ABSTRACT
The commercial manager himself took day-to-day pricing decisions. Prices were fixed by a small group of people—especially the commercial manager, the accountant and the home sales manager, with the export sales manager less involved. The firm appeared to set no minimum price for an individual product, and it seems that the price fixer himself decided when, or if, a product should be dropped. They tried to attract customers and persuade them to order large amounts of the product, by offering what were effectively lower prices. Finally, it must be mentioned that in Clean Engineering and Heavy Technology, if the price for a new tender established a new 'low', the tender was fully discussed with the general manager before being sent to the customer. All firms entrusted pricing to a small group of people—with the sales manager taking overall, and ultimate, responsibility for pricing in each firm.
