John Deere
John Deere's is arguably one of the global leading manufacturing companies for agricultural machinery. It was founded in 1835, by a blacksmith named John Deere after he invented a new design of the plough (Machinery Journal, 2016). Its performance in the market became defined when it purchased the tractor company known as Waterloo Boy, and it started manufacturing the iconic Deere tractors. The company is deeply rooted in the manufacture of agricultural machinery though it also manufactures building machinery. The firm is dedicated to producing high quality and efficient machinery; thus, it is recognized as one of the world's largest machine manufacturers and ranked second after the giant company, Caterpillar.
Company's Corporate Mission
John Deere aims to remain and retain itself as the second largest producer of agricultural, construction and forest equipment in the United States and the world in general. It strategic missions aim to continue improving the John Deere Experience of their genuine value for its employee, shareholders and customers. The company focuses on running its corporations in a smart way by thinking like inventors and being the first to create and innovative customer solutions through machines, concepts and services (John Deere, 2016). The firm also focuses on running its corporations fast by ensuring that it pursues rapid expansion of global customer coverage in the farms, construction sites and even at home. In essence, the firm also aims to run lean by driving their proceeds higher by maximizing organization performance, visionary management, reducing the concentration of the assets and creating lucrative global dominance through deliberate alliances, acquisitions and also in e-commerce.
Target Segments at the Business-To-Business, And Business-To-Consumers Levels
John Deere Company is one of the companies that have successfully implemented the Business to customer segment into their organization, thus, managing to survive in business for long and even through hard economic times. The manager of the B2B marketing segments believes that the product-marketing group and the customer segment groups must collaborate if they want to produce effective target messages to its customers. In B2B, the marketers of the product have to go deep into the market as brokers to identify new techniques that are effective and efficient to the customer, to his/her specific needs. John Deere applies the B2B strategies at home by gathering customer specific information and using that information to analyze and to segment the needs and wants of their customers. In essence, the strategy is aimed to tailor, target and execute selling efforts to these particular segments and also to customize the customer's experience and collect consumer feedback (Deere Profit Tumbles, 2016). John Deere Company has successfully applied this strategy by maintaining strong links with the market outside the United States, and it does that through follow up with their target customers. The strategy has helped the company to remain top in its sales of its agricultural and construction materials, and it continues to dominate, helping them assemble new machinery that is efficient to its customers. Their products also fit the current agricultural trends that are more of large-scale farming.
The business-to-business strategy has worked well in ensuring that businesses do well outside and within the United States. The firm also exercises rigorous financial discipline, by embracing Shareholder Value Added; for instance, it measures the difference between the operating profit and the company’s cost of capital. The company grades every factory and every product. Conversely, the firm exercise financial discipline by cutting costs of operation and paying their employees based on performance. John Deere has also balanced the investment approach and has shifted their production offshore and reinvested in the United States. The company has also invested in the production of modern equipment that is also advanced and efficient (John Deere's Global, 2016). The firm also adopted the multiple home markets, a strategy that ensures that any new factory opened in a specific region; for instance, in Latin America supplies to the nations around that factory. These eases the transport costs incurred during exports and it makes it easy for the customers to follow up their products back to the manufacturer within that region. The lean production is also essential as the company does not produce huge volumes of products, but focuses on the production of small volumes with high quality and good returns.
External Environmental Forces That Might Impact The Firm And Reasons For It
The geopolitical environment might derail its plans to expand, due to strict regulations, compliance policies, and lack of alignment to the specific agendas; might challenge Deere's expansion to other regions. It is pertinent to note that, companies such as Caterpillar already have twice the market share Deere has in the heavy machinery industry (John Deere's Global, 2016). It can prove difficult for Deere to venture into new markets especially in countries such as China, where Caterpillar has established its presence. In essence, Deere products are of high quality and tend to be expensive; hence, the external markets they could be targeting might not have the capital to purchase their products. In addition, there are those challenges that come up in foreign nations; for instance, labor availability, political will, regulations, and building trust with the residents might take a lot of time and investment if Deere is to establish sustainable business environments in future.
Company's Latest Investments/Developments
The company faced numerous challenges in 2014 and early 2015, due to reported drops in sales, hence, a drop in profitability (Deere Profit Tumbles, 2016). However, the company has decided to invest in software development to boost sales in the company. It also plans to launch leader-follower fully autonomous vehicle on the side, that is patent, and it aims to improve vehicle control, by using a power command. It also aims to produce a machine that can plant a variety of seedlings in the field, using a seedling-operating machine that switches seedling variety at a range of a meter. The other improvement includes the development of work machines with improved hydraulic systems.
Analysis of John Deere's International Marketing and How It’s International Operations Affect Its Corporate Mixed Strategy
John Deere has adopted the rear/forward deployment strategy to run its operations worldwide, which would be critical in the distribution of about 800,000 parts of the machinery (Winning Manufacturing Strategy, 2016). The strategy utilizes centralized computer system (SAP) to manage inventories and stocking locations. It also maps client’s orders to the allotment centers for swift and complete implementation. The strategy is characterized by high profits opportunity, coverage of a great geographical blueprint; hence, meeting high transportation expense and it achieves high levels of completion where the market is a critical competitive advantage.
References
Deere Profit Tumbles Amid Glut of Used Farm Equipment at Dealers. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2016, from http://www.wsj.com/articles/deere-reports-decline-in-profit-as-sales-tumble-1440158935
John Deere continues to invest in new technologies, including software - IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Patent Law. (2015). Retrieved March 31, 2016, from http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/06/03/john-deere-invests-in-new-technologies/id=58201/
John Deere’s Global Parts Distribution Network Strategy. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2016, from http://www.mwpvl.com/html/john_deere.html
Machinery Journal: John Deere Unveils Most Comprehensive Equipment Lineup in Its History. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2016, from http://www.agweb.com/article/machinery-journal-john-deere-unveils-most-comprehensive-equipment-lineup-in-its-history/
Six Keys to a Winning Manufacturing Strategy. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2016, from http://www.strategy-business.com/article/li00077?gko=3814f
