EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP 4
This source concerns a case in which a toy maker almost collapsed because of
mismanagement and based on the fact that it needed the input of effectual leadership so that it
could stand again. The trouble was that the company had exchanged hands and this time, it
was sold to a small company, though revamped, and known as Wham-O. As expected, the
company began to witness some sort of success because of the presence of capital in the
initial stages but later stumbled. This called for executive leadership to turn the situation
around and in came Todd Richards. The exceptional thing that he did was that he rejuvenated
relationships with retailers so that the company could claim its past glory. Additionally, there
was a rebranding of products, and he even introduced new products such as the Slip ‘N Ride
that came with new features. The net outcome was that the company managed an increase in
revenue of an impressive 25% in the first two years.
Acharya, V. V., Schaefer, S., & Zhang, Y. (2015). Liquidity risk and correlation
risk: A clinical study of the General Motors and Ford Downgrade of May 2005. The
Quarterly Journal of Finance, 5(02), 1550006.
The setback that Ford suffered was that there were few failed automotive endeavors in
the early career of the founder of this company known as Henry Ford. Some of these
endeavors were like Detroit Automobile Co. in 1899. Customers considered these cars to be
of low quality and too pricey for the average person in the market. However, he managed to
turn around the situation by Ford’s insistence on developing better auto designs. The results
were impressive because the company managed to gain national acclaim in 1904 when it was
involved in demoing a car, known as the "Ford 999." This model managed to break the on
land speed record when it covered one mile in about 40 seconds. He continued with this and
released the Model T to cover for the clients who did not like his products because of pricing.
The annual sales topped $250,000 by 1914, which indicates how he turned around the
situation.