Monday, Feb. 01, 1988

Business Notes MANAGEMENT

Giant corporations today are seldom headed by someone whose name is on the building, since hardly anybody has a moniker like Exxon, Primerica or Unisys. But at Ford, Detroit's fastest moving automaker, the fourth generation of a family dynasty is moving up. Last week the company elevated two young executives to its board of directors: Edsel B. Ford II, 39, and William Clay Ford Jr., 30, both great-grandsons of the founder. Edsel II is general sales manager of the Lincoln-Mercury division, and William Jr. heads Ford's operations in Switzerland.

The two cousins, who deny any rivalry, will have to struggle if they want the top job. The last Ford to hold it, Henry II, who stepped down in 1980, said that the company would have "no crown princes." Since Henry's death last September, his younger brother William Sr., 62, has been the only family voice on the board.