The decline of the British tyre industry - Newcastle University

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the tyre producers viewed Britain less favourably as a production base. 72 The British plants were used to source only the home and Commonwealth markets. The European producers concentrated their sales within the European Community and were able to establish a stable base to exploit other markets. 73 The trade union representatives on the SWP demanded import controls to protect the domestic industry. This conflicted with government strategy which stressed that ‘sectors should aim to compete with imports by identifying the vulnerable product areas and the reasons for importing, and not to seek to limit or regulate imports’. 74 Import controls were contrary to Community membership and also conflicted with the manufacturers’ sourcing policies. The tyre companies were only prepared to support the SWP’s anti-dumping action against ‘disruptive’ imports from Eastern Europe. An agreement was, however, reached to set voluntary import ceilings to reduce import penetration by 1981 to the level pertaining in 1975. 75 This would allow the substitution of up to one million imported car and commercial tyres by home production. 76 There was little prospect of these targets being met as the SWP had no influence on the policies of the producers or the independent distributors that imported tyres into Britain. The impotence of the SWP is shown in table 2. Car and van tyre imports’ share of the replacement market increased from 27 to 42 per cent between 1975 and 1980 (captive imports increased from 11 to 16 per cent whilst distributor imports increased from 16 to 26 per cent). 77 After 1977 captive imports displaced home production. 78 Dunlop was reducing its dependency on British production by concentrating investment overseas. Dunlop’s British plants had insufficient steel radial capacity and its European facilities were used to meet the shortfall in domestic supply. 79 The NEDO did, however, secure a promise from Dunlop to stop importing East European tyres. 80 Insert Table 2 Import penetration of the UK net replacement market, 1973-80 (%)
None of the voluntary targets were met. In 1980, imports of car and van tyres exceeded the 1981 target by 56 per cent, truck tyres by 95 per cent, tractor tyres by 72 per cent and earthmover/dumper tyres by 88 per cent. In the last two categories, the levels of imports exceeded the size of the replacement market, indicating they were also used to source the original equipment market. 81 Driver suggested that the SWPs produced a relative improvement in manufacturing import penetration, which he attributed to the import substitution measures that they initiated. 82 There is no evidence that this occurred or was successful in the tyre sector. Increases in productivity did not lead to a reduction in imports. Employee Involvement Programme Some trade unionists such as Mr Howlett, the Engineering Branch Secretary at Firestone, were sceptical of the SWP’s approach. He argued at Birmingham that the tyre plants needed investment and modernisation. 83 Two days after the conference had finished, Dunlop announced the closure of its plant at Speke, followed shortly by the announcement that Firestone was withdrawing from Britain. This was a turning point in policy, with any pretence of reversing the tyre sector’s decline now abandoned. The SWP was forced to admit that ‘efficiency dialogues’ ‘had not been a great success’. 84 management and the shopfloor to confront the industry’s problems. A different approach was now needed to force The SWP felt compelled to become directly involved in the communication process in each company, although reservations were raised about using existing communication channels. 85 The companies were content to use the SWP leaflets and briefing materials in their communication programmes. They were less willing to allow the SWP to make presentations in their plants. Goodyear was persuaded to allow the SWP to address its Wolverhampton workforce in November 1980. This was video-recorded and made available to employees in the plant, although representatives from the other companies were excluded and the circulation of the video was restricted to Goodyear.
Page 1 and 2: Discussion Papers in Management and
Page 3 and 4: According to McKay and Grant the im
Page 5 and 6: institutional constraints that impa
Page 7 and 8: weight of throughput per man hour)
Page 9 and 10: The SWP proposed a two-pronged atta
Page 11: productivity (productivity index) f
Page 15 and 16: Professor Bain found that Dunlop ha
Page 17 and 18: structure, but it soon became morib
Page 19 and 20: prepared to discuss common problems
Page 21 and 22: Bhaskar, Krish. The Future of the U
Page 23 and 24: 1983. NEDO. Industrial Strategy. Re
Page 25 and 26: 10 Grant, “Government,” 101. 11
Page 27 and 28: 61 Ibid, 7. 62 Ibid, 8. 63 NEDO, Th
Page 29 and 30: 119 Wilks, Industrial Policy, 268.

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