Website Research: Bridgestone

Vishal Patel MGT 571 - Competing in Domestic and International Markets Feb 06, 2014 Dr. Malka Sullivan University

Bridgestone Bridgestone is a tire and rubber company that was started by Shojiro Ishibashi in 1931 in Japan. Ishibashi realized the future demand for tires and started the company. The company today aspires to become the world's number one manufacturer of tires. the company's philosophy lies in respecting the local culture while giving its best to the communities where they operate. According to Masaaki Tsuya, CEO of Bridgestone corporation, as a company they respect " the cultures and values and comply with the laws and regulations of the many places where we operate" (Bridgestone Corporation, 2014a). The company has forward integration and backward integration. The company offers production, sales and services in global locations. Vertical Integration The vertical integration of the company includes development of its sales networks in various parts of the world. "Through vertical expansion in the upstream sectors of the supply chain", the company aims to control the quality of its products and cost from the raw material level to sales. The company has about 24,000 hectares of rubber farms in Indonesia and 48,000 hectares in Liberia (Bridgestone Corporation, 2014b). The company also procures raw materials from its suppliers for production. The research and development of in-house production technology tries to create new synthetic materials that are strategically important to be competitive in the market. There are several plants that working in various parts of the world like "USA, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, Asia and Japan" (Bridgestone Corporation, 2014b). The company's retail stores are present across the world and the company is planning to increase the network of stores to enhance its reach to the customers.

Benefits and liabilities: With the slogan of "Think Globally, Act Locally", the company started the tire safety project to ensure tire safety, educational support in different parts of the world and increasing forest areas in US, China, Thailand and Philippines (Bridgestone Corporation, 2014d). The company produces enormous amounts CO2 emissions. So the company is trying to incorporate plans for developing eco-friendly products and services. The company has operational risks like the natural disasters, economic difficulties, legal problems, competition from rivals in the industry, product defects, raw material procurement etc (Bridgestone Corporation, 2014c). Though the company has vertical integration starts right from the raw material production, it has liability on raw material procurement to supplement its production activities.

References
Competing in Domestic & International Markets. Sullivan University, 2012. Mc Donald's 2010 Balance Report, Retrieved in Jan, 14. 2014.

Bridgestone Corporation. (2014a). Strategy. Retrieved from http://www.bridgestone.com/corporate/strategy/index.html Bridgestone Corporation. (2014b). From raw materials to the end user. Retrieved from http://www.bridgestone.com/corporate/library/brochure/pdf/bs_profile_06.pdf Bridgestone Corporation. (2014c). Operational risks. Retrieved from http://www.bridgestone.com/corporate/library/annual_report/pdf/bs_annual_2012_financi al_03.pdf Bridgestone Corporation. (2014d). Think globally, act locally. Retrieved from http://www.bridgestone.com/corporate/library/brochure/pdf/bs_profile_08.pdf