Bridgestone
JMR has just issued an update to its Bridgestone case available
here (in Japanese) for subscribers to the Japanese site.
In the FY ended Dec. 2009, renowned Japanese tire maker Bridgestone's sales were Yen 2.5 trillion, plummeting 20% compared to last year. Operating profit of Yen 75.7 billion was down by 42% YoY and current profit fell 27% to Yen 54.4 billion. This represents a large decline in income and profits compared to the previous year. The main cause was slack demand for tires due to the global recession. The company responded by taking a number of restructuring measurements. Among these, Bridgestone focused on strengthening its production and supply systems, material technologies, procurement management and restructuring of its sales processes. Bridgestone identified new market opportunities in adhesive films for photovoltaic cells and electronic paper.
To promote environmentally friendly products such as its ECOPIA EX10 tire, a third generation run-flat tire, Bridgestone made investments to expand core businesses as well to provide special products for large radial mining vehicles and regional jets. For FY 2010, the weakened company expects a recovery, forecasting Yen 8,300 billion (109% YoY change) in sales, an operating income of Yen 94 billion (124% YoY), and ordinary profit of Yen 670 billion (123% YoY).
Sample of page 1 of the case
click picture to enlarge
