Challenges Facing Goodyear Essay -- Business Management Consumerism Ti

Challenges Facing GoodyearProblem Statement there be several challenges facing Goodyear in the currentenvironment. Our sales have leveled run into in the past few years and weneed to increase our merchandiseplace sh be in order to improve these numbers. Our debt is high and our interest payments ar eating a port at ourprofiles so we need to get more than income to pay down this debt. Themore immediate question is if Goodyear should launch its sensitive line ofAquatred tires. The tr completion has been toward higher mileage tires andthe Aquatred tire is not in line with this trend, being more of ahigher end tire. Additionally, if we do specialise that we are exhalationto launch the Aquatred, do we start the advertising during theOlympics when we dont have all the tire sizes available? We are alsodetermining if remaining with our current distri bution channel is the outdo approach or if we need to expand the way our tires get tomarket. If we mold that we are dismissal to ex pand our distributionchannels, we then have to determine which tires, we are going to offerin the new channels. Finally, our market division in the replacementmarket is lacking not sure this is true, and since consumers touch thatbuying tires is a necessity we have to find a way to make them excitedabout purchasing our product. Goodyear used to be considered thegorilla in tire producers, but with increased competition in late(a)years, that is not longer the case. IssuesConsumer model and expectationsEssentially, consumers fall into 4 basic segments. There are Price-constrained buyers who buy the best brand they canafford. They do not show any loyalty toward any brand and tend to shop around for tires so we would have to get our tired in straw man ofthem and be the best priced. There are the Value-oriented buyers that shop around a lot to getthe best price, but would generally buy study brands only so we wouldprobably be able to capture this buyer because of our brand name, butw e would need competitive pricing. There are the timber buyers who were loyal to the outlet and thebrand of tire. These consumers were generally upscale and are goingto be our main target audience and the challenge here would be to getthe tire to the outlet that the consumer is comfortable buying at andcommunicating the difference in our tire verses our competitors. Finall... ... and concern was put forth by the company totry to make tires as safe as possible. This is a positive spin on thecompany as a whole, which should return to higher sales for ourother tire products. In conclusion, we have a unique opportunity to take advantage of aniche market that is as of yet untapped. We have already purchasedadvertising time at the Olympics for which we are going introduce ournew Aquatred tire, as well as promote Goodyears continuing quest forsafety and quality. We are going to open up new distribution channelsfor our lower end tires so as to increase market share in these areas, while e nsuring that our independent dealers sales are respected andpromoted as much as possible. This is a very exciting time forGoodyear and the Aquatred tire. A little long, but I like your plan ofaction.Most important attributes for consumers when purchasing a new tire1. Tread Life2. Wet Traction3. use4. Snow traction5. Dry tractionUS market for passenger Tires Replacement OEM Total Industry 152.0 43 195Goodyear 22.8 16.3 39.1Goodyears percent 15% 38% 20%