He said industry observers would like to see Farley consider the following actions:
Get out of Europe, The Middle East, and South America
Extricate from China and the rest of Asia
Solidify and rebuild market share in North America
Secure a bigger credit line to buy time to execute the plan
Suspend the shareholder dividend and pledge assets as collateral
Cut more salaried jobs in North America, mostly in southeast Michigan
Ford Family hubris and pride means the company will never pull out of Europe. Plus the family members would lose their cushy international posts in Germany and the UK.
Why Ford is still in many of these markets is out of sheer pride. "We are a global company!"
Get out of all markets that are not profitable and have little hope of ever being profitable. The ones listed here are a great start. Give China another couple of years. Australia and Europe? One more year.
Ford is an American company and should focus on North America.
Full on surrender. Morale at an all time low (i would say just as bad if not worse than 2008). No trust in management; they have ivory towered and can no longer relate to workers. Mask real problems with artificial ones and information sessions to reinforce how clever leadership is. Net result is of no surprise.
The article said Farley did not believe headcount reductions were the answer.
https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2020/02/26/ford-coo-jim-farley-speaks-shareholders-investors/4873629002/
I would say all the mall walkers @ PDC should be put on notice however.
Nissan has announced over 12,500 job cuts worldwide over the next four years. Ford plans to layoff some 19,000 workers by 2021. Suppliers being hit as well, German parts maker Brose said it plans to cut 2,000 jobs over the next three years.