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- Title
The emergence of a US multinational enterprise: the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, 1910-1939.
- Authors
French, M. J.
- Abstract
This article examines the origins of multinational enterprise by studying the decisions, which established the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. as a major international business between 1910 and 1939. The article examines two aspects of Goodyear's transition into a multinational enterprise. First, it considers backward integration into raw material supply, looking at the extent to which this delivered savings during the interwar years; second, it discusses the firm's motives for forward integration into overseas manufacturing. Although there were periodic discussions of co-operative purchasing and plantation ventures, U.S. manufacturers preferred independent action. In 1915, Goodyear rejected a plantation project in Ceylon, but persistent delays in obtaining supplies prompted further investigations. By 1920, Goodyear had purchased inventories and forward contracts for six months' supply of rubber in anticipation of a postwar boom. Then the 1920-21 recession brought declining demand and plummeting raw material prices that reduced the value of the firm's inventories by 40 per cent.
- Subjects
GOODYEAR Tire &; Rubber Co.; CORPORATE growth; INTERNATIONAL business enterprises; TIRES; RAW materials; PRODUCT management
- Publication
Economic History Review, 1987, Vol 40, Issue 1, p64
- ISSN
0013-0117
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/2596296