STRUCTURE, PERSONALITY, AND BUSINESS STRATEGY IN THE UNITED-STATES TIRE INDUSTRY - THE SEIBERLING-RUBBER-COMPANY, 1922-1964

Small firms that operate in manufacturing sectors amenable to economie s of scale are faced with particularly challenging strategic problems. This article on the Seiberling Rubber Company, a family-owned minor p layer in the U.S. tire industry, takes as its starting point the inter section between Michael Porter's typology of competitive strategies an d the entrepreneurial theorists' views on the importance of the human factor. Against a detailed analysis of the changing structure of the t ire industry over four decades, it examines closely the strategic deci sions of one firm and its senior managers.