"We want to become a tech company" is the new management fad. Culture change is incredibly hard and requires really great leadership. Capital One wanted to become a software company just like Ford says, the difference, Capital One already had great leaders. Is Ford full of great leaders?<p>Sure Ford can throw some money at a few labs and occasionally turn something into a product. Spending money on R&D doesn't make you a software company.<p>I wish them the best.
In the same vein of startup-like enclave within a large institutions but in the Boston area, Shell has a startup/incubator space in Cambridge that do innovation on drilling and exploration.<p><a href="http://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/innovating-together/shell-techworks.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/innovating-togeth...</a><p>Also lots of major hospitals also have "innovation centers" that try to innovate on in-patient and out-patient care and IoT in a clinical setting setting.<p><a href="http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/25-hospitals-with-innovation-centers.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-...</a><p>Also finally, also very curious if GE's move to Boston will be just for tax breaks or if they are planning to open up an tech incubator of their own in the area:<p><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/techflash/2016/03/ge-execs-planning-announcement-about.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/techflash/2016/03/ge-...</a>
Total spin. No basis in reality.<p>I know the person who got permission from Ford leadership to open and lead their Silicon Valley lab in 2012. They gave him funding to select a building, and select furniture, but somehow neglected to authorize any meaningful hiring for over a year, except a few interns. He sat in a virtually empty office.<p>When he finally left this situation behind, Ford didn't hire a new lab head for nearly a year after that.<p>Press coverage for Ford's new presence in Silicon Valley continued unabated during this entire period. When you read these articles, you should picture very expensive office space in Palo Alto, sitting empty.
Some of what the guy says is generic business speak. But then he says this:<p><i>"We’re a brand that’s recognized around the world consistently. We don’t have different brands in different parts of the world."</i><p>Well, you have Lincoln (and for much of history, Mercury) in the US. They sell your cars under different names, but don't really exist much outside of North America. Then you have Mazda, your activities with which I cannot summarize better than to quote Wikipedia:<p><i>"The Mazda B-Series and Ford Ranger models sold in North America were developed by Ford, whereas models sold elsewhere under the same badge were engineered by Mazda."</i><p>So no. You aren't a single brand everywhere. It's hard to see how you could claim this with a straight face.
As aside, I watched "A faster horse" documentary on Netflix a couple of months ago. It is a documentary on the evolution and the design of the 2015 Ford Mustang. The passion of getting a car from concept through to Job1 is infectious.<p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3762974/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3762974/</a>
>Patel: Are you going to want them to design cars? Fields: No<p>Not sure how they're going to focus on software without integrating that with car design, maybe it's the whole "FordPay" allusion that was made later but this just seems not integrated or solution-driven enough to compete with Telsa, Google, Apple or Uber.<p>Just seems like Ford wants it's finger in all pies.
It's very hard to believe that Ford will be able to compete for talent with the hottest startups in Silicon Valley. Would someone really take a position there over a similar one at Google, Apple or Uber? Or a smaller startup?
If they really wanted to affect change within the company, they'd make bolder decisions with upper management to change the core of the company from within and up top.
So, perhaps a silly question...but if Ford is going to be competing for the best talent Silicon Valley has to offer, will they establish a stronger presence in the region?<p>I am not trying to knock Detroit or Dearborn, but it seems like they would need to do this. Maybe I missed it in the article. I think it would be kind of hard (even given the cost of living) to get top talent to migrate from, say Cupertino, to Dearborn en masse.