MBA备考商务英语泛读文选全集(19)
网络资源 免费考研网/2009-01-16
Driving force: Henry Ford (1780 words)
And that proved to be only the first smart move in a
crusade that would make him the father of 20th century
American industry. When the black Model T rolled out in
1908, it was hailed as Americas Everyman car--- elegant in
its simplicity and dream machine not just for engineers but
for marketing men as well.
Ford instituted industrial mass production, but what really
mattered to him was mass consumption. He figured that if he
paid his factory workers a real living wage and produced
more cars in less time for less money, everyone would buy
them.
Almost half a century before Ray Kroc sold a single
McDonalds hamburger, Ford invented the dealer-franchise
system to sell and service cars. In the same way that all
politics is local, he knew that business had to be local.
Fords "road men" became a familiar part of the American
landscape. By 1912 there were 7,000 Ford dealers across the
country.
In much the same fashion, he worked on making sure that an
automotive infrastructure developed along with the cars.
Just like horses, cars had to be fed-so Ford pushed for gas
stations everywhere. And as his tin lizzies bounced over
the rutted tracks of the horse age, he campaigned for
better roads, which eventually led to an interstate-highway
system that is still the envy of the world.
(未完待续)