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Today, Cooper and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. are the only surviving independent, publicly traded tire makers in the U.S. The rest have gone out of business or have been acquired by foreign firms, with most of the consolidation taking place during the past five years. (Most notably, Uniroyal Goodrich now is a subsidiary of Groupe Michelin of France, and Firestone has become the U.S. division of Bridgestone Corp. of Japan.)

Cooper also has established itself as a major player in the $5-billion-a-year business of manufacturing the engine mounts, hoses, window and door seals, and other products that make up the approximately 130 pounds of rubber components in the average new car. About 15 percent of Cooper's sales volume currently stems from these nontire rubber products.

The current performance and long-term prognosis of Cooper have not always been so stellar, however.

In 1972, certified public accountant Gorr was an employee of Arthur Young & Co. assigned to the Cooper account, and Cooper was looking for a corporate controller. Gorr was offered the job.

"Those were very troubled times at Cooper," Gorr reminisces. "The company was very extended and leveraged. There was a real question about whether it was going to survive."

Cooper's four tire/tube plants currently churn out nearly 100,000 passenger tires a day for the replacement market. Shunning the temptation to stray from this niche is probably the most important principle ever adopted by Cooper.

The replacement market is about three to four times larger than the originalequipment market, and it is growing faster now because the owners of today's highly durable cars are keeping them longer. By making only replacement tires, Cooper has avoided the sharp ups and downs associated with new-car sales. Also, because original tires on cars last up to four years, the company has been able to reduce speculative research and development expenditures.

A second resoundingly correct decision involves product distribution. Cooper takes about half of its production to market as the private-label brands of oil companies, large independent distributors, and such industry retailers as Western Auto. The other half is sold through a network of about 1,900 independent tire dealers.

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Predictably, Cooper's employee-centered organization restfits in high product quality. Even with sales over $1 billion, Gorr says, "we are still a relatively small company in an industry dominated by a few giant rims. So excellence had to be a given for us; the commitment to quality cannot be challenged or questioned."

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