Recall 2000: Bridgestone Corp. (A) (Abridged)

Lynn S. Paine

Case | HBS Case Collection | July 2005 (Revised October 2006)

Recall 2000: Bridgestone Corp. (A) (Abridged)

Abstract

In September 2000, the president of Bridgestone-Firestone, the U.S. subsidiary of Japan's Bridgestone Corp., was invited to appear before a U.S. congressional subcommittee investigating the August 2000 recall of more than 6.5 million tires made by the subsidiary. The tires had been implicated in several hundred auto accidents and dozens of fatalities in the United States and elsewhere around the globe. Depicts the tire controversy and the decisions it posed for Bridgestone's management. Tracing Bridgestone's evolution from a regional multinational to a global player by way of acquiring Firestone, a U.S. tire maker founded in 1900, the case shows how organizational factors, compounded by cultural differences between the two business systems, contributed to tire safety problems and the ensuing controversy.

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Product; Trade; Organizational Culture; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Auto Industry; United States; Japan;

Format: Print

31 pages

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Citation:

Paine, Lynn S. "Recall 2000: Bridgestone Corp. (A) (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 306-020, July 2005. (Revised October 2006.)

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Recall 2000: Bridgestone Corp. (A) (Abridged)

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