Henry Ford as an Entrepreneur (Research Paper Sample)

Henry Ford
Student's Name
University Affiliation
Henry Ford
This paper will discuss Henry Ford as an entrepreneur. Firstly, an entrepreneur can be defined as that person who starts an independent business in any field with an aim of making a profit (Gumpert & Gumpert, 1983, para. 2). As such, they are ready to take the risk in the business they start. Besides, entrepreneurship is characterized by creativity and innovation. Entrepreneurs are ready to embrace losses whenever they occur, and at the same they are determined to enjoy profits from their ventures. Henry Ford's success as a businessman was gradual. He was ambitious and committed to provide a unique product in the market. Entrepreneurship is an undertaking that calls for the urge and ability to satisfy customers.
As such, Henry Ford specialized in the automobile, he is known to be one of the most successful businessmen in the United States. He owned the Henry Ford Company. One of the important aspects towards Henry Ford's success was the ability to identify a product that would provide new services to mankind. Similarly, his product was geared towards reducing cost while at the same time maximizing profits. Also, Ford focused on making improvements in the vehicle industry (Carson, 1989, para. 2).
He made changes and at the same time ensured the services received by consumers also improved. Henry Ford had the brilliant idea to make more money. For example, he focused on making his automobile affordable to the ordinary citizens. Initially, vehicle makers focused on making luxurious products that would be affordable only to the affluent in the society. Contrary to that idea, Ford focused on making his product cheap so that every citizen could afford a car. As such, he made money by selling cars to more people at reduced costs.
Besides, Ford was able to keep his employees in the business. His strategy was to improve on both mass production and mass consumption. The reason he remained profitable and dominant in the business was that other competitors concentrated on mass production as a strategy to counter competition from the Ford Company. Other companies did not know the secret behind consumers' demands on the product.
One of the factors that brought customers to Ford's Company was the quality of the product and the cheap price. Interestingly, the Ford Company had a large number of workers. As such, he increased their wages and using that strategy, his workers would eventually become his consumers. Many of his employees could afford the same cars from the Company. They were paid well, and the cost of the cars were also cheap.
Ford created wealth because of his innovative attributes in 1908. At this time, he came up with an automobile model known as the Model-T which was a major breakthrough in the automobile industry (Dimitry, 2004, para. 18). Also, he came up with the improved Assembly line. The model-T was improved on a regular basis with an aim to enhance efficiency. Notably, every time a new model was introduced, the price of the car reduced. As such, with every reduction in the price the number of sales increased significantly. For instance, from 1908 to around 1927 his customers increased from less than hundred to millions. Also, the profit margin was small but the amount of money generated increased considerably. The secret behind the success was the improvement and production of new models after a few years.
Besides, the assembly line was one of the imperative factors towards Ford's success. It was focused on efficient production, investment on human labor, machinery, and the aspect of professionalism (Jones, 2004, p. 856). The assembly line reduced duplication of roles; which would add unnecessary costs on wages, and lead to a waste of time. Production increased as a result of specialization of labor (Paul, 1988, para. 3). Workers were divided into specific departments where one was most efficient. The reason was that unnecessary tasks were reduced to the employees. In addition, Henry Ford insisted on employment of young people who were a good source of labor. Also, the high wages decreased absenteeism (Carson, 1989, para. 5). Unlike his competitors, he introduced the mechanized, powered conveyor belt. Besides, the number of working hours for his employees were reduced. Those changes in his assembly not only increased the quality of the cars produced, but also the mass production of the car.
As a successful entrepreneur, Henry Ford decided to eliminate the stockholders of the company. He absorbed the Canadian Ford Company into the U.S Company (Dimitry, 2004, para. 45). Just like other entrepreneurs, Ford decided to become his boss. As such, he bought all the company shares making his family the ultimate owners of the company. Furthermore, he did not limit his interest in making cars alone. For instance, he ventured into other fields such as education. He build education institutions such as the Henry Ford trade school. As a result, his sources of income continued to increase eventually expanding his source of wealth.
Besides, Ford's sources of income were endless. For instance, he made a deal with international governments such as Britain. He made combat vehicles and airplanes that were used in the Second World War. As a result of such deals, his versatility in the field of entrepreneurship continued to generate wealth for the Ford Company.
Despite his success as an entrepreneur, he had to overcome various challenges. Some of the challenges include lawsuits, competition from rival companies, and the infamous economic depression in the United States. Therefore, Ford faced threats and was even sued by some of the company's stockholders. In addition, other automobile companies took him to court when his massive company was due conception. Such threats were some of the challenges that Henry Ford had to go through on his road towards success. For instance, the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers filed a lawsuit against the Ford Company. The motive behind the lawsuit was to cut off Henry Ford and his Company from the automobile business.
Secondly, another problem that Henry faced was the influence and the pressure he faced from his financiers. They initially agreed to finance his motor project, but they were impatient on marketing the product. Henry Ford had to suffer when one of his largest financiers pulled off from the project. As such, Henry had no other alternative but to get funds from his savings, support from