john deere case study solution

The Amazing Ways John Deere Uses AI And Machine Vision To Help Feed 10 Billion People

In just 30 years’ time, it is forecasted that the human population of our planet will be close to 10 billion.

Producing enough food to feed these hungry mouths will be a challenge, and demographic trends such as urbanization, particularly in developing countries, will only add to that.

Intelligent Farms: John Deere S-Series Combine

To meet that challenge, agricultural businesses are pinning their hopes on technology, and that idea that increasingly sophisticated data and analytics tools will help to drive efficiencies and cut waste in agriculture and food production.

Leading the way is John Deere – the 180-year-old manufacturer of farming and industrial machinery which has spent the past decade transforming itself into an artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven business. I have covered John Deere before here .

Near the start of the journey in 2013, it unveiled its Farm Forward vision – demonstrating the concept of the “autonomous farm” where machinery would be remotely managed from a central control hub. It showed a farmer monitoring data points and managing machinery from a console in his home in real-time, while AI takes care of the moment-to-moment operational decisions.

Now it has released what it calls the 2.0 version of that vision – representing the leaps in learning and practical application of smart, self-teaching technology that has been made since those early days of the digital transformation.

I spoke to John Stone, SVP of John Deere’s Intelligent Solutions Group (ISG), about what has been learned since it starting out on this journey, and how it is pushing towards its latest vision of the future of agriculture.

Stone tells me "Now we're very much pushing into artificial intelligence, computer vision, and machine learning … what's amazing is how all of this technology is such a hand-in-glove fit for agriculture.

“It’s very clear that we need to be on the vanguard of these technologies – there’s a lot of economic upside and profitability as well as sustainability that can be unlocked for farmers through them.”

How easy is it to sell farmers on this vision of the future, though? After all, the common stereotypical portrayal of a farmer isn’t always a person on the cutting-edge of technology.

“It may not be the stereotype,” Stone tells me, “but farmers are an amazingly tech-savvy bunch.

“All of us know these new technologies are quite addictive and once they use them, they really like them.

“When we tell them they can spray their fields with 80 – 90% less herbicide, based on Blue River's testing … that's real money right in your pocket. As well as less herbicide going onto the plants that are going to become our food. Farmers are business people, and they're looking for business outcomes from this precision agricultural technology."

Blue River is the Silicon Valley-based machine learning startup acquired by Deere back in 2017, which has provided the foundation of the multinational giant's foray into artificial intelligence, with their expertise in computer vision, in particular, proving itself an incredibly valuable asset.

Computer vision is essentially the science of teaching computers to "see"– interpreting images captured by cameras to understand what they show and enable autonomous decision-making based on what is learned.

Stone says “The farmer has been the primary ‘sensor’ on a farm for years – and so much of farming is visual.

“It’s how does the ground look, what can you tell about the health of a plant by how it looks? Are the leaves nice and lush or are they going yellow? Are there bugs?

“The revolution taking place with deep learning has opened doors to solving problems that farmers have dreamed about solving for years … with computer vision systems and deep neural nets, there’s a very exciting future in these technologies in farms.”

One application of Blue River’s technology has been in the development of Deere’s See and Spray pesticide and herbicide distribution systems. This involves using smart cameras powered by computer vision, which are able to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy crops as machinery passes through the field. While traditionally the decision about whether or not to dose a crop with chemicals has been made on a field-by-field basis, this system allows targeted bursts of chemicals to be directed precisely where they are needed, at individual plants – hence the 80 to 90% reduction in herbicide use touted above.

Stone moved into his role with the ISG in 2016, just before the Blue River acquisition, meaning he has overseen the partnership between the industrial giant and the AI upstart from the outset.

“If you look at how many big, old industrials have successfully acquired and joined forces with a Silicon Valley start-up, I’d guess it’s not that many – we’re off to a fantastic start.”

As evidence of how well the two companies have merged cultures and learned from each other, he says of the 90 Blue River staff whose roles were acquired, just one has resigned since the takeover.

“The culture of the team is brilliant – some of the best deep learning and machine learning scientists there are … and full-stack software programmers … who just happen to have this tremendous affinity for agriculture. They want to be practicing their technology in an application that matters – not just in research papers.”

While the See and Spray system is still not quite ready for commercial deployment, John Deere has other machine and deep learning systems which are already in the hands of thousands of farmers across the globe.

One of these is the Combine Advisor system. Again, built around computer vision, this involves using cameras mounted on combine harvesters that monitor video images of grains as they are taken up the combine’s elevator and into the tank.

Deep neural networks are used to analyze the quality of the grain and make adjustments to the

operating parameters of the machinery on-the-fly if grains are getting damaged. More cameras

monitor the detritus from the harvesting operation – stalks, leaves, and cobs – as they are ejected from the rear of the harvester to become fertilizer for the fields. These cameras check that no grains are being ejected – with the aim being to ensure zero wastage.

Another crucial part of Deere's strategy to remain on the vanguard of AI and agriculture is its JD Labs “start-up collaborator." This enables it to be in close proximity to small, agile start-ups that are able to develop and trial innovative technologies in ways that might not be possible for a giant of John Deere’s size.

"It's a really cool program, that helps us to continue to stay engaged with a really exciting community," Stone says. "We provide some mentoring and agricultural and agronomic domain expertise, while they get a chance to continue to work on their technology and refine it, and we see what comes out at the end."

Marketing Process Analysis

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• John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics
• Technology & Operations / MBA Resources

Introduction to case study solution

EMBA Pro case study solution for John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics case study

At EMBA PRO , we provide corporate level professional case study solution. John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by P. Fraser Johnson, R. Chandrasekhar. The John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics (referred as “Reman Deere's” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Technology & Operations. It also touches upon business topics such as - Value proposition, Supply chain, Sustainability. Our immersive learning methodology from – case study discussions to simulations tools help MBA and EMBA professionals to - gain new insight, deepen their knowledge of the Technology & Operations field, and broaden their skill set.

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Case Description of John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics Case Study

The factory manager of John Deere Reman, located in Edmonton, Canada, was preparing for a meeting in September 2017, with the general manager of Global Reman Operations and Marketing at the company's head office in Springfield, Missouri. John Deere's remanufacturing operations had been steadily improving over the last decade. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss opportunities for changes to John Deere's remanufacturing operation that would provide value to the company, improve customer service, and support the company's commitment to environmental sustainability.

Case Authors : P. Fraser Johnson, R. Chandrasekhar

Topic : technology & operations, related areas : supply chain, sustainability, what is the case study method how can you use it to write case solution for john deere reman: creating value through reverse logistics case study.

Almost all of the case studies contain well defined situations. MBA and EMBA professional can take advantage of these situations to - apply theoretical framework, recommend new processes, and use quantitative methods to suggest course of action. Awareness of the common situations can help MBA & EMBA professionals read the case study more efficiently, discuss it more effectively among the team members, narrow down the options, and write cogently.

Case Study Solution Approaches

Three Step Approach to John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics Case Study Solution

The three step case study solution approach comprises – Conclusions – MBA & EMBA professionals should state their conclusions at the very start. It helps in communicating the points directly and the direction one took. Reasons – At the second stage provide the reasons for the conclusions. Why you choose one course of action over the other. For example why the change effort failed in the case and what can be done to rectify it. Or how the marketing budget can be better spent using social media rather than traditional media. Evidences – Finally you should provide evidences to support your reasons. It has to come from the data provided within the case study rather than data from outside world. Evidences should be both compelling and consistent. In case study method there is ‘no right’ answer, just how effectively you analyzed the situation based on incomplete information and multiple scenarios.

Case Study Solution of John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics

We write John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics case study solution using Harvard Business Review case writing framework & HBR Technology & Operations learning notes. We try to cover all the bases in the field of Technology & Operations, Supply chain, Sustainability and other related areas.

Objectives of using various frameworks in John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics case study solution

By using the above frameworks for John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics case study solutions, you can clearly draw conclusions on the following areas – What are the strength and weaknesses of Reman Deere's (SWOT Analysis) What are external factors that are impacting the business environment (PESTEL Analysis) Should Reman Deere's enter new market or launch new product (Opportunities & Threats from SWOT Analysis) What will be the expected profitability of the new products or services (Porter Five Forces Analysis) How it can improve the profitability in a given industry (Porter Value Chain Analysis) What are the resources needed to increase profitability (VRIO Analysis) Finally which business to continue, where to invest further and from which to get out (BCG Growth Share Analysis)

SWOT Analysis of John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics

SWOT analysis stands for – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths and Weaknesses are result of Reman Deere's internal factors, while opportunities and threats arise from developments in external environment in which Reman Deere's operates. SWOT analysis will help us in not only getting a better insight into Reman Deere's present competitive advantage but also help us in how things have to evolve to maintain and consolidate the competitive advantage.

- High customer loyalty & repeat purchase among existing customers – Reman Deere's old customers are still loyal to the firm even though it has limited success with millennial. I believe that Reman Deere's can make a transition even by keeping these people on board.

- Streamlined processes and efficient operation management – Reman Deere's is one of the most efficient firms in its segment. The credit for the performance goes to successful execution and efficient operations management.

- Low profitability which can hamper new project investment – Even though Reman Deere's financial statement is stable, but going forward Reman Deere's 5-7% profitability can lead to shortage of funds to invest into new projects.

- Little experience of international market – Even though it is a major player in local market, Reman Deere's has little experience in international market. According to P. Fraser Johnson, R. Chandrasekhar , Reman Deere's needs international talent to penetrate into developing markets.

Opportunities

- Increase in Consumer Disposable Income – Reman Deere's can use the increasing disposable income to build a new business model where customers start paying progressively for using its products. According to P. Fraser Johnson, R. Chandrasekhar of John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics case study, Reman Deere's can use this trend to expand in adjacent areas Supply chain, Sustainability.

- E-Commerce and Social Media Oriented Business Models – E-commerce business model can help Reman Deere's to tie up with local suppliers and logistics provider in international market. Social media growth can help Reman Deere's to reduce the cost of entering new market and reaching to customers at a significantly lower marketing budget.

- Age and life-cycle segmentation of Reman Deere's shows that the company still hasn’t able to penetrate the millennial market.

- Home market marketing technique won’t work in new markets such as India and China where scale is prized over profitability.

Once all the factors mentioned in the John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics case study are organized based on SWOT analysis, just remove the non essential factors. This will help you in building a weighted SWOT analysis which reflects the real importance of factors rather than just tabulation of all the factors mentioned in the case.

What is PESTEL Analysis

PESTEL /PEST / STEP Analysis of John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics Case Study

PESTEL stands for – Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors that impact the macro environment in which Reman Deere's operates in. P. Fraser Johnson, R. Chandrasekhar provides extensive information about PESTEL factors in John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics case study.

Political Factors

- Political and Legal Structure – The political system seems stable and there is consistency in both economic policies and foreign policies.

- Little dangers of armed conflict – Based on the research done by international foreign policy institutions, it is safe to conclude that there is very little probability of country entering into an armed conflict with another state.

Economic Factors

- According to P. Fraser Johnson, R. Chandrasekhar . Reman Deere's should closely monitor consumer disposable income level, household debt level, and level of efficiency of local financial markets.

- Foreign Exchange movement is also an indicator of economic stability. Reman Deere's should closely consider the forex inflow and outflow. A number of Reman Deere's competitors have lost money in countries such as Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela due to volatile forex market.

Social Factors

- Leisure activities, social attitudes & power structures in society - are needed to be analyzed by Reman Deere's before launching any new products as they will impact the demand of the products.

- Demographic shifts in the economy are also a good social indicator for Reman Deere's to predict not only overall trend in market but also demand for Reman Deere's product among its core customer segments.

Technological Factors

- Proliferation of mobile phones has created a generation whose primary tool of entertainment and information consumption is mobile phone. Reman Deere's needs to adjust its marketing strategy accordingly.

- 5G has potential to transform the business environment especially in terms of marketing and promotion for Reman Deere's.

Environmental Factors

- Environmental regulations can impact the cost structure of Reman Deere's. It can further impact the cost of doing business in certain markets.

- Consumer activism is significantly impacting Reman Deere's branding, marketing and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

Legal Factors

- Intellectual property rights are one area where Reman Deere's can face legal threats in some of the markets it is operating in.

- Property rights are also an area of concern for Reman Deere's as it needs to make significant Supply chain, Sustainability infrastructure investment just to enter new market.

What are Porter Five Forces

Porter Five Forces Analysis of John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics

Competition among existing players, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of new entrants, and threat of substitutes.

What is VRIO Analysis

VRIO Analysis of John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics

VRIO stands for – Value of the resource that Reman Deere's possess, Rareness of those resource, Imitation Risk that competitors pose, and Organizational Competence of Reman Deere's. VRIO and VRIN analysis can help the firm.

What is Porter Value Chain

Porter Value Chain Analysis of John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics

As the name suggests Value Chain framework is developed by Michael Porter in 1980’s and it is primarily used for analyzing Reman Deere's relative cost and value structure. Managers can use Porter Value Chain framework to disaggregate various processes and their relative costs in the Reman Deere's. This will help in answering – the related costs and various sources of competitive advantages of Reman Deere's in the markets it operates in. The process can also be done to competitors to understand their competitive advantages and competitive strategies. According to Michael Porter – Competitive Advantage is a relative term and has to be understood in the context of rivalry within an industry. So Value Chain competitive benchmarking should be done based on industry structure and bottlenecks.

What is BCG Growth Share Matrix

BCG Growth Share Matrix of John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics

BCG Growth Share Matrix is very valuable tool to analyze Reman Deere's strategic positioning in various sectors that it operates in and strategic options that are available to it. Product Market segmentation in BCG Growth Share matrix should be done with great care as there can be a scenario where Reman Deere's can be market leader in the industry without being a dominant player or segment leader in any of the segment. BCG analysis should comprise not only growth share of industry & Reman Deere's business unit but also Reman Deere's - overall profitability, level of debt, debt paying capacity, growth potential, expansion expertise, dividend requirements from shareholders, and overall competitive strength. Two key considerations while using BCG Growth Share Matrix for John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics case study solution - How to calculate Weighted Average Market Share using BCG Growth Share Matrix Relative Weighted Average Market Share Vs Largest Competitor

5C Marketing Analysis of John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics

4p marketing analysis of john deere reman: creating value through reverse logistics, porter five forces analysis and solution of john deere reman: creating value through reverse logistics, porter value chain analysis and solution of john deere reman: creating value through reverse logistics, case memo & recommendation memo of john deere reman: creating value through reverse logistics, blue ocean analysis and solution of john deere reman: creating value through reverse logistics, marketing strategy and analysis john deere reman: creating value through reverse logistics, vrio /vrin analysis & solution of john deere reman: creating value through reverse logistics, pestel / step / pest analysis of john deere reman: creating value through reverse logistics, swot analysis and solution of john deere reman: creating value through reverse logistics, references & further readings.

P. Fraser Johnson, R. Chandrasekhar (2018) , "John Deere Reman: Creating Value Through Reverse Logistics Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.

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About Grote Consulting

John deere case study.

Agricultural and construction equipment manufacturer; $28.4 billion revenue; 56,000 employees

Client Need:

The CEO was an ardent believer in performance management. But not all of the company’s top 250 executives from North and South America, Europe, China, India, and Africa were equally as committed. This lack of commitment on the executives’ part filtered down to middle managers.

Our Solution:

Every two years John Deere’s Global Leadership Conference brings all 250 of the company’s top executives together. To help these executives understand the importance of performance management, Dick Grote was asked to present the conference-closing speech, “The Myths of Performance Management.” His speech was the highest rated presentation of the five-day conference.

Successful Result:

Following the Global Leadership Conference, Deere’s CEO decided that every one of the company’s managers should be required to hear Dick Grote’s presentation. Dick created and hosted a DVD video that incorporated the key elements of his presentation and included vignettes of supervisory/employee transactions, making the points from his speech come alive. His video became the primary component of a three-hour performance management training program for all of Deere’s management employees.

Recent Blog Posts

• 360-degree Feedback and Forced Ranking
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John Deere And Company

• Harvard Case Studies

Harvard Business Case Studies Solutions – Assignment Help

In most courses studied at Harvard Business schools, students are provided with a case study. Major HBR cases concerns on a whole industry, a whole organization or some part of organization; profitable or non-profitable organizations. Student’s role is to analyze the case and diagnose the situation, identify the problem and then give appropriate recommendations and steps to be taken.

To make a detailed case analysis, student should follow these steps:

porter’s five forces model

STEP 1: Reading Up Harvard Case Study Method Guide:

Case study method guide is provided to students which determine the aspects of problem needed to be considered while analyzing a case study. It is very important to have a thorough reading and understanding of guidelines provided. However, poor guide reading will lead to misunderstanding of case and failure of analyses. It is recommended to read guidelines before and after reading the case to understand what is asked and how the questions are to be answered. Therefore, in-depth understanding f case guidelines is very important.

Harvard Case Study Solutions

STEP 2: Reading The John Deere And Company Harvard Case Study:

To have a complete understanding of the case, one should focus on case reading. It is said that case should be read two times. Initially, fast reading without taking notes and underlines should be done. Initial reading is to get a rough idea of what information is provided for the analyses. Then, a very careful reading should be done at second time reading of the case. This time, highlighting the important point and mark the necessary information provided in the case. In addition, the quantitative data in case, and its relations with other quantitative or qualitative variables should be given more importance. Also, manipulating different data and combining with other information available will give a new insight. However, all of the information provided is not reliable and relevant.

When having a fast reading, following points should be noted:

• Nature of organization
• Nature if industry in which organization operates.
• External environment that is effecting organization
• Problems being faced by management
• Identification of communication strategies.
• Any relevant strategy that can be added.
• Control and out-of-control situations.

When reading the case for second time, following points should be considered:

• Decisions needed to be made and the responsible Person to make decision.
• Objectives of the organization and key players in this case.
• The compatibility of objectives. if not, their reconciliations and necessary redefinition.
• Sources and constraints of organization from meeting its objectives.

After reading the case and guidelines thoroughly, reader should go forward and start the analyses of the case.

STEP 3: Doing The Case Analysis Of John Deere And Company:

To make an appropriate case analyses, firstly, reader should mark the important problems that are happening in the organization. There may be multiple problems that can be faced by any organization. Secondly, after identifying problems in the company, identify the most concerned and important problem that needed to be focused.

• Pest analysis

Firstly, the introduction is written. After having a clear idea of what is defined in the case, we deliver it to the reader. It is better to start the introduction from any historical or social context. The challenging diagnosis for John Deere And Company and the management of information is needed to be provided. However, introduction should not be longer than 6-7 lines in a paragraph. As the most important objective is to convey the most important message for to the reader.

After introduction, problem statement is defined. In the problem statement, the company’s most important problem and constraints to solve these problems should be define clearly. However, the problem should be concisely define in no more than a paragraph. After defining the problems and constraints, analysis of the case study is begin.

STEP 4: SWOT Analysis of the John Deere And Company HBR Case Solution:

SWOT analysis helps the business to identify its strengths and weaknesses, as well as understanding of opportunity that can be availed and the threat that the company is facing. SWOT for John Deere And Company is a powerful tool of analysis as it provide a thought to uncover and exploit the opportunities that can be used to increase and enhance company’s operations. In addition, it also identifies the weaknesses of the organization that will help to be eliminated and manage the threats that would catch the attention of the management.  This strategy helps the company to make any strategy that would differentiate the company from competitors, so that the organization can compete successfully in the industry. The strengths and weaknesses are obtained from internal organization. Whereas, the opportunities and threats are generally related from external environment of organization. Moreover, it is also called Internal-External Analysis.

In the strengths, management should identify the following points exists in the organization:

• Advantages of the organization
• Activities of the company better than competitors.
• Unique resources and low cost resources company have.
• Activities and resources market sees as the company’s strength.
• Unique selling proposition of the company.

WEAKNESSES:

• Improvement that could be done.
• Activities that can be avoided for John Deere And Company.
• Activities that can be determined as your weakness in the market.
• Factors that can reduce the sales.
• Competitor’s activities that can be seen as your weakness.

OPPORTUNITIES:

• Good opportunities that can be spotted.
• Interesting trends of industry.
• Change in technology and market strategies
• Government policy changes that is related to the company’s field
• Changes in social patterns and lifestyles.
• Local events.

Following points can be identified as a threat to company:

• Company’s facing obstacles.
• Activities of competitors.
• Product and services quality standards
• Threat from changing technologies
• Financial/cash flow problems
• Weakness that threaten the business.

Following points should be considered when applying SWOT to the analysis:

• Precise and verifiable phrases should be sued.
• Prioritize the points under each head, so that management can identify which step has to be taken first.
• Apply the analyses at proposed level. Clear yourself first that on what basis you have to apply SWOT matrix.
• Make sure that points identified should carry itself with strategy formulation process.
• Use particular terms (like USP, Core Competencies Analyses etc.) to get a comprehensive picture of analyses.

STEP 5: PESTEL/ PEST Analysis of John Deere And Company Case Solution:

Pest analyses is a widely used tool to analyze the Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Environmental and legal situations which can provide great and new opportunities to the company as well as these factors can also threat the company, to be dangerous in future.

Pest analysis is very important and informative.  It is used for the purpose of identifying business opportunities and advance threat warning. Moreover, it also helps to the extent to which change is useful for the company and also guide the direction for the change. In addition, it also helps to avoid activities and actions that will be harmful for the company in future, including projects and strategies.

To analyze the business objective and its opportunities and threats, following steps should be followed:

• Brainstorm and assumption the changes that should be made to organization. Answer the necessary questions that are related to specific needs of organization
• Analyze the opportunities that would be happen due to the change.
• Analyze the threats and issues that would be caused due to change.
• Perform cost benefit analyses and take the appropriate action.

PEST FACTORS:

• Next political elections and changes that will happen in the country due to these elections
• Strong and powerful political person, his point of view on business policies and their effect on the organization.
• Strength of property rights and law rules. And its ratio with corruption and organized crimes. Changes in these situation and its effects.
• Change in Legislation and taxation effects on the company
• Trend of regulations and deregulations. Effects of change in business regulations
• Timescale of legislative change.
• Other political factors likely to change for John Deere And Company.

ECONOMICAL:

• Position and current economy trend i.e. growing, stagnant or declining.
• Exchange rates fluctuations and its relation with company.
• Change in Level of customer’s disposable income and its effect.
• Fluctuation in unemployment rate and its effect on hiring of skilled employees
• Access to credit and loans. And its effects on company
• Effect of globalization on economic environment
• Considerations on other economic factors

SOCIO-CULTURAL:

• Change in population growth rate and age factors, and its impacts on organization.
• Effect on organization due to Change in attitudes and generational shifts.
• Standards of health, education and social mobility levels. Its changes and effects on company.
• Employment patterns, job market trend and attitude towards work according to different age groups.

case study solutions

• Social attitudes and social trends, change in socio culture an dits effects.
• Religious believers and life styles and its effects on organization
• Other socio culture factors and its impacts.

TECHNOLOGICAL:

• Any new technology that company is using
• Any new technology in market that could affect the work, organization or industry
• Access of competitors to the new technologies and its impact on their product development/better services.
• Research areas of government and education institutes in which the company can make any efforts
• Changes in infra-structure and its effects on work flow
• Existing technology that can facilitate the company
• Other technological factors and their impacts on company and industry

These headings and analyses would help the company to consider these factors and make a “big picture” of company’s characteristics. This will help the manager to take the decision and drawing conclusion about the forces that would create a big impact on company and its resources.

STEP 6: Porter’s Five Forces/ Strategic Analysis Of The John Deere And Company Case Study:

To analyze the structure of a company and its corporate strategy, Porter’s five forces model is used. In this model, five forces have been identified which play an important part in shaping the market and industry. These forces are used to measure competition intensity and profitability of an industry and market.

porter’s five forces model

These forces refers to micro environment and the company ability to serve its customers and make a profit. These five forces includes three forces from horizontal competition and two forces from vertical competition. The five forces are discussed below:

• THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS:
• as the industry have high profits, many new entrants will try to enter into the market. However, the new entrants will eventually cause decrease in overall industry profits. Therefore, it is necessary to block the new entrants in the industry. following factors is describing the level of threat to new entrants:
• Barriers to entry that includes copy rights and patents.
• High capital requirement
• Government restricted policies
• Switching cost
• Access to suppliers and distributions
• Customer loyalty to established brands.
• THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES:
• this describes the threat to company. If the goods and services are not up to the standard, consumers can use substitutes and alternatives that do not need any extra effort and do not make a major difference. For example, using Aquafina in substitution of tap water, Pepsi in alternative of Coca Cola. The potential factors that made customer shift to substitutes are as follows:
• Price performance of substitute
• Switching costs of buyer
• Products substitute available in the market
• Reduction of quality
• Close substitution are available
• DEGREE OF INDUSTRY RIVALRY:
• the lesser money and resources are required to enter into any industry, the higher there will be new competitors and be an effective competitor. It will also weaken the company’s position. Following are the potential factors that will influence the company’s competition:
• Competitive advantage
• Continuous innovation
• Sustainable position in competitive advantage
• Level of advertising
• Competitive strategy
• BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS:
• it deals with the ability of customers to take down the prices. It mainly consists the importance of a customer and the level of cost if a customer will switch from one product to another. The buyer power is high if there are too many alternatives available. And the buyer power is low if there are lesser options of alternatives and switching. Following factors will influence the buying power of customers:
• Bargaining leverage
• Switching cost of a buyer
• Buyer price sensitivity
• Competitive advantage of  company’s product
• BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS:
• this refers to the supplier’s ability of increasing and decreasing prices. If there are few alternatives o supplier available, this will threat the company and it would have to purchase its raw material in supplier’s terms. However, if there are many suppliers alternative, suppliers have low bargaining power and company do not have to face high switching cost. The potential factors that effects bargaining power of suppliers are the following:
• Input differentiation
• Impact of cost on differentiation
• Strength of distribution centers
• Input substitute’s availability.

STEP 7: VRIO Analysis of John Deere And Company:

Vrio analysis for John Deere And Company case study identified the four main attributes which helps the organization to gain a competitive advantages. The author of this theory suggests that firm must be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and perfectly non sustainable. Therefore there must be some resources and capabilities in an organization that can facilitate the competitive advantage to company. The four components of VRIO analysis are described below: VALUABLE: the company must have some resources or strategies that can exploit opportunities and defend the company from major threats. If the company holds some value then answer is yes. Resources are also valuable if they provide customer satisfaction and increase customer value. This value may create by increasing differentiation in existing product or decrease its price. Is these conditions are not met, company may lead to competitive disadvantage. Therefore, it is necessary to continually review the John Deere And Company company’s activities and resources values. RARE: the resources of the John Deere And Company company that are not used by any other company are known as rare. Rare and valuable resources grant much competitive advantages to the firm. However, when more than one few companies uses the same resources and provide competitive parity are also known as rare resources. Even, the competitive parity is not desired position, but the company should not lose its valuable resources, even they are common. COSTLY TO IMITATE: the resources are costly to imitate, if other organizations cannot imitate it. However, imitation is done in two ways. One is duplicating that is direct imitation and the other one is substituting that is indirect imitation. Any firm who has valuable and rare resources, and these resources are costly to imitate, have achieved their competitive advantage. However, resources should also be perfectly non sustainable. The reasons that resource imitation is costly are historical conditions, casual ambiguity and social complexity. ORGANIZED TO CAPTURE VALUE: resources, itself, cannot provide advantages to organization until it is organized and exploit to do so. A firm (like John Deere And Company)  must organize its management systems, processes, policies and strategies to fully utilize the resource’s potential to be valuable, rare and costly to imitate.

STEP 8: Generating Alternatives For John Deere And Company Case Solution:

After completing the analyses of the company, its opportunities and threats, it is important to generate a solution of the problem and the alternatives a company can apply in order to solve its problems. To generate the alternative of problem, following things must to be kept in mind:

• Realistic solution should be identified that can be operated in the company, with all its constraints and opportunities.
• as the problem and its solution cannot occur at the same time, it should be described as mutually exclusive
• it is not possible for a company to not to take any action, therefore, the alternative of doing nothing is not viable.
• Student should provide more than one decent solution. Providing two undesirable alternatives to make the other one attractive is not acceptable.

Once the alternatives have been generated, student should evaluate the options and select the appropriate and viable solution for the company.

STEP 9: Selection Of Alternatives For John Deere And Company Case Solution:

It is very important to select the alternatives and then evaluate the best one as the company have limited choices and constraints. Therefore to select the best alternative, there are many factors that is needed to be kept in mind. The criteria’s on which business decisions are to be selected areas under:

• Improve profitability
• Increase sales, market shares, return on investments
• Customer satisfaction
• Brand image
• Corporate mission, vision and strategy
• Resources and capabilities

Alternatives should be measures that which alternative will perform better than other one and the valid reasons. In addition, alternatives should be related to the problem statements and issues described in the case study.

STEP 10: Evaluation Of Alternatives For John Deere And Company Case Solution:

If the selected alternative is fulfilling the above criteria, the decision should be taken straightforwardly. Best alternative should be selected must be the best when evaluating it on the decision criteria. Another method used to evaluate the alternatives are the list of pros and cons of each alternative and one who has more pros than cons and can be workable under organizational constraints.

STEP 11: Recommendations For John Deere And Company Case Study (Solution):

There should be only one recommendation to enhance the company’s operations and its growth or solving its problems. The decision that is being taken should be justified and viable for solving the problems.

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Case Study Solutions

John Deere Component Works (A)

Subjects Covered Activity-based costing Cost allocation Cost systems Manufacturing

by Robert S. Kaplan, Artemis March

Source: Harvard Business School

19 pages. Publication Date: May 04, 1987. Prod. #: 187107-PDF-ENG

John Deere Component Works (A) Harvard Case Study Solution and HBR and HBS Case Analysis

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