ORGANIZATION & ENVIRONMENT / September 2001Luke / SUV AND THE GREENING OF FORD SUVS AND THE GREENING OF FORD Reimagining Industrial Ecology as an Environmental Corporate Strategy in Action

The Ford Motor Company is a transnational automobile manufacturer and a contemporary cultural icon with immense and far-reaching effects on economy, ecology, and society. As it has been throughout its history, Ford today is often in the public spotlight. Its recent move toward more ecological and sustainable practices, one of the more remarkable develop-ments in business management in decades, has begun to remake Ford’s image. As this cul-tural critique shows, however, the continued production of SUVs, a highly profitable but possibly anti-ecological pursuit, is not the only contradiction in Ford’s quest to reinvent itself as a green business leader. Its core belief (that the world can and should accommodate the desires of mobile consumers, most of whom are both auto enthusiasts and environmentalists) serves as a severely limiting condition. Ford’s innovations are noteworthy, but its approach falls short of what is needed from big business to help create a more ecological society. T his article reevaluates the specific strategies being implemented by theFord Motor Company (FMC) to make its products and production more ecologically sensible. On one hand, Ford is to be lauded for approaching this task so forthrightly. Yet, on the other hand, it has been making these strategic changes somewhat ironically by also positioning itself as the world’s foremos