Employer, Human Resources Articles on MINNESOTAJOBS.COM. ERE.net - Recruiting News, Recruiting Events, Recruiting Community, Social Recruiting. Applicant Tracking, Background Checks, Drug Testing, Assessments. EBI Employer Branding Global Community Group News. The Global Association for Strategic Talent Management. The Happiest Man in Detroit. Quarter after quarter for almost two years, the news out of Ford Motor (F) was astonishingly good.
Under Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, who'd joined the company from Boeing (BA) in 2006, Ford had not simply avoided bankruptcy and a federal bailout, it had turned itself into the world's most profitable automaker. It beat analyst estimates for seven consecutive quarters and drove its stock to a nine-year high of $18.79 on Jan. 27, up from $1.26 on Nov. 19, 2008. Last year, hits such as the Fusion family car and Fiesta subcompact propelled sales of Ford models upward at twice the rate of the overall market. And the 65-year-old Mulally, a gifted and relentlessly upbeat salesman, wasted no opportunity to look into the eyes of analysts and reporters, squeeze their forearms, and remind them how "fabulous" Ford had become. Late last year, however, Mulally began to see some new signs of trouble.