Firestone Strategic Marketing Analysis
Prepared for:
Dr, Robert Bush
Prepared by:
Kelly Athlow
Leighann Fishcer
Mike Lambert
Fall 2000
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 2
Current Events 3
Situational Analysis 6
Global
Tire Sales 6
North
American Market Leaders 6
Firestone
Brands 7
Financial
Position 8
Production
Capacity 8
Degree
of Integration 9
Post-Recall
Market Share 10
Industry Changes 10
Political/Legal
Changes 10
Economic
Conditions 11
Technological
Changes 11
U.S. Market Segments 12
Original
Equipment 12
Replacement
Tires 13
Brand Loyalty 13
SWOT Analysis 14
Weaknesses 14
Threats 15
Strengths 16
Opportunities 17
SWOT
Placement 18
Product Market Approaches 19
Functional Strategy Development 19
Target
Market 20
Relative
Position 20
Product/Brand 20
Pricing 20
Promotional 21
Distribution 21
Conclusions 21
References 23
INTRODUCTION
Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. is an international
manufacturer with 38 production facilities throughout the world. The company is based in Nashville, Tennessee
and was formed in 1990 when Bridgestone USA merged with the Firestone Tire
& Rubber Company. Tires are the
largest part of Bridgestone/Firestone’s business, accounting for approximately
75 percent of annual revenues. Bridgestone/Firestone
now has nearly 45,000 employees who produce and sell 50 million tires a
year. The company develops,
manufactures, and markets tires for almost every kind of vehicle, 8000
different types and sizes in all, including a 13-foot-tall giant radial for
earthmoving equipment to a cart tire that is only 10 inches tall. In addition to tires, Bridgestone/Firestone
also produces a variety of other products such as air springs, building
materials, synthetic and natural rubber, and industrial fibers and
textiles. Bridgestone/Firestone sells
tires for passenger, light truck, truck, bus, off-the-road, agricultural,
motorcycles and cart applications through more than 12,000 outlets, including
independent dealers, discount retailers, warehouse clubs and company-owned
stores. The company also operates
Firestone Tire & Service Centers, Mark Morris, Expert Tire and Tire Station
retail outlets for automotive tires and service. They also service the commercial trucking industry with their GCR
Truck Tire Centers. Following is a
brief history of the Bridgestone/Firestone:
1900: The Firestone Tire &
Rubber Company was established. Harvey
S. Firestone developed a new way of making carriage tires and started
production with 12 employees in Akron, Ohio.
1906: Firestone tires were chosen by Henry Ford for the first
mass-produced automobiles in America.
1931: The Bridgestone Tire Company was founded by Shojiro Ishibashi in
Japan.
1967: Bridgestone entered the U.S. market through a sales
subsidiary in California.
1983: Bridgestone established its first U.S. production
facility by purchasing a Firestone truck tire plant in LaVergne, Tennessee.
1988: Bridgestone purchased Firestone.
1992: Bridgestone/Firestone moved its corporate headquarters form Akron
to Nashville.
It should also be noted that
in 1978, Firestone recalled 14 million tires, the largest recall ever. Those
involved in the Firestone recall of 1978 believes the current recall is very
similar, but the key difference is the role of the vehicle on which the tires
are mounted.
CURRENT
EVENTS
On August 9th of this year, Firestone, a unit of Japan’s
Bridgestone, voluntarily recalled 6.5 million tires because of safety concerns,
which linked the tires to 134 highway deaths and more than 400 injuries due to
tread separation failures. The tires in
question are the 235/75R15 ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires built at the
Decatur, IL plant and were standard equipment on the Ford Explorer. In an effort to successfully replace the
recalled tires, Firestone implemented several different incentive programs. Five days into the recall, they had already
replaced more than 200,000 tires for customers across the US. Firestone has doubled production of the same
size tires to about 250,000 a week and is increasing imports. Authorization has also been given to the
Firestone stores to use other manufacturers’ tires as replacements in order to
shorten its schedule for completing the recall.
From the beginning, Ford’s CEO Jacques Nasser, was all over the media blaming Firestone solely for the rollover crashes, claiming that it was strictly a tire issue. Ford waged a brilliant and ruthless PR campaign to separate its vehicle from the tires in question. In no case has Ford even hinted that its vehicles could be at fault. Instead, all implied blame has been deflected toward Bridgestone/Firestone. In an attempt to downplay Ford’s part in the recall, Ford CEO Nasser has appeared on TV more times than the castaways from “Survivor.” Instead of striking back immediately, Bridgestone/Firestone remained silent. Firestone’s St. Louis based PR firm, Fleischman/Hilliard, wanted to start an aggressive campaign to fight back against the negative statements being made. Bridgestone President Yoichiro Kaizaki found it odd that there was a high accident rate only for the Ford Explorers fitted with the Bridgestone/Firestone tires and not for other carmakers’ vehicles that used the same products. “We can’t say it is a problem with the Explorer but we can say the accident rate is much higher on the Explorer than with any other vehicle,” Kaizaki said. Nonetheless, Firestone’s former CEO, Masatoshi Ono did not agree with Fleischman/Hilliard’s strategy and would not let them move forward. Disgusted with Firestone’s passive attitude, Fleischman/Hilliard resigned over Labor Day Weekend. Kaizaki has come under criticism for keeping silent about the scandal. He said he did not speak out earlier because he felt it would be inappropriate to do so before the September testimony of Bridgestone/Firestone CEO Masatoshi Ono before the US Senate Appropriations Transportation subcommittee. In October, Ketchum was hired as the new PR firm. On October 10th, John Lampe succeeded Masatoshi Ono as chairman and CEO of Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. His first act as CEO was to offer an apology to those who had suffered death, injury or property loss while riding on Firestone tires.
NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) earlier asked
Firestone to recall another 1.4 million tires that they claimed had more
problems than the recalled ones.
Firestone officials refused, saying NHTSA’s data was flawed, but added
if consumers asked they would replace any of those tires. On October 16th, Firestone
announced that they would replace, free of charge, 1.4 million tires beyond the
6.5 million covered by the recall. The
additional tires include 24 tire models of various sizes, including further
sizes of ATX’s, as well as certain tires from the Firehawk, ATX 23 Degree,
Widetrack Radial Baja, Wilderness AT and Wilderness HT lines. Most of the additional tires were sold as
replacement equipment.
On November 1st, President Clinton signed the TREAD Act
(Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation) into
law. This Act orders the federal
government to revise the 32-year-old tire safety standard, establishes rollover
testing for vehicles, and mandates dashboard indicators to warn motorists of
low tire pressure. The Act also
requires tire and auto executives to notify the government within five days of
foreign safety recalls and customer satisfaction programs, and sets maximum
penalties of 15 years in prison for executives who try to cover up deadly or
injurious defects. Clinton said the Act
“responds directly to some of the key shortcomings in identifying the recent
Firestone tire problem.” President
Clinton also believes that some of the deaths and injuries associated with
these tires might have been prevented if automobile manufacturers and their
suppliers had been required to provide the government with more timely
information about potential safety defects.
On September 20th, the Saudi Arabian government issued a
notice to all vehicle exporters that “effective immediately, the import into
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of the entire range of Firestone tires is
prohibited. New or used vehicles will
be rejected if found to have Firestone tires.”
Bridgestone/Firestone does not believe that the ban is justified under
the rules of the World Trade Organization.
The National Highway and Safety Administration is currently
investigating all reports.
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
Global Tire Sales
In
the world tire market, the three main players are Michelin with 19.2% of the
sales, Bridgestone/ Firestone with 18.8%, and Goodyear with 16.8%. The total world sales for 1998 were $67.38
billion. Together these three
manufacturers account for more than half of these sales. The following graph further depicts this
information.
North American Market Leaders
For
the United States and Canadian market, the same three manufacturers are again
the market leaders. Goodyear came in 1st
with 28% of this market, Bridgestone/ Firestone has 23.1%, and Michelin has
22.7%. Total sales for the United
States and Canadian market were $22.5 billion.
This figure accounts for one third of the world market. These markets have been relatively stagnate due
to no large changes in trends before the recall.
Firestone Brands
Firestone has a flag brand, house brand and a private label. The flag brand is the name that everyone is familiar with, such as Firestone, Michelin and Goodyear. The house brand is the same tire, but branded with a lesser-known name on the sidewall. This tire is generally less expensive because the manufacturer does not advertise this brand as aggressively as they do the flag brand. The manufacturer has control over the distribution of this line. A private label brand is produced for another distributor. The distributor pays the manufacturer a fee to produce a certain number of tires per year. The manufacturer has no control over this distribution channel. Multiple brands, both flag, private, and house brands, are a characteristic of a great deal of tire companies. Goodyear and Bridgestone/Firestone both employ this strategy, while Michelin carries only a flag brand. The following table details the brands of the three market share leading companies.
|
Bridgestone/Firestone |
Goodyear |
Michelin |
|
o
Goodyear o
Dunlop o
Kelly o
Fulda o
Debica o
Sava |
|
Financial Position
In terms of financial positions, all companies in
the tire industry are suffering. An
analysis of the three market leaders shows that the companies are suffering
from reduced profits brought on by competitive pricing pressure and increasing
costs. An analysis of the environmental
factors driving the reduced profits is discussed later in this paper. As a result of the reduced profits, share
prices of the three companies are suffering.
Production Capacity
From a production advantage standpoint, Goodyear and
Firestone are clear leaders in North America.
Goodyear, Bridgestone/Firestone, and Michelin have daily North American
production capacities of 233,000, 173,000, and 81,000, respectively. Obviously, Goodyear and Firestone can react
much quicker to the North American market conditions by having a significant portion
of capacity based in the US.
Research of the leading three companies found that
they each have common strategic goals in terms of production. Production is a major component of costs
that each company can control.
Reduction in these costs will result in increased profit margin and
competitive advantage. Therefore, each
company has outlined similar goals of increasing production in low-cost
countries, exploring new manufacturing technology, and improving production
efficiency
Degree of Integration
Degree of integration enables one to understand the degree of ownership, control of distribution, and supply channels of a company. Firestone and Goodyear both maintain a large degree of ownership and control of their supply channels through company owned retail replacement tire stores. Both companies own over 800 stores each in the United States. This gives the two companies a significant advantage over Michelin in the replacement market in terms of integration in the replacement market.
Distribution channels are the means in which products reach the end consumer. In the case of the replacement market, independent tire dealers sell over 63% of tires to consumers. Mass merchandisers, tire stores, and wholesale clubs make up the next largest method of distribution at 18%, 9.5%, and 7% respectively.
Post-Recall Market Share
Because the Firestone tire recall was so recent,
quantitative numbers in terms of market share are not available to date. However, both Goodyear and Michelin claim
they increased market share in the third quarter due to the Firestone
recall. These claims can be supported
by sales increase reports. Meanwhile,
Firestone has reported a decrease in demand for its tires resulting in the
closing of several North American plants.
INDUSTRY CHANGES
There have been many industry changes that either have affected all tire manufacturers or may affect them in the near future. These are changes which occur in the environment and include political/legal, economic, and technological changes.
Political/Legal Changes
The Product Liability Reform: Some tire dealers are being successfully sued by the third owner of a vehicle for tires the dealer legally and properly sold to the first owner. This Reform would (a) limit or eliminate the liability of companies who unknowingly sell or service defective products, and (b) significantly limit the liability of manufacturers when it is proved that consumer neglect contributed to the failure of an otherwise reliable, quality product. Of course, attorneys are against such a Reform being put into law as it could negatively impact their business. Because most legislatures are also attorneys, it seems unlikely that such a measure will be passed by Congress.
Criminal Penalties Bill: This is a house commerce subcommittee bill that includes (a) criminal penalties for falsifying/withholding information about defective products, (b) prohibits sales of replaced equipment, and (c) enables NHTSA to create new reporting requirements for auto equipment manufacturers.
It should also be noted that the legal costs of the Firestone recall are expected to cost the company $350 million dollars above and beyond the other recall costs.
Economic Conditions
Trucking Industry: The trucking industry appears to be tightening. Two large trucking companies, Freightliner and Navistar have already responded to decreasing truck orders by announcing huge layoffs. Many trucking companies are presently running on losses due to high fuel costs. This can negatively impact the tire industry. Because truck tires are a large part of the industry, fewer trucks on the road mean less business.
Raw Material Costs: High oil and rubber prices have resulted in huge increases in the production cost of tires. This has lead to the formation of RubberNetwork.com, which was created by the seven largest tire manufacturers. The website hosts a global exchange as the industry hopes to gain better control over raw material prices by partnering and consolidating purchases.
Weak Euro: The weak euro is hurting international business in many industries, including the tire industry. The Central Banks of Europe continue to buy up more euros in an attempt to prop up the currency.
Technological Changes
Increased tread life: The tread life of a tire has increased significantly over the past century, while the cost of tires has decreased. In 1903 the tread life of a passenger tire was only 500 miles. In 1973 it had increased to 24,000 miles, and in just the last 25 years the tread life has almost doubled to about 43,800 miles.
Run Flat Technology: This innovation allows a tire to function normally for 50 miles at 50 MPH after a puncture has occurred. This can help automakers reduce the overall vehicle weight and increase luggage space because the need for carrying a spare tire is eliminated. Also, the run flat tires can enhance safety and do away with the need for changing a tire immediately at the site of a puncture.
Manufacturing improvements: The tire industry is moving toward more automated tire manufacturing that can improve efficiency and make quicker production changes to meet specific customer needs.
Air pressure monitors: These are internal monitors that let the driver know the air pressure of his tires from inside the car.
B2B E-commerce: This is relatively new in the tire industry. It gives dealers easy online means to move overstock, find needed tires and control inventories, not just locally, but globally.
U.S. MARKET SEGMENTS
The largest segments in the tire industry are Passenger tires and Light Truck tires. Passenger tires are designed to fit on all cars, many of smaller SUV’s, and many trucks. Light Truck tires are also on SUV’s and full size trucks. The light truck tires are a little bigger and more durable, with heavier plies. In each of these segments, the replacement market is the largest, however, the Original Equipment market is very important.
Original
Equipment
In the Original
Equipment market, Goodyear has 36.7%, Michelin has 28% and
Firestone/Bridgestone has 21%. Tire
manufacturers usually do not make a profit on original equipment contracts, and
many may in fact lose money, but they all want to capture as much of this
market as they can. It is much better
for a plant to operate at full capacity, than to sit idle. A manufacturer can afford to sell their
tires at a lower price when they are used as original equipment because it is
practically free advertising. This puts
their tires out on the vehicles that are sitting on the showroom floors, and on
the vehicles that are being purchased.
Many people replace their tires with the same kinds that are on it when
they purchase their vehicle. The
owner’s manual even has a statement advising customers to replace the tires
with the same type that came on the vehicle as original equipment. Trends in the original equipment market
definitely have an impact on the replacement market.
Replacement Tires
Flag brands account for more
than one half of the replacement market in both passenger and light truck
tires. However, private and house brands
still make up a large portion of the market.
In the overall replacement tire market, Goodyear has 16% of the market,
Firestone has 10% and Michelin controls 7%.
It is important to know where the replacement tires are being sold, so
manufacturers can target those areas.
Independent tire dealers sell more than 55% of the replacement tires,
mass merchandisers sell 18%, tire company stores sell 8.5% and the remaining
18% are purchased from wholesale clubs/discounters, service stations and other
outlets. This explains the importance
of the independent dealers to tire manufacturers. Firestone has an important ally in its’ independent dealers. For it is the independent dealer, trusted in
his or her community, who will change the public perception of the company and
its products.
BRAND LOYALTY
Thirty-five
percent of vehicle owners are brand loyal to the original equipment brands that
came on their vehicles. When it is time
to purchase new tires, these consumers will buy the same brand that the
manufacturer put on the vehicle.
Whereas, 33% of the people will replace their tires with the same brand
that is presently on their vehicle, but did not necessarily come OE. These consumers are loyal to their
replacement tires. Previously, tire
purchases were considered to be in a low interest category, but suddenly the
press has elevated tires into a high interest category, placing much emphasis
on safety. It will be interesting to
see how much, if any, this changes in relation to the media coverage.
SWOT ANALYSIS
The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis provides a framework by which to determine where Firestone should proceed in the future and how they will get there.
Weaknesses
Weaknesses are the internal characteristics of a company that serve obstacles the company may possess the ability to overcome. Since the recall, the list of weaknesses for Firestone has increased substantially. The weaknesses are as follows:
1. Loss of Firestone brand credibility: Due to the quantity and publicity of deaths and injuries caused by the Firestone tires recalled, the Firestone brand is currently associated with unsafe tires that threaten lives.
2. Japanese cultural barriers: It seems apparent that the Japanese leaders of Firestone did not react to the recall in a manner which American consumers embraced. It is quite possible that the Japanese leaders were unprepared from a cultural perspective to handle the crisis in America.
3. Production and design problems: Since the recall, evidence suggests that Firestone had significant quality problems with the recalled tires.
4. Loss of Original Equipment market share: Since Firestone’s initial reaction to the crisis was to blame one of its largest customers and Ford’s reaction was to isolate itself from the bad press, Ford has decided to use Goodyear on future Explorer models.
5. Poor financial position: In an industry already burdened with financial pressures, Firestone will be further burdened by legal costs and settlements.
6. Employee moral: A labor strike ended days before the recall was announced. Disgruntled workers reported that Firestone neglected to resolve quality issues in plants. Furthermore, any poor employee moral could negatively impact production efficiency.
Threats
Threats are the external characteristics that a company must recognize and must develop strategies to avoid or overcome. Since the recall, the list of threats for Firestone has increased substantially. The threats are as follows:
1. Increases
in raw material prices: The cost of oil
and rubber forces Firestone to find other costs under its control to reduce.
2. Competitive
environment does not allow price increases.
3. Media
coverage: The American media has used
paranoia from the recall to alarm consumers while increasing their ratings.
4. Joint ventures among internal competitors: Competitive pressure has led competitors to form joint ventures in order to expedite technological innovations in the tire industry.
5. Government regulation: The United States government has passed new laws requiring improved safety capabilities on new tires. Under financial stress, Firestone may have difficulty innovating these capabilities at the same rate as the industry.
6. Lack of consumer confidence: Consumers do not trust Firestone. Firestone made a mistake by blaming Ford and by blaming consumers for under-inflating the recalled tires.
Strengths
Strengths are the internal characteristics of a company that it may use to its advantage. Firestone will rely heavily on its strengths to weather the recall. The strengths are as follows:
1. Bridgestone name and support: Firestone fortunately has a second flag brand called Bridgestone. While the current market share for Bridgestone is relatively low, Firestone possesses favorable distribution channels to increase the Bridgestone market. Additionally, Firestone can use the support and expertise of their Bridgestone counterparts in Japan to expedite sales of the Bridgestone brand.
2. Firestone appointed an American CEO who appears to understand how to manage this crisis in America. Since his appointment, he has apologized to American consumers and absorbed full blame for the recall. Furthermore, he has implemented strategies to project Firestone’s commitment to being a leader in quality since the recall.
3. The recall will end by November 2000, a much sooner date than originally anticipated. The quicker Firestone can put the recall behind them, the sooner they can work on regaining consumer trust.
4. Firestone has a good mix of flag, house, and private brands. Firestone can shore up some of the Firestone brand market share loss with its other brands.
5. The dealers’ support of the Firestone brand and products. Dealers can influence public opinion in Firestone’s favor at the point of sale.
6. Successful racing team: Firestone has a championship racing team by which to promote the quality and safety of its tires.
7. The Firestone brand is widely recognized.
8. Firestone is deeply penetrated in the tire market, holding the number one spot globally and possessing well-established channels of distribution.
Opportunities
Opportunities are the external characteristics of a company that it may
pursue to its advantage. Firestone will
need to leverage any opportunities carefully, quickly, and effectively. The opportunities are as follows:
1. Increase consumer tire care education: This is a risky endeavor. However, if Firestone can become the industry spokesman for tire care resulting in safe consumers, they will overcome the poor public opinion.
2. Use
dealers to change public opinion:
Dealers will be the key to Firestones ability to portray themselves
favorably to consumers. The dealer will
need to be perceived as a liaison between the consumers and Firestone with
nothing to gain from promoting Firestone.
3. Seek
out lower cost production sites:
Firestone needs to cut costs in every area it can control. Cooperative ventures in China are an
opportunity to cut labor costs. Using
B2B e-commerce to optimize the supply chain will lower costs.
4. Run flat and tire monitor technology: Firestone needs to be a leader and the first to market this technology.
5. Industry regulation: Firestone needs to be a leader in pursuing industry regulation. Furthermore, they need to be the first to meet and exceed regulations.
SWOT Placement
Opportunities Threats
Strengths Quadrant One Quadrant Two
Weaknesses Quadrant Three Quadrant Four
Based on the overwhelming amount of weaknesses and threats resulting from the recall, Firestone is in the Weakness/Threats quadrant (quadrant four) of the SWOT matrix. However, with the implementation of an effective strategy using the strengths of the company to optimize opportunities, Firestone can quickly overcome its weaknesses and change its opportunities to strengths. This would put them in the Strength/Threat quadrant (quadrant two). Firestone would remain in a threat quadrant due to the continuous economic and competitive pressures of the tire industry.
PRODUCT MARKET APPROACHES
In order to gain back market share lost by the recall, Firestone must employ the value equation to understand where it should focus its strategic efforts. This equation is:
Value = Economic + Social + Psychological
Because the recall has raised awareness of safety and caused a certain amount of consumer paranoia, the majority of consumers more than likely find most value from a tire in the psychological realm. Based on this analysis, Firestone should focus on rebuilding the image of Firestone. Firestone can do this by leveraging on the following opportunities:
o Be first to market in run flat and tire monitor products.
o Lead and exceed industry regulations.
o Utilize dealers in its deeply penetrated distribution channels to communicate the safety image of Firestone tires.
o Substitute short-term losses in the Firestone brand by increasing the promotion of the Bridgestone flag brand and the remaining house and private brands.
By implementing these strategies effectively, Firestone may weather the short-term financial struggles and lead the market in the long run, leading the industry in technology, safety, and brand market share increase.
FUNCTIONAL
STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT
The functional strategy development involves objectives for a target market, relative position, brand, pricing, promotion, and distribution. It is imperative for Firestone to develop a strong strategy to keep the market share that it currently has as well as attempt to gain back the market share that it has recently lost. Firestone’s marketing teams must implement some specific goals consistent with that of the entire organization.
Target Market
Firestone should target the world’s automakers as original equipment customers. As noted earlier, when the time comes to replace a vehicle’s tires, over 30% of vehicle owners are brand loyal to the original equipment tires on their car. This is such an important market because tires will need to be replaced approximately every 50,000 miles and one vehicle may require 2-3 sets of replacement tires in its lifetime. Also, by having Firestone tires on new vehicles, it is getting the brand name out into the public and showing a level of trust among the automakers.
Relative Position
Due to the recall situation, Firestone’s position in the original equipment market has been faltering, especially in the SUV segment. Firestone has already lost its contract to Goodyear to provide tires on the Ford Explorer. Firestone should now concentrate on increasing contracts with automakers for compact cars and sedans.
Product/Brand
Firestone must continue to use its flag brands as original equipment (Firestone and Bridgestone), because that is what the automakers require. However, to the consumer market, Firestone should consider pushing it’s Bridgestone brand as well as its house brands and private labels.
Pricing
In order to obtain original equipment contracts, Firestone must decrease the price of its tires in that segment, even if it requires taking an initial loss in revenue. It is very important for Firestone to get its tires out on the market in an effort to regain public trust. However, in the replacement market it will be necessary to keep prices stable or slightly increase them due to increasing raw material and production prices.
Promotional
From a promotion standpoint, Firestone should push the Bridgestone name and other house brands and private labels. Also, Firestone needs to take a strong stand as advocates of consumer education in the tire industry. This can involve free air pressure checks and tread inspections on all its tires at any Firestone distribution outlet. Firestone should also become the safety leader in the industry. This means being the first to market safety related technological advancements.
Distribution
In the original equipment market, Firestone
will deliver directly to the auto manufacturers. In the replacement market, Firestone should emphasize
distribution through the independent dealers who are trusted and perceived as
knowledgeable in their communities.
Also, Firestone has a direct means of distribution through its company stores.
CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, we believe that Firestone has a chance to redeem itself and recover its losses from the recall. This can only be done if consumer confidence can be restored. In order to do this, the company must be forthcoming with safety information regarding its tires. Firestone must capitalize on new technologies available in the industry. They must use leverage in distribution channels and emphasize the varied brand mix that is available with their products. Finally, Firestone must be an industry leader in meeting and exceeding government regulations and standards. Firestone’s brand image will not be able to recover overnight from the damage the recall has done. In fact, in some cases consumers can be very unforgiving. However, through time and some smart marketing techniques, Firestone just may be able to weather the storm.
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Websites
American Public Transportation Association Website. www.apta.com
Firestone Website. www.firestone.com
Good year Website. www.goodyear.com
Michelin Website. www.michelin .com
Tire Business Website. www.tirebusiness.com.
U.S. Department of Transportation Websitre. www.bts.gov