Introduction The competitive situation faced by Wilkerson Company is that they are dealing with a decline in profits due to their competitors making severe price cuts for their pumps. Pumps are Wilkerson Company’s leading product which typically brings the company the most revenue. This problem gave Wilkerson Company no choice but to match the reduced prices its competition was offering in order for the business to gain profit. As a result, the decrease in prices ended up hurting the company rather than helping it. The only reason why Wilkerson Company decided to match the reduced prices is because they didn’t want to lose their spot as being known as a major pump supplier. Wilkerson Company is determined to find ways to make their gross margin increase again.
Competitive Situations
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Pumps were Wilkerson’s main leading product until it dropped in the pre-tax margin to less than 3% due to the severe price cut among other competitors who sold pumps. Pumps were a commodity product and it really hurt Wilkerson Company when the president, Robert Parker, had no choice but to cut prices of the pumps to match the company’s competition in order to at least maintain the volume of customers. Wilkerson Company’s purpose for matching the lower prices of the pump was only to keep its place as a major pump supplier. The lowering of the pump prices resulted in the gross margins on pump sales in the latest month to surprisingly fall below 20%. This result really hurt Wilkerson Company because the business had a target goal of reaching a 35% gross