transactions. RecommendationsWe recommend that Firestone take specific steps to accomplish good faith and quality back to their consumers. Firestone will need to focus on the European market as a major buyer of their products and emphasize the passenger car market. Working to build better OEM relations and upgrading plants will not only push them to better technology but will create a "checks and balances" type environment. They will need to rewrite procedures from the bottom up, creating new policies to coexist with the upgrade of the plant. We recommend for their relations with consumers to concentrate on rebuilding market share in the U.S. by initiating a PR campaign that brings to light Firestone's ISO 9000 certification and focus on product quality and safety. ImplementationYears 1-5Car manufacturers account for a large portion of the tire market. For this reason we feel that Firestone should work to build better OEM relations. This will help Firestone to maintain its profits and market share while going through this turbulent stage. This should be pursued throughout the implementation process and may become a permanent part of Firestone's marketing program.Years 1-4We feel that Firestone should implement these changes over a five-year term. The first step in implementing these changes will be to focus on the European market where Firestone has seen an increase in market .Firestone's problems have received much less publicity in the European market and the potential for increasing market share is much better than in the US market.While focusing on the European market, emphasis should be moved from the light truck market to the passenger car market. Firestone's recent problems have been confined to their light truck tires with no real damage being done to their reputation as a quality passenger car tire manufacturer. Firestone's greatest growth potential lies in the passenger car section of the European market.Years 2-4...
