Strength Of Goodyear

The competitive advantage for Canadian Tire stems from the dependency on its dealers and how they interact with their local economy and community. As the dealers are at the front line in garnering profits and attracting and retaining customers, it is critical that they adjust the supplies and stocks accordingly to the needs of their community. The competitive advantage for the Canadian Tire brand relies on three key elements that the dealers possess in order to support a growing and profitable business. According to the Canadian Tire Annual Report (2010), the brand depends on the “business instincts, [the dealer’s] connection and commitment to their communities and their local market insights to ensure [they’re] offering relevant products at competitive prices” (p. 29).

Their core competency from the Tire Business was no longer a major part of their sales pitch. And many sales people felt that their previous technical knowledge had become redundant.

The auto industry and area of commerce in which automobile models are planned, designed, manufactured, and marketed. The automobile industry is concerned with profits and competition. And depending on the country consumer demands for styling, safety, and efficiency differ and with labor relations and manufacturing efficiency too.

The Goodyear name has been one of the most recognized brands in the tire industry around the world. They are known for having a superior quality product through the price and positions they have chosen. Their slogan, “The best tires in the world have Goodyear written all over them,” (Kerin, 2005) provides their customers with a high class message and creates an importance for them to preserve the accessibility of their high value brands. Unfortunately, consumers have become more price conscious about their tire purchases and less focused on loyalty to a specific brand. They experienced a 3.2% decline in the market share for the tires associated with passenger car replacement (Kerin, 2005). Because of this change, Goodyear has seen a drop in their sales. With already 2 million Goodyear brand tires, which have been worn out, being replaced at 850 Sears Auto Center locations annually, Goodyear reopened previous discussions with Sears to possibly sell their Eagle brand tires or all Goodyear tire brands through them. Choosing to do so could create great benefits for the company but could also generate turmoil within their franchises and other retail chains where their brands are sold. Before making the final decision, they must determine how this move will affect their franchisees, are they willing to significantly change their distribution policy, what brands Goodyear will allow to be retailed through the Sears network, and how cannibalization of their brands sold via other

Achieving world class business performance is a major challenge in today’s society. Manufacturing companies continue to face increased competition and globalization from its competitors. (1, p. 148). The automotive industry is one of the most volatile manufacturing industries that we have, which was evident in the 2008 – 2010 automotive industry crisis. (2) This global financial downturn served notice to the American automotive manufactures to raise the bar, in order to achieve word class business performance. General Motors, one of the country’s largest automotive manufactures, had to receive a government bailout to survive. During this time many with the corporation asked themselves, if we were a world class business, would we be facing

In the end Goodyear tried to do too much and forgot their market and what made them so great in the first place. It is shown that in the ‘80s and early ‘90s Goodyear was in commanding lead of their competitors in the segment they were targeting. I believe that if they were going to launch the tire, then broadening their channels to a

As we know GM is an automobile industry and is flourished all over the world, so it has a huge impact from all countries. Even though GM is a strong brand in North America and all over the world, not all the brands are sold in the market. The fact that when a consumer spends his or her a part of savings on purchasing a car, he or she may may give high considerations to utilities like fuel economy, quality, safety, price and value. GM brands differ from this kind of utlities. Also discount price, warranty etc affect their minds on buying motive. Though GM suffered heavy losses in the year 2008 due to global recession and bankruptcy, still today company gets surplus profits as majority 73% consumers still respond to GM cars, who they might buy in future. This

High Performance Tire is a retail tire chain and was formed by Harry and Edna Wallace in 1952. Around the 1960’s they passed it down to their daughter Jane Wallace. And then in 2001, Jane transferred her responsibilities to her son William for day-to-day management. However, William had always had a privileged and carefree life and it seemed that even with his MBA in both marketing and finance, he would not be able to run the company successfully. His actions led to Jane having to step in by early 2004.

I have chosen two major international automotive manufacturing companies for this annual report project. General Motors Co. a Delaware Corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and its international competitor Daimler AH a German Corporation located in Stuffgart, Germany. These two companies build and sell cars, trucks and automotive parts. The two auto giants also provide financial services to their customer base. General Motors brands include Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac, Holden, Open and Vauxhall. Daimler AG brands include Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, FUSO, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses and BharatBenz.

General Motors Company is an American global auto-manufacturer with its headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. It is world’s second largest automaker after Toyota. GM is conducting business in more than 157 countries, employing over 209,000 people. It manufacture cars and trucks in 31 countries and sell, service its product through these divisions-Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Opel, Holden and Vauxhall. It was established in 1908. It has led global sales for continuous 77 years from 1931 to 2007. In recent years GM has faced many financial losses i.e. 103.7 billion loss from year 2005-2009. In 2009 it was reorganized by US government under bankruptcy protection program. It was re-listed on major stock exchanges in 2010 with the world’s

General Motors (GM) is a largest automotive manufacturer in the world in terms of market capital and production capability. During its 100 years of business, the firm has produced more than 400 million automobiles, and continue to grow its business in the different regions. The firm has been growing in sales, acquiring other brands, and implement new products and technology to serve for consumers around the world. After the firm has filed the bankruptcy protection in 2009, GM continues re-structure its management, re-focused its core business, which are GMC, Cadillac, Buick, and Chevrolet support GM competing in the automotive market. This automotive portfolio provides Gm a significant ongoing revenue, and support the firm to grow and expand its market shares in a foreseeable future.

We agree with critics that Toyota sacrificed its quality to become global market leader. Because, they forgot their core competencies and put aside the value of quality that they created for their customers. The company is at the point of losing its quality edge because the quality and safety are the most important features of automobiles. Although, Toyota has a reputation for a long time in the industry, this reputation is fading due to customer complaints and dissatisfaction. According to Fisher “It takes a very long time to establish a reputation for safety and reliability. It doesn’t take very long to lose it.”. It is a very valid proposition especially according to today’s market. Because, buyers have various options between the car manufacturers. Total quality management concept and lean manufacturing are discovered by the competitiors of Toyota. It means that, Toyota is not the only player who concernes about quality and customer. The roles in the game are changed and current competitors improve themselves according to the customer expectations and put customer into center of their business. So it is a tough environment for Toyota to gain their customer loyalty

It has long been held that one of the major goals of marketing is to generate and maintain brand awareness. When executed properly the awareness creates positive attitude of the customers towards the particular Brand.

The merger between Daimler and Chrysler was expected to be a success in the economy especially with the current trend and demand in the automotive sector. Daimler is considered one of the most successful and profitable automotive companies across the globe. Founded in 1893 as the Daimler Motor Syndicate Ltd, its growth and expansion in the automotive sector has been facilitated by the need to meet the interests and needs of its key stakeholders (Barnard, 1998). The vehicles that are manufactured by the company are of high standard and the quality is top-notch. Most of its customers are concerned with the satisfaction level that they achieve when they purchase the motor vehicles. The implementation of the luxurious car segment meant that the trend in the economy has considerably changed and there was need for improving the brand image and the superiority of the products offered.

Chrysler is the largest automobile manufacture in the United States. In the recent years, the company is facing many obstacles. Chrysler established a poor business strategy and lack of innovation that resulted in financial problems. From a strategic management view, they were more unsettled than any other automakers. Their business strategy was focusing on SUV and trucks in an economy where gas prices were high and consumers were looking for more fuel efficient vehicles. Another poor business strategy was the historic May 1998, merger deal with a German automobile Daimler-Benz AG (Daimler) It was called the “marriage of equals” (Garsten, 2000). The mergers have failed to achieve the expected results. At the time of the merger, Chrysler was the most profitable and cost efficient carmaker and Daimler was known as the luxury carmaker. Daimler relied heavy on quality and Chrysler was prone toward cost effective vehicles. Culture crash also failed because there were a