I beg to differ, in the strongest way imaginable. Unless you meant that they needed to stay in business. Instead of actually maximizing profits, what happened is a few shithead companies started globally sourcing product. In one example, brake rotors. The average schmoe does not give a shit about brake parts in any regard except cost. So when Autozone, Pep Boys, and the rest of the cut rate sellers started peddling cheap rotors and by cheap I mean sub 10 dollars, the mainstream brands like Raybestos, Autospecialty, Wagner etc. had a choice. They could either follow suit or, they could dramatically limit sales enough to no longer be in that market.
It wasn't about maximizing profit, it was about just staying in that business.