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The US Tyre Industry Gets Run Over
The U.S. Tyre industry illustrates the troubles faced by multinational firms that have lost
their source of differential advantage. Although Europe had once been a profitable
market for the Big Four U.S. tyremakers Goodyear, Firestone, Goodrich and Uniroyal
each of these firms has, by now, partially or completed eliminated its European
manufacturing operations. The reason is the extraordinary price competition resulting
from a lack of unique products or production processes and the consequent ease of entry
into the market by new firms. Moreover, these firms then faced well-financed challenges
in the U.S. market by, among others, the French tyre maker Michelin, the developer of
the radial tyre and its related production technology. Uniroyal responded by selling off
its European tyre-manufacturing operation and reinvesting its businesses that were less
competitive there (and, hence, more profitable) than the tyre industry. This reinvestment
includes its chemical, plastics and industrial products businesses into Europe. Similarly,
Goodrich stopped producing tyres for new cars and expanded its operations in polyvinyl
chloride resin and specialty chemicals. In 1986, Uniroyal and Goodrich merged their tyre
units to become Uniroyal Goodrich tyre, selling only in North America. Late in 1989, its
future in doubt, Uniroyal Goodrich sold out to Michelin. The previous year, 1988,
Firestone sold out to the Japanese tyremaker Bridgestone, the largest Japanese tyremaker.
The deal covered Firestones world wide operations.
Like other Japanese companies that preceded it to the U.S., Bridgestone was motivated
by a desire to circumvent potential trade barriers and soften the impact of the strong yen.
The move also greatly expanded Bridgestones customer base, allowing it to sell its own
tyres directly to U.S. automakers, and strengthened its product line. Bridgestone excelled
in truck and heavy-duty-vehicle tyres, while Firestones strength was in passenger-car
tyres. But beyond these facts, a key consideration was Bridgestones wish to reinforce
tyes with Japanese auto companies that had set up production facilities in the United
States. By 1992, these companies, either directly or in joint ventures with U.S. firms, are
scheduled to produce about 2 million vehicles annually in the United States.
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Firestone also contributed plants in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, and
Venezuela. Thus, Bridgestones purchase of Firestone has firmly established the
company not only in North America, but in Europe and South America as well.
Formerly, it had been primarily an Asian firm, but had come to acknowledge the need to
service Japanese automakers globally by operating closer to their customers production
facilities. The increasing globalization of the automobile market has prompted vehicle
producers and tyremakers alike to set up production facilities in each of the three main
markets North America, Western Europe and Japan.
Two main factors have been responsible for this trend toward globalization transport
costs are high for tyres, and, as a result, exporting has ceased to be a viable long-term
strategy for supplying distant markets. For another, shifting manufacturing overseas was
the only way for the tyre companies to meet the logistic challenges posed by the adoption
of just-in-time manufacturing and inventory system by automakers.
A series of combinations in the tyre industry including Sumitomo Rubbers purchase of
Dunlop Tyres European and U.S. operations, Pirellis acquisition of Armstrong Tyre and
Rubber, and Continental AGs acquisition of General Tyre and Rubber and its subsequent
joint venture with two Japanese tyremakers practically forced Bridgestone to have a
major presence in the important American market if it were to remain a key player in the
United States and worldwide. Absent such a move, its Japanese competitors may have
taken Bridgestones share of the business of Japanese firms producing in the United
States and Europe. This result would have affected its competitive stance in Japan as
well.
A similar desire to increase its presence in the vital North American market was behind
Michelins 1989 acquisition of Uniroyal Goodrich. For Michelin, the addition of
Uniroyal Goodrich provided entry into private-label and associate-label tyre markets
from which it had been absent, as well as added sales to U.S. automakers.
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Having read this, consider the following-
Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company, the worlds number-one tyre producer before
Michelins acquisition of Uniroyal Goodrich, is competing in a global tyre industry. To
maintain its leadership, Goodyear has invested over $1 billion to build the most
automated tyre-making facilities in the world and is aggressively expanding its chain of
wholly owned tyre stores to maintain its position as the largest retailer of tyres in the
United States. It has also invested heavily in R&D to produce tyres that are recognized
as being at the cutting edge of world-class performance. Based on product innovation
and high advertising expenditures, Goodyear dominates the high-performance segment of
the tyre market; it has captured nearly 90% of the market for high-performance tyres sold
as original equipment on American cars and its well represented on sporty imports.
Geography has given Goodyear and other American tyre manufacturers a giant assist in
the U.S. market. Heavy and bulky, tyres are expensive to ship overseas.