ABSTRACT
Gatley Hosiery was a large group with manufacturing and trading subsidiaries and sold branded and unbranded hosiery. The industry contained a large number of firms, producing differentiated products. Gatley was the largest producer in its industry but the industry was made up of so many firms that Gatley accounted for only 8% of the industry's total sales. Gatley also had good market information on the USSR, its largest single market, and one where Gatley had exported, through tendering, for many years. All these decisions were taken before the first cost information was produced by the manufacturing company on the Friday after devaluation. Gatley Hosiery's overseas company was treated as an independent profit centre in its parent company's accounts. We have seen that less than one-fifth of Gatley's exports went to the USA and Canada, because Gatley had its own selling subsidiaries there.
