These slides are prepared by Ayush Trivedi during the Brand Management course under Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow.

1. Goodyear’s Partnering
Lessons
Prepared by: Ayush Trivedi (PGP31017)
Under the expert guidance of: Prof. Sameer Mathur

2. • American Multinational tire company
established in the year 1898
• Manufactures products in 50 facilities in
22 countries
• Known for product Innovation

4. “IF IT”S NOT GOOD YEAR, GOOD LUCK” campaign by the company to increase its appeal among consumers and to
enhance its brand association to safety”

5. “Goodyear “be the first” campaign to associate itself with victory and associate its brand to victory”

6. GOODYEAR’S FAMOUS BLIMP ADVERTISING

7. Goodyear’s made to feel campaign video ad
Goodyear’s Made to feel good video Ad

8. The Happy years: 1970s & 1980s
Goodyear managed the top tire reseller network in the 1970s & 1980s
and earned dealer loyalty through
• Competitive prices
• On time delivery
• Visible Marketing efforts
• Good quality products

10. Sales slumped 14%
During 1990s & 2000s
Revenue loss of
$550 Million
Stagnation in No. of
distributors for the past
6 years
“All this when category sales grew and a major competitor was
forced to recall 6.5 million tires”

12. REASON: CHANNEL CONFLICT
What is Channel Conflict?
Channel conflict is a situation in which channel partners have
to compete against one another or the vendor's internal sales
department. Channel conflict can cost a company and its
partners money as partners try to undercut one another. It
can also lower morale within the channel and cause some
partners to consider other vendors

13. Types of Channel Conflicts
• Among channel partners at different levels
• Producers may annoy wholesalers or retailers when they try to
bypass these intermediaries
Vertical
• Results from disagreements among partners at the same level
• Causes tension between different intermediaries that handle
similar products
Horizontal
• When manufacturer establishes two or more channels
• For example- sale of same goods through retailers and through
e-commerce channels
Multi-channel

14. Cause of
Channel
conflict
Goal
Incompatibility
Ambiguous Roles
Task
Interdependence
Communication
problem
Personality
Difference
Expectation
differences
Reasons for Channel Conflicts

15. How to solve Channel Conflicts
• Consultation with Channel Partners
• Consultation with Employees
• Exchange of Employees
• Diplomacy, Mediation and
Arbitration
• Coherent Goals
• Co-potation
• Clearly formulated contracts
• Legal Recourse

16. Channel Conflict at Goodyear
•Company started offering products to discount
retailers at bulk discounts
•Broke the promise of not selling through
discount retailers
•At times, smaller individual dealers had to pay as
much as customers could pay at discount
retailers
“Smaller retailers started stocking other brands which impacted the sales of Goodyear”

17. Goodyear’s Missteps
•Pressure on dealers to buy more tires than need
•Uneven pricing with prices changing every
month
•Poor quality products
“All this led to stagnation in the dealership strength of Goodyear which stayed at 5,300 for 6
consecutive years”

19. Corrective Actions taken
• Company launched its new tire range Assurance
through its authorized retailers only
• The company started collaborating with dealers for
in-store promotion
• Company started compensating manufacturers for
specialized marketing undertaken
• Care was taken to ensure minimum price
fluctuations

20. Summary
1970s-1980s
Goodyear’s Happy
years
What is Channel
conflict and its types?
1990s-2000s
Decline in profit and
stagnation in
dealership count
How to solve the
problem of Channel
conflict?
Reason
Channel Conflict
How Goodyear solved
the problem
1
4
2
5
3
6

21. Created by Ayush Trivedi during Brand Management course of
Second Year of PGP taken
by Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow
(See www.IIMInternship.com) Prof. Sameer Mathur,
IIM Lucknow
DISCLAIMER