EXECUTIVE PROFILE
PK
Umashankar Managing Director, Ford Philippines Interviewed by Belle Alba Photos by Jerico Lutrania and Jezeil Romero Ford Motor Company appointed PK Umashankar (‘Uma’) to head its Philippine operations last July. It has been a whirlwind of activities for him these past few months, and we were lucky to have been given the opportunity to chat with him about his vision for Ford Philippines. Here are excerpts from that interview. FORD CAREER PRIOR TO THE PHILIPPINES This is my 23rd year in Ford, and it can be divided into three parts. About half of my career was in the customer service space, and the other half would be divided equally in vehicle sales and product strategy. My previous role before I got here was heading ASEAN operations for customer service. Before that, I was in China leading small car brands, and Ecosport was one of my products that was launched into this market. I’d been working in the Philippine market over the past two years in my previous job, and in the last six months, I was frequently in Manila working with dealers, especially in improving the fundamentals of customer satisfaction. So, when I took over this assignment as the lead person for managing Philippine operations, it was easier for me because I understand what are the key problems in this marketplace. PERSONAL GOALS Customer experience, Ford brand, dealer viability—those are my three primary goals for this market. When the assignment was proposed to me, what came to me very clearly is that customer experience is the most important goal for me to achieve, so Ford becomes a brand of choice eventually in this marketplace. Along with customer experience is to elevate the Ford brand. Ford is a strong brand in this market naturally because of its roots, but we can take it even higher—that’s my aim. And to deliver all that, I need a very strong dealer body, so dealer business viability is another core area that I am interested in. CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES: PRODUCTS As an example, let me start with Raptor as a successful product for us, as the lifestyle vehicle in that category. But we have in our portfolio is the Ranger XLT, which
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