DEARBORN, Michigan: In every boom cycle of its 107-year life, Ford Motor Co. became complacent, unprepared for the inevitable bust in the auto business. From the 1920s, when Ford lost its dominant position in the US because it was slow to update the Model T, to the 2000s, when it squandered billions in SUV profits and narrowly avoided bankruptcy, the company stuck with some strategies too long and didn't pay enough attention to others. “You often hear people at Ford say we can't manage prosperity. I think it's really quite different than that. It's that we stop changing,” Executive Chairman Bill Ford said in a recent interview. Now, coming off a great 2010, Executive Chairman Bill Ford and Alan Mulally, the man who replaced Ford as CEO four years ago, say they are ready to break that cycle. Mulally has transformed the company into a simpler, nimbler organization that's ready to react to change more quickly. Management experts aren't so sure. Thanks to strong new products and stumbles at rivals like General Motors and Toyota, Ford saw the industry's biggest increases in market share. It had the best-selling vehicle – the F-Series pickup – and ended 2010 with its second straight annual profit. Ford's US sales rose 20 percent, almost double the industrywide increase. Mulally laid the groundwork. He cut brands and put in place a system that encourages managers to stay on top of market changes and other issues and communicate more openly with each other.
