The Michelin Men: Driving an Empire (review)

Michelin presents a formidable opportunity for business historians. It has been a closely held, largely family-dominated French firm that developed into a leading multinational. The firm is one of the few survivors from the plethora of nineteenth-century rubber and tire manufacturers in Europe and North America. Its multinational influence extended substantially after 1970 through the success of its radial tires in North America. The firm reinforced this advantage by investing in production and marketing facilities, and then by acquiring the Uniroyal-Goodrich tire business. Such a record offers potential for exploring many aspects of business strategies and processes of innovation. Above all, there is the opportunity to compare this French enterprise with the activities of firms such as Dunlop, Goodyear, Firestone, Sumitomo, or Bridgestone.

At the same time, Michelin has cultural significance through its publishing arm, with the Michelin guides providing maps, tourist information, and a prestigious rating system for hotels and restaurants. The firm's own marketing material also is of interest, including the Bibendum—the famous Michelin man figure constructed from tires. All of these aspects offer possibilities for analyzing the social and cultural side of enterprise. Unfortunately, Michelin presents an equally formidable challenge because it has allowed very little access to its archives. Only marketing and advertising material has been available to any degree, so that most accounts of the firm rely on a very narrow range of sources.

Within these constraints Lottman provides a clear chronological review of Michelin's history that intersperses discussions of developments in the tire business with accounts of the development of the Michelin guide. The Michelin Men adds to the material available in English on the firm; Lottman's previous study—Michelin: 100 ans d'aven-tures (1998)—was available only in French. The new book has the strength of surveying the firm, especially the actions of its leading executives, from the 1820s to 2000. This is beneficial for placing the success of radial tires in the 1970s and 1980s in the context of subsequent financial difficulties, plant closures, and competitive pressures. Lottman emphasizes the effectiveness of Michelin's marketing from the late nineteenth century, a sustained policy of paternalism and resistance to organized labor, and the concerns of its senior management. The interweaving of business developments with the history of the Michelin guide is done well; and as a popular history, the book is neatly constructed and well written.

But there are limitations. With the constraints on archival material, it is impossible to explore business decisions, strategies, or the sources of success or failure to any great degree. In part, this reflects the author's apparent aim of providing an accessible general review and the book's chronological rather than thematic format. The book's value for many readers—of providing an account in English—is offset by its lack of engagement with other secondary literature. Given the major source problems, in many places the study would have benefited from drawing on other studies to place Michelin's activities in context and allow comparisons of its history with that of other rubber companies. For instance, the account of the firm's U.S. manufacturing venture from 1907 to 1930 would have benefited from using any of the company histories or general surveys on American industry of that era. A similar infusion, plus discussion of the changes in the automobile sector generally, would have improved the account of the radial era by demonstrating the conditions that helped Michelin to exploit a technology in the 1970s that it developed in the 1940s.

Studies of other firms are neglected, notably Mansel Blackford and K. Austin Kerr's BF Goodrich (1996), for the processes leading to Michelin's acquiring that business. In the case of social and cultural themes, there is a major gap: Lottman does not refer to Stephen Harp's Marketing Michelin (2001). By not drawing on Harp's work, the study is less comprehensive and informative in its assessments...