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Article: Embracing Change Has Helped Keep Profits Rising at Johnson Controls.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
- Article date:
- May 12, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Thomas Content, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
May 12--The foundation for Johnson Controls' ability to weather last year's automotive downturn was laid in the mid-1980s, when the Glendale company broadened its portfolio of businesses to include production of car seats.
Johnson Controls, which had previously specialized in car batteries and its original building controls business, capitalized on the desire of Japanese carmakers to have an outside supplier make their seats. And it also seized on Detroit carmakers' eagerness to cut costs in the face of foreign competition.
The result: When Detroit struggled ...