CFTs were a device that Mr Ghosn first used in America to bring about the merger of Michelin and another tyre company, Uniroyal Goodrich.

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In 1988 Ghosn, then 35, was rewarded with the job of running Michelin's North American operations, overseeing a merger two years later (with Uniroyal-Goodrich) that doubled its size.

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He was able to draw on his experience in turning around a militantly unionized work force at a Goodrich Uniroyal plant in the U.S. after being put in charge by the owner, Michelin, in 1990.

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