Under its new CEO, Ford is entering new mobility-as-a-service markets and bolstering partnerships to help it expand

November 28, 2018 | Case Study

In mid-2017, Ford replaced its CEO. The symbolic ouster of its previous CEO, Mark Fields, in favor of James Hackett, who has led the automaker's self-driving car work, signaled the company's new focus on emerging mobility-as-a-service markets and supporting technologies. That change had some more pragmatic drivers too: During the three years prior to the CEO change, Ford's stock price dropped by about 40% as the company's sales and profits trended downward. Thus, the new CEO has had to try to right the ship in core aspects of the business in addition to looking further out at self-driving cars, electrified drivetrains, ride-sharing, and other disruptive innovations.