From Booklist
Among those who recognize the company's name, many may be surprised to learn that BFGoodrich has not been in the tire business for nearly a decade. That enterprise is now one of French tiremaker Michelin's holdings. Before downsizing became the name for such a strategy, BFGoodrich trimmed the business it had become synonymous with and repositioned itself as a specialty chemicals manufacturer. The company's products now include aircraft landing systems, caustic soda, and thermoplastic polyurethane. BFGoodrich's story could serve as the model for any of the dozens of midwestern smokestack industries struggling to survive. It is with that aim that company chairman John Ong commissioned business historians Blackford and Kerr to write this scholarly commemorative history. They document BFGoodrich's entrepreneurial origins and analyze the impact of labor demands, antitrust regulation, and foreign competition on forcing the company's transformation. This readable, instructive study is another in Ohio State University's Historical Perspectives on Business Enterprise series. David Rouse
