Leading Change at Michelin’s Shanghai Factory (A)

This is a series of two cases on change leadership. This case series explores how a change process was applied in a factory in Shanghai by a leader who came from another country and with a different culture and language. The plant was a joint venture (JV) between a Chinese state-owned enterprise, Shanghai Tire & Rubber (Group) Co., Ltd., and a France-based private company, Michelin Corporation, an international leader in tire manufacturing. Case A describes the difficult situation facing the leader, Bertrand Ballarin. In 2008, the JV, Shanghai Michelin Warrior Tire Co., Ltd., had performed poorly since its creation in 2001. Ballarin, a Frenchman, was recently transferred from Michelin’s factory in France to take the position of the JV’s plant manager. The Michelin headquarters was pressing Ballarin to implement the Management System of Daily Production to improve the factory’s performance, but Ballarin felt that the plant’s employees were not ready. He considered what to change in this factory and how to do so. Case B illustrates what Ballarin did to improve the JV’s performance from July 2008 to the end of 2011. This case series is particularly useful for demonstrating what characteristics and skills are needed for successfully leading a change process, particularly when the leader is placed in a new environment with a different culture and language.