Business Finance Homework Help

Need help with my Management question – I’m studying for my class.

WWYD

Instructions: Please provide 250-500 words on how you would handle this WWYD scenario.

What Would You Do?

Caterpillar Headquarters, Peoria, Illinois

Caterpillar dominates the construction and earth-moving equipment industry, with $50 billion per year in revenues. Komatsu, its next closest competitor, does $25 billion. However, Caterpillar has not been able to master the cyclical nature of its industry. When the heavy machinery industry booms, no one keeps up with demand, and everyone builds new factories and hires thousands of new employees. Indeed, Caterpillar doubled its workforce the last time global demand surged. But when the industry goes bust, factories are closed and tens of thousands of employees are laid off. What kind of dramatic swings does Caterpillar experience? A 43 percent spike in sales in April 2004 and a 52 percent decline in September 2009. Caterpillar’s Doug Oberhelman had firsthand experience with an even larger sales swing in Argentina. He says, “We sold 1,200 machines a year in Argentina in the late ’70s. In 1981, ’82, and ’83, while I was there, we sold four total.”