade. He believed in the global expansion of his company. He
believed that international trade and cooperation led to international peace, and he used the
assembly line process and production of the Model T to demonstrate it.

He opened Ford assembly plants in Britain and Canada in 1911, and soon became the biggest
automotive producer in those countries. In 1912, Ford cooperated with Giovanni
Agnelli of Fiat to launch the first Italian automotive assembly plants. The first plants in Germany
were built in the 1920s with the encouragement of Herbert Hoover and the Commerce
Department, which agreed with Ford's theory that international trade was essential to world
peace. In the 1920s, Ford also opened plants in Australia, India, and France, and by 1929, he
had successful dealerships on six continents. Ford experimented with a commercial rubber
plantation in the Amazon jungle calledFordlândia; it was one of his few failures.

After signing contract for technical assistance in building Nizhnii Novgorod (Gorky) Automobile
Plant. Dearborn, Mich., May 31, 1929. Left to right, Valery I. Mezhlauk, Vice Chairman of
VSNKh; Henry Ford; Saul G. Bron, President of Amtorg.
In 1929, in the absence of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Soviet Union,
Ford accepted an offer by the Soviet Government to provide technical aid in building the first
Soviet automobile plant (GAZ) near Nizhnii Novgorod (Gorky). The technical assistance
agreement between the Ford Motor Company, VSNKh, and Amtorg (as purchasing agent) was
concluded for nine years and was signed in Dearborn on May 31, 1929, by Henry Ford, vice-
president of the Ford Motor Company, Peter E. Martin, vice-chairman of VSNKh, Valery I.
Mezhlauk, and the president of Amtorg, Saul G. Bron. (An additional contract for actual
construction of the plant was signed with The Austin Company on August 23, 1929.) The
contract involved the purchase of $30,000,000 worth of knocked-down Ford cars and trucks for
assembly during the first four years of the plant’s operation, after which the plant would
gradually switch to Soviet-made components. Ford sent his engineers and technicians to the
Soviet Union to help install the equipment and train the working force, while over a hundred
Soviet engineers and technicians were stationed at Ford’s plants in Detroit and Dearborn “for
the purpose of learning the methods and practice of manufacture and assembly in the
Company's plants.” Said Ford: “No matter where industry prospers, whether in India or China,
or Russia, the more profit there will be for everyone, including us. All the world is bound to
catch some good from it.”

By 1932, Ford was manufacturing one third of all the world's automobiles. It set up numerous
subsidiaries that sold or assembled the Ford cars and trucks:

 Ford of Australia
 Ford of Britain
 Ford of Argentina
 Ford of Brazil
 Ford of Canada
 Ford of Europe
 Ford India
 Ford South Africa
 Ford Mexico
  Ford Philippines

Ford's image transfixed Europeans, especially the Germans, arousing the "fear of some, the
infatuation of others, and the fascination among all".Germans who discussed "Fordism" often
believed that it represented something quintessentially American. They saw the size, tempo,
standardization, and philosophy of production demonstrated at the Ford Works as a national
service—an "American thing" that represented the culture of United States. Both supporters
and critics insisted that Fordism epitomized American capitalist development, and that the auto
industry was the key to understanding economic and social relations in the United States. As
one German explained, "Automobiles have so completely changed the American's mode of life
that today one can hardly imagine being without a car. It is difficult to remember what life was
like before Mr. Ford began preaching his doctrine of salvation". For many Germans, Ford
embodied the essence of successful Americanism.

In My Life and Work, Ford predicted that if greed, racism, and short-sightedness could be
overcome, then economic and technological development throughout the world would
progress to the point that international trade would no longer be based on (what today would
be called) colonial or neocolonial models and would truly benefit all peoples. His ideas in this
passage were vague, but they were idealistic.
13.What Can We Learn About Business from Henry Ford?

American industrialist and founder of the Ford Motor Company, his foresight revolutionized the
transportation industry and enabled many people to purchase their first car.

But what relevance do Henry Ford’s methods and work ethic have today? What can a one
hundred year old process teach us about being better entrepreneurs and business owners in
the modern age? Let us see some of the methods Ford applied to his business endeavors and
look at how they can help us all become more successful.

Innovation = Success

Innovation without execution is just hallucination. ~ Henry Ford1

At the start of the twentieth century Henry Ford brought the assembly line technique to the
world of automobile production. The technique was so successful it allowed mass production
on an unparalleled scale.

However, it is important to remember that Ford was not an inventor; he was an innovator. He
did not invent the automobile or the assembly line but he did revolutionize the way in which
they were produced and utilized. He had the vision to take something which already existed,
improve it and re-sell it as something new.

This can serve as an important lesson to anyone who is stuck for ideas, as he proved that
reinventing the wheel (no pun intended) isn’t necessary when modification and improvement
can serve us equally as well. It’s about having belief in the power of professional vision and
understanding how to capitalize on opportunities.

Great entrepreneurs not only put ideas in motion but they commit to them mentally as
well. Having an amazing idea is all well and good but seeing it through to the implementation
and execution phase is just as important.
1. Know Your Market

What helped Ford become so successful was establishing his company as a leader in what was
then a niche market.

Just as we are often advised today, finding your niche is really important. A “generic” freelance
writer might struggle to win contracts, but if they marketed themselves as a freelance writer
specializing in producing training manuals or composing funding bids for non-profit
organizations, they’d probably have more luck.

Once he had decided on his product, Henry Ford spent a long time researching his customer
base and looking at affordability and likely interest in his initial motor cars before building
them. He knew that by understanding his customers he could save time and money by offering
them a product that provided a solution to a problem they didn’t even realize they had. He
once joked that, ‘If I had simply asked people what they wanted, they would have asked me for
faster horses!’

The overriding lesson is clear: do some research, establish that there is an interest/need for
your product or services and learn to listen so you can focus on developing what you have to
offer.

As well as identifying your target market it is also vital to keep in mind the importance of
promotion and how you sell your services or product.

When the Model T Ford was introduced on October 1st 1908, Ford set about creating a huge
publicity campaign that would ensure every available newspaper would want to carry stories
and adverts about the new product. A combination of clever marketing and a rapidly growing
positive reputation meant that by 1918, half of all cars owned in America were Model T’s.

Obviously we are talking about a much smaller scale here, but how you engage with potential
clients and customers is just as relevant. Having a good website, regularly updating your blog
and keeping up a strong presence across social media sites are all ways in which you can self-
promote at very little cost. Something as simple as overhauling your company ‘About’ page or
writing a guest post for a relevant site can help to give your business a boost.

How you can do it:

 Research! You can do a lot of basic, demographic research for free online. Zoom
Prospector, FreeLunch.com, and the U.S. Census Bureau are chock full of industry trends,
financial data, and demographic information that you can access for free!
 Find more descriptive info through surveys. There are a ton of online tools available,
like SurveyMonkey and Zoho, that are affordable or even free.
 Your customers’ input is invaluable to your business. Something as simple and affordable as
taking a handful of customers out for coffee can yield huge insights.

2. Reputation, Reputation, Reputation

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. ~ Henry Ford

When you’re self-employed, reputation is everything, so ensuring that you are functioning at
the top of your game at all times is essential. Reputation and recommendation is often built
through word of mouth so consistency and quality of service must remain the same
across every client you work with.

Henry Ford’s assembly line method ensured that the thousands of cars produced were identical
in terms of style, quality and reliability. He understood the power of customer
satisfaction and the spoken word and he instilled his principles into his workforce. Ford once
famously said, ‘Quality means doing it right when no one is looking’,1 and it is true because
your work ethic should always remain unchanged.

But quality isn’t just about execution; it’s about embracing the idea as a mind-set and making it
a habit that sits at the very center of the service you offer. Cutting corners or providing
substandard work will catch up with you eventually and could damage a hard-earned
reputation. The business world is by design results-based, so creating and maintaining a
dependable persona is integral to success.

Of course there will be moments when you get things wrong, but as Ford himself said,

‘Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.’

Failure is something that will come to all of us at some point but it is how you deal with it that
sets you apart from everyone else. Henry Ford actually had two motor companies before Ford.
Both failed and resulted in bankruptcy but he had the determination and belief in his idea to
carry on. He sucked up his mistakes and learned by a process of careful observation and trial
and error.

3. Efficiency is King

Ford was a huge believer in the power of working efficiently. Today he is credited with the
modern concept of Fordism. Fordism is a system based on an efficient, standardized form of
mass production.

In short, Ford realized that by keeping the efficiency of his workers at a premium level he could
achieve the maximum level of output. He achieved this by incentivized loyalty through better
wages and a reduced workweek.

But hold on — doesn’t that sound a little familiar to us as businesspeople? As entrepreneurs we

strive to work the minimum number of hours for the maximum reward. As we’ve discussed
previously, by eliminating inefficiencies you can increase your proportion of billable hours
which ultimate results in a higher equivalent hourly rate. As the 80/20 Principle teaches us, 20%
of the input creates 80% of the output, or in simpler terms: targeted, effective work beats
generalized, hard work every time.

4. Focus On Quality

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” – Henry Ford

When you’re excited about your product, it can be easy to find yourself in a rush to launch. But
to be really passionate involves a lot of due diligence.

Ford insisted that if his name was gonna be on the company, the brand would stand for quality.
He wanted to be 100% confident in his automobiles before they were sold.

Ethics aside, good quality is just plain good business, and it shows. Ford Motor Company was
the #3 automobile manufacturer within a few years of its launch.

How you can do it:

 Don’t get ahead of yourself. Make sure quality is always your #1 priority.
 Don’t be afraid to make an upfront investment in production.
 Test, test, test!

5. Nothing Is Particularly Hard

“There are no big problems; there are just a lot of little problems.”

No matter what it is, nothing is truly that hard. There’s no task so big that it can’t be broken
down into smaller, more manageable parts.

Ford said, “There are no big problems; there are just a lot of little problems.” And that’s the
philosophy by which he ran Ford Motor Company.

Instead of thinking about launching an entire business, Ford took it one step at a time. First
thinking about developing the product, then pricing, followed by advertising.

How you can do it:

 On a day to day basis, there’s no need to look very far into the future. Keep your focus on
what’s in front of you right now. What needs to be done by tomorrow? By next week?
 Take your work piece by piece, and don’t let the big picture overwhelm you.
 Don’t be afraid to delegate. Many hands make a lot of work seem like a little. If it doesn’t
absolutely need your touch, give it someone else.
6. Keep Employees Happy

“There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: make the best quality goods possible at the
lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.”

This is a big one. Happy employees will make #2 and #3 seem like a piece of cake, and there are
a lot of ways to go about it. Generally, compensation, workplace culture, and sense of
belonging are the huge factors that affect employee satisfaction.

Ford knew his workplace culture was what it was. Factory work is hard to make engaging and
sexy. What he did to remedy this was unheard of in his time; he doubled the salaries of his
workers.

The effect of this was two-fold. Obviously making more money makes employees feel happier
about going to work. It also allowed most Ford employees to actually be able to afford a Ford
automobile, which increased their commitment to their jobs.

How you can do it:

 Invest in your employees! Whether it’s an increase in salary or additional training, when you
put your confidence behind your employees, they’ll be more satisfied.
 Cultivate a positive office culture.
 Recruit employees who are a good fit for your culture.

7. Move Toward Your Goals

In order to reach their goals successful business people are constantly observing the world
around them and the way in which their competitors function. Henry Ford himself surmised
that:

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays
young.
Ford was big on learning and professional development. Before he started the Ford Motor
Company he trained as an apprentice engineer by day and studied book keeping at night. He
knew which direction he wanted his life to take and he made long-term, calculated plans to get
there. He switched jobs often believing that once he had learned all he needed to know it was
time to move on to something more challenging. He was not content to simply be.

For us this is a good reminder of the importance of learning and adapting to trends within our
chosen industries. An idle moment could mean a missed opportunity.

Evolving through learning can spark off new ideas, meaning it is also necessary to adapt and
amend your goals. Sometimes this can lead to self-doubt but be reassured that change is a
natural by-product of professional growth and doing the work you love will give you the
strength to overcome anything.

Just look at Ford. When he was young it was expected that he would take over the family farm
after his father retired. But it was work he despised and he later wrote that the only thing he
loved about life there was spending time with his mother.

He broke away from the traditional mold and bucked the expectation that society had placed
on him so that he could follow his dreams. This is an idea that resonates with many
entrepreneurs who have branched out and had the courage to try an alternative career path,
even in the face of doubt and criticism from others.

As we’ve discussed before, regardless of the ultimate goal, most self-employed people are
united in the fact that they gave up regular employment to pursue a better work-life
balance where there’s the opportunity for uncapped earnings as well as more free time for
family, hobbies, or other interests. Goal-setting and keeping sight of your dreams is important
as it keeps you focused and motivated to drive your business forward.

It can be scary when you’re going it alone, especially if like me you gave up a secure, relatively
well-paid job to do so, but the fact that you’ve already had the determination to make the
break should give you the reassurance that you’ve got what it takes to make it.
14.Key thoughts for entrepreneurs

Ford was a very driven man. Yet, he believed highly in the quality of life for employees. He was
a pioneer offering profit-sharing to employees’ salaries at $5 and then $6 per day which were
well above usual wages. There are stories of engineers telling Ford that adding additional
cylinders simply weren't possible. Ford would tell them that it was possible and don't stop
trying. He knew it was possible and given time the engineers would find the answer.

Ford fought many battles. In the early years, he had a near fatal legal bout with George Selden.
Selden and his group held a patent for "road locomotives". Ford fought in court and won the
right to build and sell automobiles without royalty payments. He also fought with investors
dissolving 2 companies and in the 1930's and 1940's battled unions. It took 8 years for Ford to
sign a union contract. He had several cars that were failures, most notably the early "luxury"
automobiles for which he had little interest (a likely component of failure) as well as later
automobiles such as the "Edsel" (named after his son and one-time Ford President).

Ford has many admirers and detractors. At age 11, he knew that mass-production was the
answer to providing product for the benefit of all people. He learned from his mistakes and
great mentors such as Thomas Edison. Ford Motor Corporation at an early stage had a bank
balance of $223.65. Ford successfully found investors for each business as they bought in to his
passion, skill, and instinct. Ford's estate was valued at over $200 million and became one of the
largest public trusts in the U.S.

Although aspects of Ford’s personal life (such as his political views and anti-Semitic leanings)
made him a divisive and somewhat controversial character, his impact on the business world in
both a practical and theoretical sense cannot be denied.

In using his foresight and tenacity to succeed, the production system that Ford created
epitomized the efficient, systemized, successful model that all business owners, entrepreneurs
and freelancers strive for today.
15.Inspirational Quotes by Henry Ford

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.”

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.”

“The best we can do is size up the chances, calculate the risks involved, estimate our ability to
deal with them, and then make our plans with confidence.”

“Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.”
16. Bibliography

The great idea finder. ( 2007., May 21). Retrieved from Idea finder:
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/ford.htm

Abbamonte, K. (September 29th, 2014). Useful Business Lessons from Henry Ford, History’s
Best Entrepreneur. Getting Started.

Bellis, M. (n.d.). Henry Ford (1863-1947) - I will build a car for the great multitude.

Bowser, J. (n.d.). Featured Startup Business Expert. US department of commerce.

Bright knowledge. (n.d.). Retrieved from Brightside bright knowledge:

http://www.brightknowledge.org

Ewer, T. (n.d.). What Can We Learn About Business from Henry Ford?

Havinal, V. (2009). Management and Entreprenuership. New age international publisher.

LTBN. (n.d.). Retrieved from lets talk business network: http://www.ltbn.com/

Martings, A. T. (n.d.). 12 Traits of Highly Successful Entrepreneurs. Groco cpa's and advisors.