Firestone

To: Ms. Busteed

From: Lin Feng

Date: April 29th, 2013

Re: Case Analysis for Firestone

Analysis of Current Situation

Firestone is a tire company who supplied tires for Ford's popular SUV, and it is facing numerous problems with the quality of the tires. The first problem that Firestone had with their tires was first noticed in Saudi Arabia. Firestone did not take the initiative to help to replace the tires when Ford asked for assistance. This was a huge problem because it just led to more car crashes because they did not recall the tires. It was not a wise move to not recall the tires because the more car accidents happened, the sooner people found out about the problem, and it affected the company's reputation. Firestone might have thought it is a wise move to not recall the tires at that time because they did not want to take the responsibilities and pay more to offer replacement tires. (Refer to Appendix A)

Another problem that Firestone was facing is that they lost their biggest consumer, Ford. Instead of taking the initiative to support the recall, they blamed Ford for the tire failures, and claimed that the Ford Explorer was an unstable vehicle. Leading to the end of Ford and Firestone 100 year supply relationship. (Refer to Appendix A)

The last problem with Firestone is that they also blamed consumers for negligent driving. Firestone blamed everyone for the tire failures except themselves. They blamed the strike at the plant for making products of poor quality; due to the insufficient time that Firestone had given to the plant to bond the tires together permanently.

Alternatives Courses of Action

1. Recall all the defective products

2. Stop supplying defective tires for Ford vehicles

3. Plan time efficiently at plants to allow for correctly bonded tires

1. Recall all the defective products

Based on the analysis of Firestone's current situation, a number of possible solutions could have saved the company. In the first place, Firestone should...