Nothing irritated Michelin managers more than the way automotive industry analysts used to lavish praise on the company’s smaller German rival Continental for doing what the analysts considered to be all the right things. Although best known for its tyre business, the German group was aggressively diversifying to become a leading automotive components supplier. It was also one of the first to offshore production in lower-cost east European and emerging regions. All in all, the German group embraced a tough Anglo-Saxon business approach setting it somewhat apart from its continental competitors.

Michelin decided to take another, perhaps less fashionable route. It opted to continue producing in its traditional mature markets at the same time as investing in emerging countries. It launched a long-term plan to modernise and improve the productivity of its plants in western Europe with the ultimate aim of making these old world facilities perform as well, if not better, than those in emerging countries. This has involved considerable restructuring in Michelin’s French and Spanish tyre facilities as well as in the US, Canada and Japan.