Kazuo Inamori's 5 Survival Principles for Tire Business Owners Amid Market Downturn
In 2025, the tire distribution channel faces unprecedented challenges
2025-07-17
In 2025, the tire distribution channel faces unprecedented challenges: sluggish market demand, overstocked inventory, fierce price competition, etc. Many tire dealers and retail stores are facing survival problems. In the face of a depressed market, Kazuo Inamori used five business strategies to help enterprises tide over difficulties. Today, these five business strategies are still worth referring to and learning from for tire bosses. Today, I would like to share them with you through this article, hoping to provide some ideas for the operation of each boss.
Principle 1:All - staff marketing. All employees should become salespeople.
Kazuo Inamori's Insight:
During a downturn, every employee must become a salesperson.
During a downturn, every employee must become a salesperson.
Traditional Challenges:
Tire distributors/shops suffer from severe functional fragmentation—owners bear the brunt of sales, technicians focus solely on repairs, customer service operates passively, and warehouse staff fixate on inventory. Front desks ignore regular customers, technicians hesitate to propose service solutions, and warehouse personnel lack inventory sensitivity, leaving untapped sales potential.
Tire distributors/shops suffer from severe functional fragmentation—owners bear the brunt of sales, technicians focus solely on repairs, customer service operates passively, and warehouse staff fixate on inventory. Front desks ignore regular customers, technicians hesitate to propose service solutions, and warehouse personnel lack inventory sensitivity, leaving untapped sales potential.
Inamori's Solution & Implementation:
- Transform technicians into "solution architects" to drive sales through technical expertise.
- Convert frontdesk/customer service into sales "consultants" by shifting from passive order-taking to proactive customer acquisition.
- Empower warehouse staff as "inventory marketing masters" to manage stock rotation and promote aged inventory.
This approach fosters cross-departmental collaboration, especially between technical and sales teams, while deepening employees' understanding of sales dynamics as the lifeblood of business.
Key Implementation Points:
- Design performance incentives and workflows that align teamwork with shared success.
- Examples: Introduce "technician-frontdesk collaboration bonuses," "slow-moving tire clearance rewards," and "quarterly profit-sharing pools." Integrate sales performance into all employees' KPIs, ensuring profit - sharing rewards for non-sales roles.
Principle 2: Fully develop new products
Kazuo Inamori's Insight:
Innovation thrives in adversity. Technical, marketing, production, and market research teams must collaborate on new product development.
Innovation thrives in adversity. Technical, marketing, production, and market research teams must collaborate on new product development.
Traditional Challenges:
During recessions, many owners cut costs drastically, slashing headcount and scaling back operations while ignoring emerging market demands.
During recessions, many owners cut costs drastically, slashing headcount and scaling back operations while ignoring emerging market demands.
Inamori's Solution & Implementation:
- Actively engage customers to gather feedback on new product needs.
- Leverage in-house technical capabilities and product strengths to innovate within existing frameworks, stimulating new demand and expanding business frontiers.
Key Implementation Points:
- Tire service shops should diversify into high-margin, high-barrier projects like four-wheel alignment, chassis repair, and premium detailing amid tire and oil service price wars.
- Target younger demographics through tailored marketing strategies to increase foot traffic.
Distributors can leverage existing resources to enter automotive equipment sectors, becoming comprehensive service providers for shops and driving revenue growth.
Principle 3: Radically cut costs
Kazuo Inamori's Insight:
With shrinking orders and pricing pressures, businesses must reduce costs aggressively—with cost-cutting exceeding price declines.
With shrinking orders and pricing pressures, businesses must reduce costs aggressively—with cost-cutting exceeding price declines.
Traditional Challenges:
- Some owners accept losses as inevitable.
- Others believe "further cost reduction is impossible" after prior efforts.
Inamori's Solution & Implementation:
- Re-examine production methods, material usage, and workflows to eliminate inefficiencies. Rationalize organizational structures to lower break-even points, ensuring profitability even amid reduced sales.
Key Implementation Points:
- Build a "cost-cutting pyramid" to cascade targets to every process and workstation.
- Adopt "zero-based budgeting" to rejustify all expenditures.
- Introduce "cost improvement awards" offering up to 20% of savings from individual projects.
Principle 4: Maintain high productivity
Kazuo Inamori's Insight:
During low-demand periods, maintain operational rigor to avoid skill erosion and service quality decline.
During low-demand periods, maintain operational rigor to avoid skill erosion and service quality decline.
Traditional Challenges:
Order slumps → idle technicians/staff → stagnant skills → poor service → customer loss → further order decline.
Order slumps → idle technicians/staff → stagnant skills → poor service → customer loss → further order decline.
Inamori's Solution & Implementation:
- Redeploy surplus staff to equipment maintenance, facility beautification, or training programs to enhance capabilities while sustaining production efficiency.
Key Implementation Points:
- Conduct "multi-skill training" to enable 80% of employees to perform 2+ roles.
- Maintain a clean, organized workspace to boost morale and customer trust.
- Proactively engage customers to increase conversion rates.
Principle 5: Build good interpersonal relationships
Kazuo Inamori's Insight:
A downturn tests internal and external relationships, offering an opportunity to rebuild trust and collaboration.
A downturn tests internal and external relationships, offering an opportunity to rebuild trust and collaboration.
Traditional Challenges:
Panic-driven resource contention among supply chain partners leads to mutual blame and core customer attrition. For example, a Hebei distributor bypassed retailers via short-video marketing, directly selling to consumers while disparaging shops as "scam operations."
Panic-driven resource contention among supply chain partners leads to mutual blame and core customer attrition. For example, a Hebei distributor bypassed retailers via short-video marketing, directly selling to consumers while disparaging shops as "scam operations."
Inamori's Solution & Implementation:
- Foster open communication with employees/clients to build partnerships rooted in mutual understanding and shared growth. Managers should prioritize employee well-being to cultivate a cohesive corporate culture.
Key Implementation Points:
- Establish "crisis communication forums" to gather employee/client feedback.
- Implement equity incentive plans to align core staff/shops with long-term goals.
- Nurture a "family culture" through collective events like group weddings and employee family summer camps.
Conclusion: A depression is an opportunity for growth.
The winter persists, and the tire industry's transformation is far from over. Inamori's five principles are not mere theoretical guidelines but actionable blueprints forged through decades of practice:
- Everyone becomes a soldier to awaken deep - seated potential.
- Innovation in the cold winter can seize the initiative. .
- Extremely reduce costs and carefully calculate every bit of resources.
- Maintain the core combat power forged with high efficiency.
- People's hearts converge to forge a symbiotic bond.
As Inamori declared: "A downturn is an opportunity for growth." Tire industry leaders must act decisively—auditing inventory, re-engaging teams, optimizing processes, and seizing new opportunities. Those who endure the storm and innovate will emerge with renewed vitality, ready to thrive in the coming recovery.
For tire industry pioneers, this winter is not just a survival test but a metamorphosis. The resilient and innovative will prove their enduring strength as spring arrives.
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