Harvey Firestone

“Anyone who does business with Mr. Ford never gets a chance to rest and enjoy honors. The pressure for better methods is continuous.”

“Harvey later realized they would have shown as startling an increase had we abolished our whole sales force, closed all our branches and dealers, and just sent out our tires and freight cars to be thrown off on sidings and taken away by clamoring buyers.”

“What I learned was that a bank statement ought never to be in such shape that it has to be explained. Everything ought to be on the statement. A statement of condition can be a prospectus. In fact, it is the best possible kind of prospectus, but it ought not t…”

“There is no real profit in high prices because high prices automatically cut down volume. But the only possible way to lower prices and still keep business is to save in the cost of manufacturing by improved processes.”

“High agency means treating every no as research, not rejection. Create what you're denied access to.”

“Forty-three million dollars in debt, no willing banks, factories producing tires nobody wanted, and contracted materials arriving they couldn't pay for.”

“It is a fortunate thing for the industry that it was not favored by the bankers, Harvey reflected, else it would have been financed by bond issues, and there have been several periods when these bond issues might have been foreclosed, which would have set back…”

“Positioning is leverage. When everyone else is desperate, the person with options holds all the power.”

“I would almost as soon try to make tires without rubber as to try to make them without a chemist.”

“Buy rubber strips, cut and fit them to carriage wheels, and charge 40 dollars for sets that cost 14 dollars to produce. A healthy 65% gross margin.”

“By the meal's end, Harvey had secured 10,000 dollars in investment, which eventually grew to 50,000 dollars with Christie becoming company president.”

“Harvey stepped down as president in 1932, turning over operations to his son while remaining chairman until his death in 1938. By then, the company he'd started with 12 employees commanded 25% of the entire U.S. Tire market, with sales exceeding a hundred and …”

“After careful negotiation, Harvey and his partner sold for 1,254,000 dollars, an amount Harvey described as something more than four times what our business was worth, not counting its goodwill. His personal share came to 45,000 dollars in cash”

“If it were possible to plan for a year ahead, then there would be no need for judgment or management. Any question that came up could be settled by referring to the plan.”

“The moment that officers or directors of a company begin to speculate in its stock, the ruin of the company is not far away, for it is impossible to serve both the company and the stock market.”

“Manufacturing turnover dropped from 60 to 15 days. Defects plummeted while output increased, all while using less factory space.”

“The key lesson here is that if you are well positioned, be it with a surplus or margin of safety or whatever you want to call it, you control your own circumstances, and when you don't have that, you are controlled by them.”

“He slashed the sales force by 75%. He cut the ad department from 105 people down to seven.”