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This is purely my own speculation informed by some Clayton Christiansen, but it's possible that someone at Ford sees Ford as a transportation company, not a car
by kelp 8y ago
This is purely my own speculation informed by some Clayton Christiansen, but it's possible that someone at Ford sees Ford as a transportation company, not a car company. So the job to be done is moving people and things around. Ford also sponsors the Ford GoBikes that you see all over San Francisco. This could be seen as competing with the Ford the car company. Or it's just part of the portfolio of products from Ford the transportation company.
That kind of thinking could help them mitigate disruptive pressure, especially in markets like SF where driving is pretty awful, but so is transit.
- ijustwanttovote 8y agoFord just stopped the GoBike sponsorship, so I think they are moving out of alternative means of transportation.
- jds375 8y agoHopefully that doesn't get shut down anytime soon (it's actually owned by Lyft I think). That service is one of the few services I've seen over the past several years I've seen where I've gone "Wow, this is a great thing for the world"
- stablemap 8y agoFord did buy Spin, an electric scooter startup, just two months ago.
- ghaff 8y agoWhat you’re describing is actually Theodore Levitt Marketing Myopia. Probably overapplied. https://www.cnet.com/news/marketing-myopia-isnt/ https://www.cnet.com/news/marketing-myopia-isnt/
- kelp 8y agoThanks for pointing this out. Seems right!