CAR TYRES

AN Industry Overview
This project looks at the Car Tyre industry in India and how the Distribution channel helps this industry to grow and serve the needs of the End consumer. PROJECT DONE BY: VIKRAM FALOR : DM14157 RAMYAA RAMESH : DM14266 AMIT SHUKLA : DM14104

Introduction:The Indian Tyre Industry is a critical part of the Auto Sector and there is a huge interdependent on those of the Automobile players. The Indian tyre industry accounts for approximately 5.0% of the Global tyredemandgeneratingrevenuesofapproximately`30,000cr for FY2011. Out of which 9095% has come from the domestic market. There are around 40 tyre manufacturers in India and the top 10 tyre players account for approximately 90-95% of the total tyre production in India. The growth in domestic tyre industry was negatively impacted by the global slowdown in2009.Nevertheless,the industry experienced are mark able recovery in 2010. This growth was primarily driven by strong revival in automobile demand on the back of improvement in macro economy and easing of interest rates.

The Indian Tyre Industry produced 119.2 mn units of tyres (1.5mntonnes) in 201011. On an average, In Indian early 60.0% of the production is for replacement market, followed by 25.0% sold to OEMs directly and the balance i s exported. Globally, the OEM segment constitutes 30.0 % of the tyre market, exports 10.0% and the balance from replacement market. Exports turnover for India during 201011 stood at `3,600cr. Segmental Breakup of Industry Turnover FY11: The Indian Tyre industry is characterized by its raw material intensity (Raw material costs account for approximately 70% of turnover). There exists huge competition among the top few players who dominate the market and that results in low margins. These players are constantly

focused on advertising, branding their products and strengthening their distribution network by increasing dealer network so as to increase their market share.

Inputs in Tyre: The industry is highly intensive with the Raw material Consumption. The Raw material costs accounts for 65-70% of the total production cost of tyres. Natural rubber constitutes is the major raw material for the product and is used by the industry which accounts for around 43% of the total cost. The other raw materials consumed by the tyre industry are crude derivatives such as carbon black, rubber chemicals, synthetic rubber and nylon tyre cord fabric, Therefore, rising crude oil prices increase raw material costs and affect the profitability of the company.

END USERS: Based on the customer segments, the tyre market has been broadly divided into 2 categories: Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) Replacement Market. 1) Original Equipment Manufacturers This includes automobile manufacturers like Hero Honda, Tata Motors, Marathi Suzuki etc. The demand from the OEM market fluctuates directly in line with end-use demand for the automobile/construction equipment segment; hence prone high degree of cyclic variation. The total tyre sales to OEMs are on an average 40-45% of the total sales. 2) Replacement Market These are the end customers who replace old tyres of their vehicles. This demand depends on factors such as vehicle population on - road, road conditions, overloading norms, miles driven. This is less cyclical than OEM demand and is generally provides higher-margin business for manufacturers. The replacement market accounts for 45-50% of the total sales.

Radializationof Cartyres:
Radialization of Car tyres has brought a significant change in the industry. In the Passenger Car market, Radialization has reached 98.0%. These tyres have their cords running radially from bead at 90 degrees angle to the remora long the outer surface of the tyre. Reinforcing mediums that are used in these tyres are nylon, polyester, fibre glass and steel. These tyres are generally

20.0% more expensive than the Bias Tyres. These tyres have longer life and provide greater fuel efficient and better Road Grip. D u e t o The poor road condition of Indian roads the penetration of radial tyres in India (nearly10.0%) as compared to global trend ofabove60.0%. The Radial tyre cannot be retreaded and the only option is replacement. This has changed the way the Replacement market works. This has also led to an increase in sale of the car tyres in the replacement market. As services such as retreading are not possible we see a greater bullwhip effect in the supply chain. Competitor Analysis:There are many players in this industry fighting for the same space. Due to a lack of high product differentiation this product operates similar to a commodity. Using the rule of top 3 we have chosen the below companies to analyse the completion in this market.
PASSENGER CAR COMPANY APOLLO MRF BRIDGESTONE MARKET SHARE 24% 24% 19%

We have used the Poters five forces analysis in order to explain the market and threat and strengths for any industry in this particular field.

Madras Rubber Factory (MRF):

History: MRF Ltd.is one of Indias largest manufacturer of automotive tubes& Tyres. It was incorporated as private limited company in1960 in order to take over the business of a partnership firm which was called c the Madras Rubber Factory started by late Sri. K. M Mammen Mapillai. Thecompany in April 1961. MRF was converted into public limited entered tyre manufacturing in 1962 through a technical collaboration with Mansfield, USA. The company over the years has established its own R&D centre and currently functions independently. Strength &Weakness Analysis:Strengths: 1. Good R&D imitative 2. Established brand name(key in the replacement market) 3. Extensive distribution network. Weakness: 1. High Capital Intensive 2. Cost pressure 3. Dealer Relations 4. Pricing Pressure Market Strategy: MRF has aggressively pursued a PULL Marketing Strategy to sell its tiers. In this strategy the manufacturer uses promotion,advertising and other forms of communication to induce the consumers and create a demand the product from the dealers. MRF almost exclusively concentrates on Brand awareness exercises, such asendorsements and advertisements. MRF,Compared to other tire manufacturer pays a little attention to incentivizing the dealers but still the dealer are motivated to stock MRF tiers simply because they have high brand retail recall and due to the customer demands.

Collaborations:
MRF had collaborated with automobile OEMs who source their tyres from MRF India are: General Motors Mahindra and Mahindra Maruti Tata Motors

Value Proposition:MRF prides itself in making tyres that go into some of the most trying conditions on Indian roads. Consequently, MRF offers a compelling value proposition to heavy vehicle owners as well as passenger car and two wheeler owners. Quality Tyres that endure in the worst conditions. It drives home this macho message through its mascot, the MRF muscleman. MRF Price Leader:MRF have long been leaders in the passenger car tyre segment. By the virtue of their market share, they have traditionally been price makers. MRF using the Mark UP Pricing Method. The tyre industry being a very raw material intensive industry, the input costs mainly decides the price of tyres. Infect, 90% of a tyres cost comprises of its raw material costs. Mark up pricing is the common pricing method followed across the tyre industry. This involves adding a standard markup to the tyres production cost.

Apollo Tyres:Apollo Tyres Ltd. Is currently the world's 15th biggest tyre manufacturer and has annual consolidated revenues of Rs 121.5 billion i.e. US$ 2.5 billion in year 2011. Apollo tyre was founded in 1976 and its first plant was commissioned in Perambra district of state Kerala. In 2006 the company carried out one of the biggest acquisition by acquiring Dunlop Tyres International of South Africa. At present the company has four manufacturing units in India, two in Zimbabwe, two in South Africa and 1 in Netherlands. It has a huge network of dealers and extensive distribution network of over 4,000 dealerships in India. Out of these 4000 dealers, over 2,500 are exclusive outlets. When looking into oversees business, in South Africa, it has over 900 dealerships, of which 190 dealers are accredited by Dunlop. Its major revenue stream is India from where it gets 59% of its revenues, and then Europe which accounts for 28% of the revenue and 13% of its revenue comes from Africa. The tagline of Apollo tyres is Go the Distance which he has followed for decades and their USP is stronghold over the Indian tyre market.

Timeline:
1976: Apollo Tyres was registered by Raunaq Singh 1977: Established its 1st plant at Perambra, Kerala, India 1991: Established the 2nd plant at Limda district of Gujrat. 1994: Entered into 2 wheeler tyre market 1995: Established its 3rd plant at Kalmassery district of Kerela. 2006: Expansion of operation in oversees market by acquiring Dunlop's Africa operations. 2008: Established a new plant at metropolitan city Chennai of state Tamil Nadu, India 2009: Acquired VredesteinBanden, a Netherlands-based winter-tyre maker for an undisclosed sum from Russia's bankrupt largest tyre manufacturer Amtel-Vredestein NV. 2010: Apollo tyres launched Gradstein tyres in India. 2011: Signed a MoU with Tamil Nadu government relating to investment of Rs 2,100 crore as part of Apollos Greenfield project. 2012: News of Apollo Tyres likely to acquire stake in Cooper Tire & Rubber Company.

In passenger car segment the car Apollo tyres share the no.1 position with MRF tyres with market share of 24% with Bridgestone at the third spot with market share of 19%.

Products: Car Radials Tube Type (Amazer XL Quantum) 4x4 Radials Hawkz Storm Alloy Wheels Haste Torque Nirvana Frost Quest Tubeless Radials Acelere Amazer XL Conventional Tyres (Bias Tyres) Car Armour Panther Tubeless Radials

Amazer XL Inspire Slay Multispoke Sphere Cinco

Hawkz

Jeep Gripper Maha Trooper

SWAT ANALYSIS: Strengths:1. Wide product variety 2. Excellent Geographical coverage across Asian, European and African markets. 3. Good financial position 4. Good Brand awareness about the product 5. Over 4000 dealerships in India, and over 900 in South Africa 6. Has manufacturing plants at India, SA, Zimbabwe and Netherlands

Weakness:1. Low presence in latest car models. 2. Low presence in two/three wheeler segment 3. Brand yet to establish it like the market leaders Opportunity:1. Emerging markets and improved lifestyle 2. More tie-ups with Automobile companies as its mainly into B2B market. 3. Improved Infrastructure has fuelled more and more transportation 4. Emergence of India as a hub for small car production

Threat:1. Price wars 2. Stiff competition from national and international brands. 3. Cheaper technologies. 4. Volatility in prices and availability of raw material as Indias rubber production is less than its demand. 5. Government Policies w.r.t export duties, import duties, tax levied on automobile industries and economic condition of nation as it determines the sale of automobiles.

Competition 1. Bridgestone 2. CEAT 3. MRF 4. Continental 5. Goodyear 6. Yokohama 7. Pirelli

BRIDGESTONE: Parent Company-Bridgestone Category-Tyre Industry Sector-Automobiles Tagline/ Slogan-Passion for excellence USP- A renowned name for innovation and quality of product. Bridgestone Corporation: Bridgestone the worlds leading tyre company was born in 1931 with an aim to serve people by providing quality products. Bridgestone is a Japanese $ 80 billion company with a market share of 18.6 % worldwide & a profit of $ 797.5 million. It has strength of 1.1lakhs of employees serving at about 150 countries. Bridgestone is led by Mr Shigeo and has 46 tyre & 52 non-tyre plants for diversified products in 24 nations marketing their product in more than 150 nations.Bridgestone is busy at developing & promoting comprehensive product lines from value oriented, medium priced tyres to high performance tyres for the worlds highest performance cars Mitsubishi, Honda, Suzuki, Toyota, Audi, Volkswagen, Hyundai and other famous brands of cars and other vehicles. Now, as the world's no. 1 tyre company, Bridgestone Corporation has made its presence felt on a global level. It has subsidiaries spread across the world - from America to Australia and from Africa to Europe. Adding to this, Bridgestone also provides value added services to its customers. Collaborators: Toyota Hyundai Skoda Mercedes BMW General Motors Ford

Core Competency: International Quality & pedigree: Quality counts as the main reason why OEMs prefer Bridgestone over other competitor tyre manufactures. Bridgestone has always banked on its quality USP to capture market share. The Japanese attention to quality seems to have percolated down to Bridgestone India, from its parent company. World over, the Bridgestone brand has been synonymous with its cutting-edge technology and quality. The F1 Association: The brand awareness that Bridgestone Corporations collaboration with F1 has earned globally and its recognition as a leader in the tyre industry has helped its Indian arm, BSID, position itself as a premium tyre manufacturer in the Indian market. Channel reach: With about 3000 dealers and distributors, Bridgestone India has one of the largest reach across the country as compared to other tyre manufacturers. SWOT ANALYSIS:-

Strengths: 1. Bridgestone has its roots from The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of US and Bridgestone Tire Company Limited of US. 2. They have 52 enterprises of over 50,000 employees that testify to the fact that its a big brand name. 3. Company has diversified into other businesses including production of air springs, industrial fibres, roofing materials and other textiles. 4. One Team One planet is an excellent approach towards building more sustainable and ecofriendly products. 5. They have a strong brand name through Motor sports and car-racing. Weakness: 1. Still to have considerable market share in developing countries 2. Products are perceived to be at a high-price segment- need to focus on developing economy products. Opportunity: 1. Excellent opportunity in emerging economies of the world. 2. Edge over better communication regarding its environmental-friendly initiatives

Threats: 1. There is Stiff Competition from national and international brands. 2. Japanese & US economies are not growing much .They have reached a maturity phase-as it has its major operations there. 3. Government Policies with respect to export/import duties, tax levied on automobile industries and economic condition of nation since it determines the sale of automobiles. 4. Introduction of other transport facilities like metros, mono/local trains which keep pollution hazards caused by combustion of automobile fuels. 5. Volatility of raw material price. 6. Fluctuation of exchange rates.

Generic Strategies Analysis: Cost Leadership Goodyear needs to focus on maintaining a cost leadership strategy in order to attain their goal of being the lowest cost producer of top three companies. Goodyear maintains cost leadership because of its production volume and economies of scale. Cost Focus and Differentiation Focus Bridgestones main competitors have, and will continue to develop sub-brands and acquire strategic business units in order to execute focus strategies on niche segments of the market, previously unreachable by them.

Ansoff's Growth Matrix :-

Bridgestone
Existing Market

Existing Products
Market Penetration -Increase the promotional efforts of current tyre lines in order to compete with Michelin`s strong brand image. Also use parent company (Bridgestone) to bolster the promotional efforts of the smaller subsidiaries as well.

New Products
Product Development Develop and push new retreaded tyres on the European market that is promoted to overcome the negative image of low quality

New Market

Market Development The Indian and Chinese middle class and tyre market is growing rapidly and there is an opportunity to capture that growth with premium tyres.

Diversification Develop a Bridgestone formula one clothing and accessories line to be sold in China.

Value Proposition: Bridgestones main value proposition is international quality and value for money. Every Bridgestone customer is assured of a tire that is of international standards and will give him trouble-free service for a very long time, thereby giving him value for his money.

Porters Five Forces (Bridgestone):

Marketing Strategies:
Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning (STP):

Segmentation: There are basic 2 segments in the passenger car segments 1. Automobile and industry equipment manufacturers / original equipment manufacturer which constitute of 2. Replacement market which constitute of 30% of the total market of the passenger car tyre market. Targeting:Passenger cars, LCV, HCV, SUVs, The target group of Indian car tyre industry is both OEM and replacement groups thus all the player offer their product line in both the segment by targeting passenger cars, LCV, HCV, SUVs Positioning:When it comes to positioning market players position themselves very differently in the above 2 segments. For the OEM segments the positioning is not of much use since the basic game is on margins and on the past relationship which matters thus we can say that the market players positions themselves on past relationship with the OEM in this segments The real positioning takes place in the replacement segments which constitute 30% of the total market share. Here the position taken by different players is based on luxury, style, utility and safety.

Product, Price, Place & Promotion: (4 Ps):

Product: The tyres companies all offer very similar products with very minor changes in them where the end consumer is not able to differentiate tem to a large extent. They are generally measured in terms of durability, endurance and Safety.

Price: There are many players in this market with a very low product differentiation; hence price plays a vital role in this category. The prices of these products are very similar to each other and often the channel members play on low margins and large volumes to be successful in the market.

Place: The distribution channel includes: Factory Divisional & Regional distribution center Carrying and Forward Agents Dealers

Though the channel members require huge working capital in this industry. The return provided by the channel is high rewarding and hence making it a lucrative industry with many plays wanting to enter the channel.

Promotion: The Company uses various advertisement and promotional schemes to sell their products. The expenditure on promotion is the responsibility of the company as the dealers and distributors work on a very low margin and cannot afford to promote the product.

Interview with Professor Prakash Mathure

Dr. Mathure is an Engineering Graduate both in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and a Post Graduate in Advanced Manufacturing Technology from University of Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Mathure has three decades of work experience of which approximately two decades was in the Fortune 100 companies at senior echelons in USA, Australia and India. He was working with Ford Motors India as the Supply Chains Head. On requesting him to give his insights about the tyre industry he immediately agreed to help us. Dr.Mathure who also happens to be a fulltime professor at Great Lakes Institute Of Management gave us a very informative interview and we learnt a lot through our brief talk with him. The following are some of the key learnings from the interview. Dr.Mathure initially spoke about the Indian Tyre industry that it faces huge competition, cost and price pressure. The zooming auto industry has driven the growth and number of vehicles is swelling. The truck and bus market is the largest in terms of value. The tyre is an assembly of many components that are built up on drum and then cured in a press under heat and pressure. While the tyre industry is largely dominated by the organized sector, the unorganized sector is predominant with respect to bicycle tyres. The industry is a major consumer of the domestic rubber market. Natural rubber constitutes 80% while synthetic rubber constitutes only 20% of the material content in Indian tyres. Interestingly, world-wide, the proportion of natural to synthetic rubber in tyres is 30:70 The sector is raw-material intensive, with raw material accounting for 70% of the total costs of production. The major factors affecting the demand for tyres include the level of industrial activity, availability and cost of credit, transportation volumes and network of roads, execution of vehicle loading rules, radialization, retreading and exports. The tyre manufacturing process involves a long term planning. Most of the manufacturers give yearly schedule to the suppliers and the manufacturers manufacture according to that schedule. They do not cater only to a particular company say Ford. A tyre manufacturer like Goodyear will supply tyres to Toyota, Chrysler, Ford and many other companies. They schedule at their level-a schedule of 3 days or 1 month or 1 week inventory each company is

taking and accordingly schedule it. This is as far as the tyre manufacturers scheduling is concerned. Once it is ready they directly supply to the car manufacturers. The tyre manufacturing company does not only manufacture car tyres, they also manufacture for trucks and other commercial vehicles. Volume is low as compared to car but the value is high. Every truck requires 7 wheel tyres. So there are vehicles which require more tyres than cars, hence value wise it is much higher than the cars. Companies like Goodyear India also manufacture tyres for passenger/military aeroplane industry. These are really high technology products with very low volume. These tyres are directly supplied to the plane manufacturers. So hence there is no supply chain or distribution channel as such. The distributors and dealers come into place at the replacement market (over 50% markets) All the sales and distribution also happens here. Otherwise it is directly to the plane or car manufacturers. Marketing a tyre is a very crucial aspect to look at. What do you look at, as a car manufacturer while buying a tyre? How to valuate which company to go for? It depends on the specification and the design of the car, terrain of the road, mileage and speed of the car and hence the desired tyre appropriate for it.It also depends on what is the life of tyre that you expect. The composition of the tyre i.e the rubber quality etc also plays a major role here in choosing a tyre for a car company. The grip of the tyre is very important while selecting a tyre. As the tyre film which does not have any contact with the road i.e. no friction; plays a critical role when a car decides to stop and how quickly the tyre comes to halt is observed. Since tyre is a commodity and cannot be much differentiated, the car companies stick to their loyal tyre manufacturers as they have a long term relationship with them. And because of this relationship, the tyre manufacturing company sells tyres at a very low profit margin. Although JIT exists, you find that all car manufacturers will have a maximum of 2 tyre suppliers unless it is a highly dedicated monopoly product. This is because in a situation where one of the suppliers is going under strike and the other supplier senses the car manufacturers dyer need for supply they will refuse to negotiate. Most of these tyre suppliers know all information of what is happening internally in their competitor company. In India as well as in America you will find only few car manufacturers having their own car tyres.

The tyres are also tested for their quality as we have to give some sort of an assurance to the car manufacturers about the good life of the tyre and a warrantee that the tyre wont get worn off before the promised period. The cost of tyre faults such as puncture or tyre burn is not borne by the car company. Just like for buying laptop, you dont guarantee of the battery life. The real sales and distribution happens in the secondary market that is replacement market. What is the channel structure? There will be 2 distributors-primary and secondary distributor and a 3rd main dealer.The destination of this chain is towards the rural areas. Why was nylon tyres introduced in the market? It is partly because of technology change. They are radial tyres with more grip as a subsequent to tubeless tyres. Another significant aspect is that rubber tyres are retread but nylon tyres are not retread able. You can add more material and retread the design part. Therefore you not only have more choice but you can also repair the tyres. Retreading has now completely stopped and more focused in the replacement market. Thats why you find more rubber tyres though manufacturing cost is more here. Primary and secondary distributors are usually company owned. The number of distributors depends on the financial position and capacity of the company. The company distributors distribute through only 1 company tyres but the other big distributors might cater to several brands. Secondary distributors usually in the remote areas distribute to many manufacturers and dealers definitely supply to many companies as they are not obliged to any particular company unlike distributors. Generally when a company goes to a particular dealer, why does he recommend only 1 particular tyre? It is mainly because of the margins that he gets on that tyre. Who has the major power in the channel? It is always the company that dictates terms to the distributor-main or secondary distributor. They in fact have a standard legal agreement format which distributors should follow. Distributors are free to appoint a number of dealers but again certain periphery is predefined. Within the periphery you cannot one or 2 dealers since otherwise there will be competition among the dealers only. Is there more of credit sales in tyre industry?

No, very less. For car sales, per purchase the deposit is usually 30-45 days. They also have another secondary service like wheel balancing which is associated with the free service. Every distributor has to pick up a required number of tyres annually to be distributed. The car company is free to terminate the contract if the distributor does not meet the promised delivery number but generally they do not do this. Another important thing to note is that rarely tyres are returned back to the tyre manufacturing company. Incase of battery, if battery fails you can return the battery back to the dealer who in turn will return in to the manufacturers. But for tyres, it is very rare. This does not mean that tyres are manufactured of 100% quality but the fact is that it is a wear and tear product. Moreover it is not cost effective and reverse supply does not exist here. The dealers have to see that there are enough margins such that these bad 1 or 2 tyres are covered up atleast. Therefore, the rejection percentage of tyres is very less. Tyres are such that they are bound to get dirty and punctured after a certain time. Hence returning does not make sense. The investment is huge from the dealer side, distributor side as well as from the company side and hence it might lock up a lot of working capital from any channel. What is the mark-up price from manufacturing to final selling? That is what margin does the company sell at and what margin do we buy? Atleast 30% margin is distributed through the channel. Most of the tyres manufactures charge similar prices and are supposed to charge similar prices to the company. To avoid price wars, do not appoint more than 2 dealers. At the same time you will find that replenishment of tyres is a very costly affair. The transportation of tyres is very costly. That is why the fast moving tyres are transported first and this is also the reason why most of the cars tyre model is usually the same irrespective of the car model. Apollo and MRF own almost 50 % market share. For MRF to expand its market share, will it always be there? Or is some kind of a cartel? They will definitely expand. This is where major competition takes place. It all depends on the financial capacity of the company to expand its distributorship and the manufacturing capacity that the company has to enter a bigger market. Another important aspect to be understood is that it is always the tyre manufacturers who create advertisements and not the distributors. The ad process is very huge-They have to get sponsors, make advertisements etc. So the distributors always pressurize the company to

create ads. Complaints are taken by the dealers to the company regarding any tyre faults and it is the dealers who settles the complaint by offering a new tyre but the complain would have been addressed to the company. A tyre fault is a prestige issue of the company and definitely the company would like to know what the defects of the tyre are. Rubber Technology is a real R&D. How frequently does technology change in tyres? Minor changes happen very quickly but for a major technology change to happen, it will take several tyres. Tyres are general standardized and not customized for every car model as to change the existing mould of standardized car size it will become very expensive. How are the worn out tyres disposed? They just burn it off and not recycled. Rubber tyres are only used for resurfacing the entire periphery and retreaded. Sometimes when tyres are manufactured from scrap material they are heated-called the process of vulcanization, these cannot be used as it change the complete chemical composition of the tyre.

Whats the future of Indian Tyre industry?

The Indian tyre industry has made a remarkable recovery in FY10 which preceded the slowdown in FY09. This growth was mainly attributed to the growing demand made by automobile industry, the overall recovery in the economy and growing replacement base. There is an expected growth in the Indian tyre industry for the future due to significant demand from the automobile industry. Many players in this market have announced their plans for capacity expansion in order to cater to the growing demand seen in the domestic market. There are issues with the Domestic capacity constraints will be reduced to some extent with expansion in this industry. The high Radialization percentage in car segment is still been seen as a major growth segment. The industry is expected to remain under pressure and so the margins still look to be operated in the same manner for next few years manly attributed tostiff competition, rising raw material cost, and rising finance cost. In long-term there is an expectation of the margins to improve and with the additional capacity coming into operation it will provide economies of scale to achieve this goal faster. The tyre industry sill have challenges facing them such as cyclical nature of the industry due to high rubber prices and dependence on auto industry limits the growth potential for companies and high demand presents good growth opportunities.

REFERENCES:

CASE STUDY LINKS :http://www.supplychaincanada.org/assets/u/CaseStudyNewTires.pdf http://www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com/casestudies/michelin.aspx COMPANY WEBSITES LINKS: www.mrftyres.com www.apollotyres.com www.bridgestone.co.in

NEWS ARTICLES:http://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/tyre-makers-cut-prices-onhigh-inventory-poor-demand-113032100530_1.html http://www.tyrepress.com/News/51/north_america/27616.html