Business View Magazine
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In time, internal company disputes led to a fracturing
of the original group of OK dealers, and led by one of
James’ sons, Millard, the dissenting faction regrouped
as Big O Tires. It maintained its connection to the OK
organization by retaining the “O” in its name, but, ac-
cording to current Big O Tires Executive Vice President
and COO, Kevin Kormondy, the new company felt that
it could take OK’s original concepts and organization
“in a different direction and to a whole new level. The
watchword was ‘Better Image - Greater Opportunity.’”
And one key element of the original Big O company
that still continues to this day is the “open exchange of
ideas” among corporate and its franchisees.
Historically, some of Big O’s past innovations included
a “speed lane” that utilized an assembly line concept
and allowed several technicians to work together on a
car, reducing the time it took to have tires mounted on
it by a considerable margin. This concept remains one
of the hallmarks of Big O’s retail operation today. The
company also began offering a full free replacement
warranty – including road hazards - on some of its
high-end, private brand tires. In 1968, it encouraged
more dealers to join its system, when it instituted a
dealer incentive program that gave them a percentage
of sales within each geographical zone. In 1974, Big O
came out with its own brand tire, made by Uniroyal. The
new offering was an instant success, so the company
continued to produce more tire lines manufactured by
a variety of suppliers. Products were either continued
or taken off the market based upon customer satisfac-
tion.
With nearly 400 locations, Big O Tires, now a subsid-
iary of TBC Corporation, one of North America’s largest
marketers of automotive replacement tires through a
multi-channel strategy, is more than just a tire retailer.
All of its outlets now provide basic automobile mainte-
