An intriguing question is: “How does Walker compete in an industry dominated by large corporations, as a David among Goliaths?” Part of the answer comes from being an independent company. Being independent allows us to make decisions that are best for our product and our customers, unencumbered by layers of corporate management urging compromise. At Walker we answer to no parent corporation. Walker faces none of the “quarterly earning pressure” of publicly traded corporations where shareholders demand profit each quarter, which virtually erases the possibility of long-term thinking.
What are the benefits of independence? First of all, our product will stay ahead and continue to advance and improve very quickly. We are able to accomplish in days what would take weeks and months in corporate structure. Our design and engineering team has the freedom to explore new ideas, be inventive and to make sure the best ideas are quickly brought into today’s Walker Mower. Direct input from customers quickly feeds into the improvement process. There is no corporate bureaucracy to slow down progress.
Another benefit is that we are able to stay with the sound engineering principles with which our product originated, rather than chase the latest hot trend of a corporate marketing department. That determination has kept us focused on producing the “front-cut” style mower while much of the industry has chased the “mid-mount” style. There are sound design principles that were good 40 years ago when the “front-cut” zero-turn mower design first emerged, and they still offer a performance advantage today for many mowing applications.
pplications. Best of all, an independent company is better positioned to do right by customers; to treat our customers like we would like to be treated. While it is not impossible for the large corporation to treat customers right (there are many examples of good customer service by the corporation), it is harder for them to put good service into practice with layers of management several steps removed from delivering customer service. Walker is able to keep our promises and commitments to customers without compromise from corporate “higher-ups”.
The offers have come across the years for Walker to merge into one of the large corporations “so we can overcome our limitations”. We have always said “no” and we plan to continue saying “no” because we live and breathe the benefits of an independent company.
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