In our previous blog, we had done a complete SWOT Analysis of India’s largest tyre manufacturer, MRF Tyres. In this article, we are going to break down the SWOT analysis of Bridgestone – One of the largest tire and rubber companies.
The history started way back in 1931 by a seventeen-year-old Shojiro Ishibashi, a boy from Japan from the creation of Jika tabi (socks with rubber soles used as work shoes) and using the capital to make tires. The Bridgestone company has now created a benchmark and is the world’s leading tire manufacturing company.
Another aspect that made Bridgestone the giant it is now in its marketing efforts. As the world goes digital, marketing of the brand changes and if you are interested in learning about the latest- check out our Free MasterClass on Digital Marketing 101 by the CEO and founder of IIDE, Karan Shah.
In this blog, we will cover the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats surrounding Bridgestone. Before we begin, let us start learning about the company, its history, products, services and success.
About Bridgestone
(Founder – Shojiro Ishibashi, Source: IIDE)
Bridgestone is a Japanese company based in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan which is in the manufacturing of auto and truck parts. Bridgestone delivers a wide range of tires to customers around the world, such as tires for passenger cars, trucks and buses, aircraft, construction and mining vehicles, motorcycles, etc.
Bridgestone’s journey began in 1931 when Shojiro Ishibashi started manufacturing tires. Bridgestone’s manufacturing of rubber was dependent on European and North American technology and largely on Japanese technology. Gradually the company improved its manufacturing process which led to the business rapidly expanding in domestic and overseas markets.
Today, Bridgestone has about 180 manufacturing plants and R&D facilities in 24 countries. The revenue market of Bridgestone consists of 24% from Japan, 45% in America and 13% from China and the Asia Pacific regions. Whenever you want to travel and you look for innovative technologies with comfort, Bridgestone is one of them which provides quality, safety, and technologies for the passengers inside the vehicle.
| Founder | Shojiro Ishibashi |
|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1931 |
| Origin | Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan |
| No. of Employees | 143,500+ |
| Company Type | Public |
| Market Cap | $25.35 Billion (2022) |
| Annual Revenue | ¥3.337 Trillion (2020) |
| Net Income/ Profit | $3.410 Billion (2021) |
Products & Services by Bridgestone
- Motor vehicle tires
- Rubber products
- Truck parts
Competitors of Bridgestone
- Continental
- Trelleborg
- Goodyear
- Michelin
Now that we understand the company’s core business, let’s delve into the SWOT Analysis of Bridgestone.
SWOT Analysis of Bridgestone
Talking about Bridgestone’s business, let’s understand how this corporation can cater to different individuals using SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis of Bridgestone helps us to understand companies through the lens of internal and external factors. Strength and weakness are based on internal factors whereas opportunities and threats rely on external factors of the bank.
Below is a step-by-step detailed guide to help you with the SWOT analysis of Bridgestone.
Strengths of Bridgestone
Bridgestone has numerous strengths that help it to thrive in the marketplace. These strengths not only help it to protect the market share in existing markets but also help in penetrating new markets. Some of the strengths of Bridgestone are
- Global Presence: With 16 R&D facilities around the world, about 180 manufacturing plants, and selling products in more than 150 countries worldwide the Bridgestone Group is eternally committed.
- Quality Products & Innovation: Bridgestone believes in serving society with superior quality. The Bridgestone group provides tires and a broad range of products and services with innovative technologies like lunar rover tires support, SUSYN, non-pneumatic tire technology, and more. Bridgestone never compensates with the high priority features like grip, fuel efficiency, durability, endurance, noise control.
- Global Digital Transformation: Bridgestone is leveraging advanced data analytics and smart tire technology worldwide. A digital transformation like technology facilitates consumer data between platforms, and aligned technology stack helps in sharing codes and interactions across website platforms.
- Financial Position: Bridgestone has a strong financial position. The growth aspect of Bridgestone is increasing which is leading to an increase in the cash flow of the company. Bridgestone’s annual cash flow for the year 2020 was $3.43B a 62.06% increase compared to 2019.
- Customer Needs: Bridgestone focuses on customer needs and it has various segments for all types of tyres with technology that drives business from local and global perspectives.
- Digital Partnerships: Bridgestone uses SaaS within their partner ecosystem to optimise the end-to-end supply chain and develop APIs to be able to move data around that supply chain. These digital partnerships help them reduce inventory and working capital, which results in faster execution and speedier times to market.
- Motorsport: Bridgestone is famous for its participation as a sponsor and installing Bridgestone tyres in cars of various motorsports such as 1980s Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula Ford, Formula Opel Lotus and karting. Official tyre supplier and world championship winner show the durability of Bridgestone tyres and a strong financial groundwork.
Weaknesses of Bridgestone
Weakness is the area where Bridgestone can improve upon. Some of the weaknesses of Bridgestone are
- Expensive: Bridgestone tires are quite expensive for the Indian market. People who look for affordable tires may not prefer to buy this company tire as the cost is one of the important factors for the people to consider.
- The High Attrition Rate in the Workforce: As compared to other companies in the industry, Bridgestone has a higher attrition rate because the company now has over 1,43,616 employees and hence has to spend a lot more in comparison with its competitors on training and development of the employees.
- The Lack of Flexibility: Bridgestone has built good recognition in the past but in recent years Bridgestone has been struggling to market their products at the same wavelength as before. Their quality of tyres is still maintaining its standards but they’re not able to keep up with the recent trends which have led to their competitors seizing the market share.
- Dependence on One Nation: Bridgestone is heavily reliant on the Indian car market. If somehow the market gets unprofitable, it may affect its revenue stream and long term growth.
- Product Failures: In the near past Bridgestone faced some product failure issues which were reported by many companies. Some brands have tied up with Goodyear due to the product failures which affected Bridgestone very badly.
Opportunities for Bridgestone
Opportunities are potential areas of focus for a company to improve results, increase sales, and ultimately profit.
- Growth in India: On the overall India business, India is still a developing market, and therefore, there is a lot of growth in the OE segment. Overall, Bridgestone has a strong position in the tyre business in India and its ambition is to become one of the leading players in the TBR (truck and bus radial) space in the country.
- Booming Demand for Replacement Tyres: It is expected that the demand for replacement tyres is going to surge in upcoming years which could be a great opportunity for Bridgestone to make an entry in it.
- Increasing Vehicle Sales: Emerging economies like India, China and Brazil are showing an increase in sales of vehicles. The growing disposable income of people in these nations is the reason for the surge in demand. This demand will create a proportional increase in demand for tyres by car manufacturers and automakers.
- Sustainable Development: The growth and development of people, monetary and operational performance, and the favourable contribution of the group’s activities to the planet and its inhabitants will help establish the image of Bridgestone as a sustainable corporation.
- Innovation Strategy: Bridgestone is continuously working on the innovation of sustainable solutions to fully meet the needs of customers. Such dedicated innovations will surpass competitors like Michelin and ensure Bridgestone’s long-term success.
- Growth in EV Industry: We see a tremendous change in the market that everyone is adapting to the change which increases the sales for Electric Vehicle and tyre manufacturers are directly going to benefit from it which increases the growth of the company and healthy competition in the market.
Threats to Bridgestone
It is an environmental factor that can be harmful to a company’s growth. Some of the threats to Bridgestone are
- Heavy Competition: The number of players entering the tyre manufacturing industry is increasing rapidly so there is heavy competition in the market. In the recent decade, Michelin has been outperforming Bridgestone and such a heavy competitor is a threat for Bridgestone.
- Cheaper Product Availability: Many individuals look for a cheaper option for any product or service. Although the quality of the product is great the consumer is ready to compromise it if a cheaper option is available. If Bridgestone doesn’t go with value-based advertising they could lose the market share to cheap rip-offs.
- Cost of Raw materials: Rubber is the key raw material in manufacturing tyres; if the cost of the raw material increases it could lead to great loss for the company. Mainly the production of tyres could come to a standstill leading to lack of sales.
- Ransomware Attack: Recently in March 2018, Bridgestone was hit by a ransomware attack that caused loss of customer data. Such attacks question the IT security and accountability of the company.
Thus we came to the end of our complete SWOT analysis of Bridgestone. Let us conclude what we have seen.
To Conclude
Bridgestone is a well-known and reputed company with a great global presence around the world. In the SWOT analysis of Bridgestone, we observed that it has great sustainability, innovation and also is one of the oldest tire manufacturing companies existing even till now. There are some weaknesses and threats that it can overcome to capture the global market.
One way to overcome challenges is increasing digital marketing presence. Starting into the digital era and creating a social media presence on several platforms it can grow its level of marketing. Many brands are looking for people who are well-versed in digital marketing. So, If you want to learn more check out IIDE’s Advanced Digital Marketing Course for details.
We hope this blog on the SWOT Analysis of Bridgestone has given you a good insight into the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
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I just started working at a firestone, thank you guys for the work you put in.