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Agile Unleashed at Scale

How john deere’s global it group implemented a holistic transformation powered by scrum@scale, scrum, devops, and a modernized technology stack, agile unleashed at scale: results at a glance, executive summary.

In 2019 John Deere’s Global IT group launched an Agile transformation with the simple but ambitious goal of improving speed to outcomes.

As with most Fortune 100 companies, Agile methodologies and practices were not new to John Deere’s Global IT group, but senior leadership wasn’t seeing the results they desired. “We had used other scaled frameworks in the past—which are perfectly strong Agile processes,” explains Josh Edgin,  Transformation Lead at John Deere, “But with PSI planning and two-month release cycles, I think you can get comfortable transforming into a mini-waterfall.” Edgin adds, “We needed to evolve.”

Senior leadership decided to launch a holistic transformation that would touch every aspect of the group’s work – from application development to core infrastructure; from customer and dealer-facing products to operations-oriented design, manufacturing and supply chain, and internal/back-end finance and human resource products.

Picking the right Agile framework is one of the most important decisions an organization can make. This is especially true when effective scaling is a core component of the overall strategy. “Leadership found the Scrum@Scale methodology to be the right fit to scale across IT and the rest of the business,” states Ganesh Jayaram, John Deere’s Vice President of Global IT. Therefore, the Scrum and Scrum@Scale frameworks, entwined with DevOps and technical upskilling became the core components of the group’s new Agile Operating Model (AOM).

Picking the right Agile consulting, training, and coaching support can be just as important as the choice of framework. Scrum Inc. is known for its expertise, deep experience, and long track record of success in both training and large and complex transformations. Additionally, Scrum Inc. offered industry-leading on-demand courses to accelerate the implementation, and a proven path to create self-sustaining Agile organizations able to successfully run their own Agile journey.

“I remember standing in front of our CEO and the Board of Directors to make this pitch,” says Jayaram, “because it was the single largest investment Global IT has made in terms of capital and expense.” But the payoff, he adds, would be significant. “We bet the farm so to speak. We promised we would do more, do it faster, and do it cheaper.”

John Deere’s CEO gave the transformation a green light.

Just two years into the effort it is a bet that has paid off.

Metrics and Results

Enterprise-level results include:

• Return on Investment: John Deere estimates its ROI from the Global IT group’s transformation to be greater than 100 percent .
• Output: Has increased by 165 percent , exceeding the initial goal of 125 percent.
• Time to Market: Has been reduced by 63 percent — leadership initially sought a 40 percent reduction.
• Engineering Ratio: When looking at the complete organizational structure of Scrum Masters, Product Owners, Agile Coaches, Engineering Managers, UX Professionals, and team members, leadership set a target of 75% with “fingers on keyboards” delivering value through engineering. This ratio now stands at 77.7 percent .
• Cost Efficiency: Leadership wanted to reduce the labor costs of the group by 20 percent . They have achieved this goal through insourcing and strategic hiring–even with the addition of Scrum and Agile roles.
• Employee NPS (eNPS): Employee Net Promoter Score, or eNPS, is a reflection of team health. The Global IT group began with a 42-point baseline. A score above 50 is considered excellent. The group now has a score of 65 , greater than the 20-point improvement targeted by leadership.

John Deere’s Global IT group has seen function/team level improvements that far exceed these results. Order Management, the pilot project for this implementation has seen team results which include:

• The number of Functions/Features Delivered per Sprint has increased by more than 10X
• The number of Deploys has improved by more than 15X

As Jayaram notes, “When you look at some of the metrics and you see a 1,000 percent improvement you can’t help but think they got the baseline wrong.”

But the baselines are right. The improvement is real.

John Deere’s Global IT group has also seen exponential results thanks to the implementation of the AOM. “We’ve delivered an order of magnitude more value and bottom-line impact to John Deere in the ERP space than in any previous year,” states Edgin. These results include:

• Time to Market: Reduced by 87 percent
• Deploys: Increased by 400 percent
• Features/Functions Delivered per Sprint: Has nearly tripled

Edgin adds that “every quality measure has improved measurably. We’re delivering things at speeds previously not thought possible. And we’re doing it with fewer people.”

Training at Scale and Creating a Self-Sufficient Agile Organization

The Wave/Phase approach has ensured both effective and efficient training across John Deere’s Global IT group. As of December 2021, roughly 24-months after its inception:

• 295 teams have successfully completed a full wave of training
• Approximately 2,500 individuals have successfully completed their training
• 50 teams were actively in wave training
• Approximately 150 teams were actively preparing to enter a wave

John Deere’s Global IT group is well on its way to becoming a self-sustaining Agile organization thanks to its work with Scrum Inc.

• Internal training capacity increased by 64 percent over a two-year span
• The number of classes led by internal trainers doubled (from 25 to 50) between 2020 and 2021

Click on the Section Titles Below to Read this I n-Depth  Case Study

1. introduction: the complex challenge to overcome.

This need can be unlocking innovation, overcoming a complex challenge, more efficient and effective prioritization, removing roadblocks, or the desire to delight customers through innovation and value delivery.

Ganesh Jayaram is John Deere’s Vice President of Global IT. He summarizes the overarching need behind this Agile transformation down to a simple but powerful four-word vision; improve speed to outcomes.

Note this is not going fast just for the sake of going fast – that can be a recipe for unhappy customers and decreased quality. Very much the opposite of Agile.

Dissect Jayaram’s vision, and you’ll find elements at the heart of Agile itself; rapid iteration, innovation, quality, value delivery, and most importantly, delighted customers. Had John Deere lost sight of these elements? Absolutely not.

As Jayaram explains, “we intended to significantly improve on delivering these outcomes.” To do this, Jayaram and his leadership team decomposed their vision of ‘improve speed to outcomes’ into three enterprise-level goals:

• Speed to Understanding: How would they know they are truly sensitive to what their customers – both internal and external – care about, want, and need?
• Speed to Decision Making: Decrease decision latency to improve the ability to capitalize on opportunities, respond to market changes, or pivot based on rapid feedback.
• Speed to Execution: Decrease time to market while maintaining or improving quality and value delivery.

Deere’s Global IT leadership knew achieving their vision and these goals would take more than incremental adjustments. Beneficial change at this level requires a holistic transformation that spans the IT group as well as the business partners.

They needed the right Agile transformation support, the ability to efficiently and effectively scale both training and operations and to build the in-house expertise to make the group’s Agile journey a self-sustaining one. As Josh Edgin, Global IT Transformation Lead at John Deere states, “We needed to evolve.”

2. Background: The Transformation's Ambitious Goals

Before this transformation, John Deere’s Global IT function operated like that of many large organizations. In broad terms, this meant that:

• The department had isolated pockets of Agile teams that implemented several different Agile frameworks in an ad hoc way
• Teams were often assigned to projects which were funded for a fixed period of time
• The exact work to be done on projects was dictated by extensive business analysis and similar plans
• Outsourcing of projects or components to third-party suppliers was commonplace
• The manager role was largely comprised of primarily directing and prioritizing work for their teams

At John Deere, process maturity was very high. Practices such as these were created in the Second Industrial Revolution and they can deliver value, especially if you have a defined, repeatable process. However, if you have a product or service that needs to evolve to meet changing market demands, these legacy leadership practices can quickly become liabilities.

• Pockets of Agile can deliver better results. But isolated Agile teams will inherently be dependent on non-Agile teams to deliver value. This limits the effectiveness and productivity gains of Agile teams specifically and the organization as a whole. The ad hoc use of different Agile frameworks, as Vice President Jayaram explains, compounds this problem by “not being something we could replicate and scale across the organization.”
• Project-oriented teams are often incentivized to deliver only what the project plan calls for – this inhibits a customer-centric mindset and the incorporation of feedback.
• Expecting teams to always stick to a predetermined plan limits their ability to innovate, creatively problem solve, or pivot to respond to changing requirements or market conditions.
• Outsourcing can create flexibility for organizations, but an over-reliance on outsourcing can slow speed to market and value delivery.
• Too many handoffs deliver little if any value. These can also significantly slow progress on any project or product which increases time to market.
• IT managers that are primarily delegators can become a form of overhead since they’re not actively producing value for customers. Their other skills can atrophy leaving them ill-equipped to help develop their team members, and overall team member engagement and talent retention can suffer.

2.1 The Transformation Goal

Improving speed to outcomes required greater employee engagement, decreased time to market, higher productivity, better prioritization, and alignment, and increase the engineering  ratio – the percentage of the organization with what Jayaram and Edgin call “fingers on keyboards” who create the products customers used.

Additionally, leadership wanted to increase the group’s in-house technical expertise, modernize its technology stack, unify around a single Agile framework that easily and efficiently scaled both across IT and the rest of the business, and reorganize its products and portfolios around Agile value streams. All while meeting or exceeding current quality standards.

Leadership wanted to go big. They wanted nothing less than a holistic Agile transformation that would improve every aspect of their business and all of the group’s 500 teams.

Next, senior leadership created the group-wide metrics they would use to measure success. These included:

• Output: Increase by 125 percent
• Time to Market: Reduce by 40 percent
• Engineering Ratio: Improve to 75 percent with “fingers on keyboards”
• Employee NPS (eNPS): 20-point improvement
• Cost Efficiency: They would reduce labor costs by 20 percent

At the time, these goals seemed ambitious to say the least. “I remember standing in front of our CEO and the Board of Directors to make this pitch,” says Jayaram, “because it was the single largest investment Global IT has made in terms of capital and expense.” But the payoff, he adds, would be significant. “We bet the farm so to speak. We promised we would do more, do it faster, and do it cheaper.”

John Deere’s CEO gave the transformation, called the Agile Operating Model (AOM), a green light.

3. Agile Operating Model: Why John Deere Chose Scrum And Scrum@Scale

Picking the right Agile framework is one of the most important decisions an organization can make. This is especially true when effective scaling is a core component of the overall strategy.

As Edgin explains, Agile was not new to John Deere’s Global IT group. “We had Agile practices. We had Agile teams. We were delivering value.”

But says Edgin, they weren’t satisfied with the results. So, a team began evaluating several different Agile methodologies. They examined what had been done at John Deere in the past and anticipated what the group’s future needs would be.

In the past, Edgin states, “We had used other scaled frameworks—which are perfectly strong Agile processes. But with PSI planning and two-month release cycles, I think you can get comfortable transforming into a mini-waterfall,” he says, “So we aligned on Scrum being the best fit for our culture and what we wanted to accomplish.”

Early on, leadership decided to implement a tight partnership where the IT delivery team(s) are closely coupled with the product organization that is the voice of the customer. When connecting multiple products together, “leadership found the Scrum@Scale methodology to be the best fit to scale across IT and the rest of the business,” says Jayaram.

The Scrum and Scrum@Scale frameworks, entwined with DevOps and technical upskilling, became integral Agile components of the group’s new AOM.

4. The Foundry: More Than A Training Facility

When it came time to name the final and arguably most important component of the AOM, the Foundry was a clear choice. It recognizes the company’s proud heritage while also symbolizing the change that would drive the Global IT group into the future.

Many organizations incorporate a “learning dojo model” when implementing an Agile transformation. These dojos and their teams are often home to Agile practices, conduct training sessions, and provide immersive coaching for newly launched Agile teams.

Training is, of course, a critical piece of any transformation. As is coaching. After all, switching from a traditional command and control approach to an Agile servant leader approach is a significant, sometimes disorienting change.

However, some corporate dojos work on what could be considered a “catch and release” strategy. They provide one or two weeks of baseline Agile training to individuals and teams, then say “get to it”. Coaching is limited and provided primarily by outside consultants.

The first problem with “catch and release” dojos is the cookie-cutter-like approach. A mass “baseline only” training strategy focus on volume — not understanding and usability.

The second problem is the over-reliance on outside consultants for team and organizational coaching. The cost-prohibited nature of outside consultants can limit the levels of coaching each team receives. This approach also equates to an organization outsourcing its Agile knowledge base and thought leadership — a critical competency in modern business.

The John Deere Foundry and Deere’s approach to embedding Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters across the organization represents the evolution of the dojo model by addressing these problems head-on.

4.1 A Relationship Built on Creating a Self-Sustaining Agile Organization

From the beginning, John Deere’s relationship with Scrum Inc. was built around creating a self-sustaining Agile organization. One where the Foundry’s own internal trainers and coaches would build all the capabilities they needed to ensure the Global IT group’s Agile transformation was a self-sustaining one.

This included not just materials needed to train new Agile teams. This relationship included sharing all the knowledge, skills, expertise, content, and tactics critical to training the coaches and trainers themselves.

The Foundry was launched by a dedicated team comprised of both John Deere’s internal trainers and coaches and their Scrum Inc. counterparts. They worked from a single backlog which prioritized knowledge sharing along with the “hands-on” work of training John Deere’s Global IT teams in Scrum.

Scrum Inc.’s consultants took leading roles during the first wave of training, while their John Deere counterparts observed and learned the content and techniques. By the third wave, John Deere’s internal trainers and coaches were taking the lead, with Scrum Inc.’s consultants there to advise and refine the program.

As time passed, a significant number of trainers and coaches inside the Foundry and across the organization showed the level of mastery needed to successfully pass Scrum Inc.’s intensive Registered Scrum Trainer and Registered Agile Coach courses. They could now credential their own students. More importantly, they demonstrated the ability to drive the Global IT group’s Agile transformation forward on their own.

This approach removes any reliance on outside contractors for key competencies.

4.2 Unified, Context-Specific Training

Implementing an Agile transformation is a complex challenge. Research continues to show that ineffective or insufficient levels of training and coaching are leading causes of failed implementations. So too are misalignment, misunderstandings, or outright misuse of the concepts and terminology important to any Agile framework.

In short, everyone needs to share a unified understanding of the new way of working for it to have any chance of working at all.

The best way to overcome the problem of a cookie-cutter approach is to ensure all training content is as context-specific as possible.

Here too the connection between the Foundry and Scrum Inc. was important.

The joint team of John Deere and Scrum Inc. staff swarmed to create Agile courses packed with customized, context-specific material that would resonate with the company’s Global IT group.

This content removed any feeling of a cookie-cutter approach and increased the usability of each lesson.

4.3 Results 

• Internal training capacity increased  by 64 percent over a two-year span
• John Deere trainers are now leading customized, context-specific courses including Scrum Master , Product Owner , Engineering Manager , Agile for Leaders , Scrum@Scale Practitioner , and Scrum@Scale Foundations

Perhaps the best measure of success is the waiting list of teams wanting to go through Agile training and coaching. Initially, hesitancy over implementing the Agile Operating Model and undergoing training was high. Initially, there wasn’t a high demand for the training, however as early adopters experienced success, demand for the training grew. Soon teams were actively seeking admission to the next planned cohort. Now, even with greatly expanded capacity, there is a waiting list.

The Foundry model has been so successful that John Deere’s Global IT group has expanded its footprint to include coaching in Mexico, Germany, and Brazil and launched a full-scale Foundry program at the company’s facility in India. In addition to the Foundry, embedded Agile coaches continuing to drive transformation locally are a key component to the model’s success.

5. How To Achieve Efficient and Effective Training at Scale

Enter the Wave/Phase training approach implemented by the Foundry with Scrum Inc.

In this model, each team includes IT engineers along with their Scrum Masters and business-focused Product Owners. A training cohort, usually comprised of 40 to 50 teams, constitutes a wave.

The waves themselves are comprised of three distinct phases:

• The Pre-Phase: Where teams and locally embedded agile coaches prepare for an immersive wave coaching experience
• The Preparation Phase: Focuses on product organization and customer journeys
• The Immersion Phase: Team launch, coaching, and full immersion into the AOM

All three phases are designed to run concurrently, which keeps the pipeline full, flowing, and ensures efficient training at scale. The transformation doesn’t end with the wave experience. Continuous improvement and ongoing transformation continue well beyond the Immersion Phase, led by embedded agile leaders in partnership with The Foundry.

The quality and context-specific nature of the training itself, along with the “left-seat-right-seat” nature of the coaching, ensures the learning is effective.

5.1 The Pre-Phase

Embedded Agile coaches are continuously transforming teams in their organizations even before they enter a wave. One goal of the Pre-Phase is to ensure readiness of teams looking to enter a wave. Acceptance criteria include:

• Proper organization design review to ensure teams are set up to succeed with the correct roles
• A draft plan for their product structure (explained in more detail in section 6 of this case study)
• The Scrum Roles of Product Owner, Engineering Manager, and Scrum Master are filled

Ryan Trotter is a principal Agile coach with more than 25 years of experience in various capacities at John Deere. Trotter says experience shows that not meeting one or more criteria “causes deeper conversations and could result in some mitigations or delaying until they’re ready.”

5.2 The Preparation Phase

The benefits of an Agile mindset and processes can be significantly limited by legacy structures.

Therefore, product organization is the primary focus of the preparation phase.

“We want to create a much stronger connection between the customer, and the Product Owner and team” explains Heidi Bernhardt who has been a senior leader of the Agile Operating Model since its inception. Bernhardt has been with John Deere for more than two decades now. She says individuals in the product and portfolio side of the house learn to “think in a different way.”

Participants in the preparation phase learn how to create customer journey maps and conduct real-world customer interviews to ensure their feedback loops are both informative and rapid — key drivers of success for any Scrum team and organization explains Bernhardt, “They’re talking with the customer every Sprint, asking what their needs are and what they anticipate in the future.”

They also learn how to manage and prioritize backlogs and how to do long-term planning in an Agile way.

Scrum Role training is a critical component of the preparation phase. Product Owners and Scrum Masters attend both Registered Scrum Master and Registered Product Owner courses.

Team members and others who interact regularly with the team take Scrum Startup for Teams , a digital, on-demand learning course offered by Scrum Inc. “Scrum Startup for Teams provides a really good base level of understanding,” says Ryan Trotter, “People can take it at their own pace and they can go back and review it whenever they want. It really hit a sweet spot for our software engineers.”

By the end of 2021 Scrum Startup for Teams had helped train roughly 2,500 people in the Global IT group and nearly the same number of individuals throughout the rest of John Deere — including those who aren’t on Scrum Teams but who work closely with them.

5.3 The Immersion Phase

The 10-week long immersion phase is where the Agile mindset and the AOM take flight. Where the Scrum and Scrum@Scale frameworks are fully implemented and the teams turn the concepts they’ve learned in the prior phases into their new way of working.

For John Deere’s Global IT group, immersion is not a theoretical exercise. It is not downtime. It is on-the-job training in a new way of working that meets each team at their current maturity level.

The first week of immersion is the only time teams aren’t dedicated to their usual duties.

During this time, says Trotter, coaches and trainers are reinforcing concepts, answering questions, and the teams are working through a team canvas. “This is where the team members identify their purpose, their product, and agree on how they’ll work together.”

Teams are fully focused on delivering value and their real-world product over the next nine weeks.

The Product Owner sets the team’s priorities, refines the backlog, and shares the customer feedback they’ve gathered. The Scrum Master helps the team continuously improve and remove or make impediments visible. Scrum Masters collaborates with an embedded Agile Coach that continues to champion transformation. Team members are delivering value. John Deere’s technical coach for the team is the Engineering Manager, a role that has transformed from the original team leader.

Those in the immersion phase receive intensive coaching, but they are also empowered to innovate or creatively problem solve on their own. The goal is for the coaches to help make agility and learning through experimentation a part of each team’s DNA.

The transition from students to practitioners becomes more apparent towards the end of immersion. Coaches take more of a back seat in the process explains Trotter. “We don’t want to create a false dependency. We want the teams to take ownership of their own Agile journey, to know the Foundry is here when needed but to be confident that they’ve got this and can run with it so they can continuously improve on their own.”

5.4 Measuring Wave Training Effectiveness

Measuring the effectiveness of any large-scale Agile training program requires more than just counting the number of completed courses or credentials received. The instructors and coaches must be able to see the Agile mindset has also taken hold and the implementation is making a positive impact on the organization. They also need the ability to see where problems are arising so they can provide additional coaching, training, and other resources where needed.

John Deere’s internal coaches created their Ten Immersion Principles (TIPS) as a way of measuring team health once they leave the immersion phase. Foundry coaches and trainers can then focus their efforts to create a continuous learning backlog that the team owns.

The TIPS are:

• Value Flows Through the System Super Fast: The team can deliver new products or features to customers very quickly. Any impediments or dependencies hindering delivery are quickly identified and addressed
• Amplify Feedback Loops: Rapid feedback from customers is a reality
• Continuous Learning Organization: The team is taking ownership of their learning paths and Agile journey
• Deliver Value in Small Increments: The team delivers value to customers in small pieces in order to gather feedback, test hypotheses, and pivot if needed
• Customer Centricity: The team is focused on those actually using the product and not just the stakeholders interested in the value the product should deliver
• Continuous Improvement: The team is always looking for ways to improve product and process
• Big and Visible: The team make progress, impediments, and all needed information transparent and easy to find
• Team is Predictable: The team tracks productivity metrics and estimates backlog items so that the anticipated date of delivery for products or features can be known
• Data-Driven Decisions: Feedback and real data, not the loudest voice or squeaky wheel — is used to make decisions
• Culture of Experimentation: The team is willing to take calculated risks and are able to learn from failure

5.5 Results

The positive business impact this training has had is outlined in section 8. Metrics and Results of this case study.

6. Agile Product and Portfolio Management: Why It's Important And How To Do It

Erin Wyffels keeps an old whiteboard in her office as a reminder of the moment she and her team solved a particularly complex problem.

Wyffels leads the product excellence area of the Foundry, supporting John Deere’s product leaders in product ownership and the dynamic portfolio process. She has a long history with traditional project management, inside and outside of IT. Over the past two years, she has grown her expertise in Agile product and portfolio management.

John Deere’s Global IT group manages a catalog of more than 400 digital products across 500 teams. These support every business capability in the broader company — from finance and marketing to manufacturing and infrastructure and operations.

Most large organizations are built on legacy systems. Left unchanged, these systems can limit the effectiveness of an Agile transformation. Wyffels says the prior structure of projects and portfolios within John Deere’s Global IT group was just such a system. “Our old taxonomy would in no way work with Agile.” So, she was picked to help change it for the better.

6.1 Why the Product and Portfolio Structure Needed to Change 

Before implementing the AOM, portfolio management was an annual affair. One that Wyffels says, “left everyone unhappy.”

Stakeholders and senior leadership would come with a list of desired projects. Financial analysts, IT department managers, and portfolio managers would then hash out funding for these projects. Teams would then be assigned to the resourced projects. All pretty standard stuff in the corporate world.

There are, however, several problems with this approach.

Take the focus on projects. Traditional project management is a very effective approach for defined processes. By definition, a project has a start date and an end date. A set amount of work is to be done at a predetermined cost.

The weakness in traditional project management becomes apparent when you have a product or service that will evolve and emerge over time. There are just too many unknowns for the traditional approach to work effectively.

Then there’s the time it takes to make decisions based on customer feedback. As Wyffels points out, the annual nature of the pre-AOM process meant, “The best information and data you could get would be a quarter old.” Agility requires far more rapid feedback loops.

Throw in a taxonomy built more around project type than the value delivered and employees who were moved to projects instead of allowed to own a product end-to-end, and John Deere’s Global IT group had a system that was optimized based on constraints but didn’t support where the company was headed next. They were ready for a system that promoted total product ownership including value, investment, and quality and move to the next level of product maturity.

6.2 Customer Perspective and Value Streams

The need to adopt Agile product and portfolio management processes became apparent early in the AOM’s implementation.

Amy Willard is a Group Engineering Manager currently leading the AOM Foundry. She says this also becomes apparent for individual teams taking part in the immersion phase of wave training. “We see changes in their product structure evolving. They have that aha moment and realize the structure we had before wasn’t quite right.”

The new, Agile structure focuses on three critical components — customer perspective, value streams, and a product mindset.

• Customer Perspective: Willard says the value delivered to customer personas is now used to more logically group products and product families. This Agile taxonomy helps to reduce time to market and boost innovation by fostering greater coordination and collaboration between teams.
• Value Streams: Dependencies, handoffs, and removing bottlenecks are also considered when creating product groups and portfolios. Willard notes, “We’ve had a lot of success with developing value stream maps across products,” also from a customer journey perspective.
• Product Mindset: Projects are defined by their scope, cost, and duration. Products are different, they evolve based on market feedback to continually deliver value to customers.  The difference may sound small, but Willard says it represents a “major shift” in mindset for the Global IT group.

The group has developed a curriculum for people in product roles in each transformation wave, with coaching support available to each person. The same content has been made available for all roles through a self-learning option, which is great for non-product roles or people that take a new position after their group’s wave is complete. Additionally, the communities being established for product roles and collaboration across people in the roles are the final building blocks to continued maturity after the transformation waves are done.

6.3 Highlighted Result: Better Value-Based Investments

The implementation of Agile product and portfolio management has yielded numerous positive results for John Deere’s Global IT group. These structural changes were critical drivers of the success noted in the Metrics and Results section of this case study.

This shift has also increased the ability of the group’s senior leadership to act like venture capitalists and invest resources into areas and products with the most potential value to both the organization and customers.

All products are now segmented into one of three categories based on actual value delivery and market feedback. These categories are:

• Grow: High-value products or opportunities worth a higher level of investment
• Sustain: Products we want to continue investing in, but not to differentiate
• Monitor: The capability is required to run a successful business, but the investment level may be reduced

There are some products that may have problems that need to be addressed immediately, or the investment levels are decreasing in certain areas of the product due to rationalization efforts.  Those products are flagged with Fix or Exit so the MetaScrum can have prioritization conversations more easily.

The heightened levels of business intelligence and customer feedback the AOM has fostered allow leadership to make better decisions about investments faster. It also reduces the cost of pivoting when market conditions change.

Strong products, as well as prioritization and alignment at every level of the organization are what will make the portfolio process most effective at John Deere.

7. Agile Culture Unleashed

In-depth:  .

John Deere has a long history of finding innovative solutions to common problems. Today, they’re still focused on driving customer efficiency, productivity, and value in sustainable ways.

As the company states , “We run so life can leap forward.”

That alone is enough to make the company iconic. For John Deere, that’s just the start.

People matter at John Deere. So too do concepts like purpose, autonomy, and mastery made famous by author Daniel Pink in his book Drive . “It’s no secret that there is a war for talent right now,” acknowledges Global IT Transformation Lead Josh Edgin, “and the market is only getting more competitive.” John Deere’s Global IT group is not immune to that competition. However, it has an advantage over other organizations — a thriving Agile culture.

Psychological safety, empowerment, risk-taking, are the foundations of the AOM.  At John Deere’s Global IT group,being Agile isn’t defined by holding Scrum events, it’s about implementing Scrum the way it was intended by Scrum co-creator Jeff Sutherland.

Work-life balance is important. The environment is one of collaboration and respect. The group also has a common sense based remote work policy and a number of hubs for when collocation is imperative.

All this doesn’t mean everything is perfect at John Deere’s Global IT group. Leadership is the first to tell you they can and will do even better. This itself is a powerful statement — this is a place where continuous improvement is everyone’s goal, not something management demands of delivery teams.

“We’re a company that is walking the talk,” says Global IT Vice President Ganesh Jayaram, “We’re making investments both in terms of our team members and technology.” Here are just three of the important ways John Deere’s Global IT group is indeed “walking the talk.”

7.1 Transformation Portal 

Big and visible. That is the goal of the group’s transformation portal. Everything relating to the AOM implementation can be found here.

Resources, wave schedules, thought leadership, and shared learnings are all available in this in-depth dashboard. Far more than you often see in other organizations. So too are metrics for individual teams and the group as a whole.

“People want purpose,” says Edgin, “they want to solve hard problems. They want to know the work they do matters.”  This portal allows individuals to better understand their roles and they work together.

7.2 Agile Career Paths

Log into John Deere’s AOM transformation portal and you’ll find a section with dedicated self-learning and career advancement paths. As Amy Willard explains, “We have a path for every persona and community led CoPs, supported by the Foundry.” This includes everything from User Experience Practitioner to Scrum Master and Product Owner.

Having clearly defined career paths and self-learning opportunities is an important step. It not only empowers continuous improvement, but it also shows professional agilists that they’re valued, their skills are important, and they have a bright future at the organization which does not dictate they must choose between agility and career advancement.

7.3 Prioritizing Team and Organizational eNPS Scores

Through the AOM John Deere was focused on creating a great place to work. Leadership believed that healthy teams would drive creativity, productivity, and sustainability.

John Deere’s Global IT group regularly measures this through both team and organizational Employee Net Promoter Scores, or eNPS. By asking employees if they would recommend their team to others, leaders can gain a better understanding of the health and engagement of the team.

Edgin explains the importance of these metrics this way, “When you create a culture where you have awesome employees with the right mindset and great technical skills you want them to stay here because this is where they want to be.”

The Global IT group began with a 42-point baseline. A score above 50 is considered excellent. The group now has a score of 65, greater than the 20-point improvement targeted by leadership.

Individual teams show similar results across the board.

8. Metrics and Results

Truly successful Agile transformations don’t have a finish line. That’s why they call it a journey of continuous improvement.

Still, just two years into this implementation, John Deere’s Global IT group is clearly well down that path. The results are as indisputable as they are impressive.

“When you look at a product area and you see a 1,000 percent improvement can’t help but think they got the baseline wrong,” says Global IT Vice President Ganesh Jayaram.

But, digging deeper, the improvement is real.

Take the productivity gains seen from the teams with Order Management. Jayaram says these teams were chosen for the AOM’s pilot project because it was “the most complicated, had the most dependencies, and had tentacles throughout the organization.” He believed that if Scrum, Scrum@Scale, and the AOM worked for Order Management, other teams couldn’t question if it would work for them.

Metrics show just how successful the pilot was.

Both results are exponentially greater than the 125 percent increase target set for the transformation. While the Order Management results are leading the way, results from other business capability areas inside the Global IT group are closely following.

Take the ERP-heavy environment of Manufacturing Operations. Here, Edgin notes, thanks to the Agile transformation and the modernization of the technology stack, “this year we’ve delivered an order of magnitude more value and bottom-line impact to John Deere in the ERP space than in any previous year.”

He adds that “Every quality measure has improved. We’re delivering things at speeds previously not thought possible. And we’re doing it with fewer people.” Other Manufacturing Operations results include:

• Deploys: increased by 400 percent
• Features/Functions Delivered per Sprint:  Has nearly tripled

8.1 Global IT Group Overall Results

Across the board, Deere’s Global IT Agile transformation has met or exceeded every initial goal set by senior leadership. Even when you combine results from both more mature teams and those that have just left the Foundry.

The targets that leadership set were to be reached within six months after completing immersion, but John Deere is seeing continued progress led by the business capability areas to achieve even higher results with the ongoing guidance of embedded change leaders such as Scrum Masters and business capability Agile coaches.

• Time to Market: Has been reduced by 63 percent — leadership initially sought a 40 percent reduction.
• Cost Efficiency: Leadership wanted to reduce the labor costs of the group by 20 percent . They have achieved this goal through insourcing and strategic hiring–even with the addition of Scrum and Agile roles.

8.2 Return on Investment and Impact on the Bottom Line

Agile transformations are an investment, in people, culture, productivity, innovation, and value delivery. Like any investment, transformations must deliver a positive return to be judged a success.

Deere’s ROI on the Global IT group’s transformation is estimated to be greater than 100 percent.

Successful Agile transformations also make a material impact on their company’s bottom line. Financially, 2021 was a banner year for John Deere. The company generated nearly $6 billion in annual net income — far more than its previous record.  So, it takes a lot to materially impact the company’s bottom line.

Both Global IT Transformation Lead Josh Edgin and Global IT Vice President Ganesh Jayaram believe the AOM has indeed helped move the financial needle at Deere.

“The metrics we track show very clearly the answer is yes,” says Jayaram.

Edgin states, “We’re helping the company achieve our smart industrial aspirations by improving how we serve our customers and boosting productivity.” He adds that the AOM allows the group to “innovate and deliver high quality, secure solutions at a much faster pace to meet and exceed our customer needs.”

9. Agile in Action: Supply Chain Solutions Amid Disruptions

A global leader with more than 25 brands,  John Deere  relies on a complex supply chain and efficient logistics to ensure production and delivery go as planned.

More than 10,000 parts are needed to assemble just one of John Deere’s  award-winning X9 combines  — twice the number of components needed to build a new car.

Modern combines, just like modern farming, also require far more technology than you likely think.

Sensors, antennas, and motherboards are now just as critical as tires, treads, and tines. Of course, John Deere makes far more than combines. Its iconic logo appears on everything from tillers and tractors to marine engines, motor graders, and the John Deere Gator utility vehicle. In all, the company manufactures more than 100 distinct lines of equipment.

Each product relies on efficient and effective supply chain management — from procurement and sourcing to cost control, shipping, customs, and final delivery.

Overall, John Deere depends on a complex network of thousands of suppliers from around the globe to build industry-leading John Deere products.

Coordinating and collaborating with that network through digital solutions largely falls to the company’s Supply Chain Solutions teams and Karen Powers, the Digital Product Manager for Supply Chain Management and Worldwide Logistics at John Deere.

“We have responsibility for every shipment around the world,” she explains, “ from any supplier to any factory, to any component operation in between, and for the end shipment of the completed good to the dealer.” To accomplish all of this, Powers’ team also works with aspects of the company’s global trade including imports, exports, customs, documentation, and duties.

It’s a mammoth undertaking even in the best of times. And 2020 and 2021 were hardly the best of times.

But John Deere’s Supply Chain Solutions teams were more than up to the task. They successfully used Scrum as a team framework to increase throughput and Scrum@Scale as an organizational framework to optimize alignment and value delivery. Together they helped Supply Chain Solutions navigate the challenges caused by a global pandemic and major supply chain disruptions.

John Deere didn’t just survive these complex times, the company thrived. At the end of November 2021, the company announced record profits.

Jay Strief, the Group Engineering Manager of Supply Chain Solutions, connects this success in part to managing through supply chain issues and puts it in personal terms. “The awesome story here is the change in the culture; innovation, risk-taking, and many clear examples of teams stepping out of their comfort zone to deliver new value.” All of this, he adds, “was made possible through our digital transformation.“

9.1 Why Supply Chain Solutions Went Agile

Powers has been a leader in the information technology space at John Deere for most of her two-decade career.

She helmed the company’s Business Process Integration organization and an ERP implementation for the company’s Construction & Forestry Division. Powers has also led John Deere’s global analytics organization and a variety of technical teams within finance and manufacturing. She is a master of the “classic” ways of working.

When asked if there’s anything Powers misses about those pre-Agile days she quickly answers “no,” before adding, “looking back at the challenges we had to overcome in the last 18 months, I can’t fathom trying to do that without being this Agile.”

Traditional supply chain management tactics had long served John Deere well. After all, it’s impossible to grow into a Fortune 100 company with a large global footprint without efficiently coordinating your network of suppliers and deliveries.

But, as a company, John Deere understands that good enough today may not work tomorrow. Powers and her teams believed the traditional approach wouldn’t be fast enough or flexible enough to keep up with the rate of innovation and business demands for digital solutions from the global supply chain organization.

Powers says procurement of digital solutions could take months to materialize – or longer. The needs of the business line making the request often changed during that time. What was delivered was what they originally asked for but not always what they now knew they needed. It was clear that John Deere needed to adapt to continue to support customers with growing technology needs and increasing expectations for efficiency.

Supply Chain Solutions needed to move faster and more efficiently to help John Deere continue to be an industry leader. So, they started to wonder, “How do we eliminate as many handoffs as possible? How do we streamline this process? How do we better interact with the customer or internal partners?” And Powers asked herself, “How do we ensure we have the right skills and the right talent to be able to respond faster?”

Innovation is one of John Deere’s core values and the company prides itself on creative problem solving. This is part of the DNA of the company and its culture. When Powers and her team learned about the Agile Operating Model (AOM) — a transformation strategy that had been introduced to modernize the John Deere Global IT group — and the collaboration with Scrum Inc. they pushed to be included in the second wave of the transformation.

In early 2020, while still in the immersion phase of their training, Supply Chain Solutions was called on to support the Global Supply Management organization dealing with the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (V.U.C.A.) that has now become the norm for supply chains worldwide.   

9.2 Overcoming V.U.C.A.: COVID-19 and Supply Chain Disruptions

Designated as an essential business — John Deere has continued operating and building products that help build and maintain critical infrastructure and feed the planet — throughout the pandemic.

The challenge of keeping all of John Deere’s assembly lines running would be immense. But as Powers notes, “John Deere always rises to the challenge.”

At this point, John Deere’s Supply Chain Solution teams had effectively implemented both  Scrum  and  Scrum@Scale . Powers says both frameworks helped Supply Chain Solutions live up to its name.

No longer slowed by the overly burdensome and bureaucratic approach, the teams quickly pivoted from a primarily strategic focus to one that balanced both the tactical and strategic needs required during the pandemic.

Working in two-week Sprints allowed the teams to replan and reprioritize faster. They pivoted to overcome new pain points or the constantly changing conditions on the ground. John Deere’s Supply Chain Solutions teams have always had strong and reliable analytics and could see potential bottlenecks in their network. When paired with Scrum and Scrum@Scale, these teams now had the flexibility to act to counter the bottlenecks before they choked off critical parts.

Perhaps the most important change, however, came from the stronger alignment and team empowerment that both Scrum and Scrum@Scale helped build.

In the old ways of working, Supply Chain Solutions teams would often be told to undertake a predetermined solution by buyers and supply base managers, limiting the opportunity for Supply Chain Solution team members to share their expertise.

The Agile mindset Scrum and Scrum@Scale bring means those who do the work, and know it best, are free to figure out the most effective way to get it done. “To me, that was the big game-changer,” explains Powers, “because you have that collective brainpower, the folks who know the data and know the ins and outs that can provide things the business didn’t even dream of.”

Take the example of the shortage of materials brought on by the pandemic. Within their ferrous components commodity group, the supply chain analytics and sourcing teams took a new approach to manage cost and risk. John Deere leveraged its bill of materials to generate greater visibility into everything it purchased throughout its supply chain. John Deere used a tier taxonomy to indicate the difference between a completed component (Tier 1) and the pieces needed to make it (Tier 2). Heightened visibility into these different tiers allowed the company to creatively overcome bottlenecks before problems arose. Thus, better managing cost and risk.

“While the initial scope started as a single commodity, additional opportunities quickly came into view as the analytics group developed comprehensive views of our total spend by category,” says Powers. “The evolution of the tiered spend project was a great illustration of Agile in action. The iterative development and ongoing connection between category managers and analytics team members ensured that the end result was useful for a broad group of internal teams.”

The team’s solution to 2021’s worldwide microchip shortage was even more creative.

Normally, John Deere does not buy microchips directly. Instead, it buys completed boards that contain those chips from suppliers. Still, explains Powers, Supply Chain Solutions knew the shortage could detrimentally affect their businesses because “if the suppliers can’t get the chips, they can’t make the boards and we can’t put them into machines.”

So, Supply Chain Solutions asked their network how they could help suppliers secure the microchips directly. They assigned a few team members to create automation scripts that scoured the internet for microchips that would meet their specific needs and when they would be available. This new system helped supplement their suppliers.

All this, Powers explains, came with just one caveat for their suppliers, “all the chips John Deere helped secure would be sold back to us on a completed board.”

Again, John Deere’s lines kept running. That’s something other major manufacturers could not say. “Obviously we’re facing the same challenges other companies are,” explains Powers, “the difference is our ability to step out and do things we normally don’t do to help our suppliers. This, in turn, helps us secure what we need.”

Same team, new operating model and a new mindset, and the “ability to successfully operate in any situation.” That is what the Agile Operating Model, Scrum, and Scrum@Scale delivered for John Deere’s Global IT organization.

Strief puts it this way: “The digitalization of our supply chain business is not just about new technology, it is transformational in terms of new business value we are delivering. Along the way, we have delivered higher job satisfaction for our software engineers and continue to invest in developing cutting-edge skills in our people.”  

9.3 Structured to Deliver Strategic and Tactical Goals

As we know, 2020 and 2021 were some of the most challenging years supply chain professionals had faced in the modern era. Just delivering tactical goals could be a major accomplishment given the level of V.U.C.A. the function faced.

The ingenuity and dedication of John Deere’s Supply Chain Solutions team members, and their use of Scrum and Scrum@Scale, meant they could deliver both the tactical and strategic.

Along with their Scrum training, Supply Chain Solutions Agile journey began with two significant structural changes which helped the teams deliver beneficial outcomes.

As Powers explains, the first such change evolved how the unit was led. “We took what use to be a single management position and broke it out into two roles with different, more focused accountabilities.”

One role, the business digital product lead, focuses on the business problems the unit was helping to solve as well as examine ways technology can help drive those desired outcomes. This is Powers’ role.

The second role, held by Strief, focuses on ensuring teams have the right capabilities with digital skills, technical acumen, and depth of experience to innovate and deliver successfully and rapidly.

This new leadership structure ensures both Powers and Strief are laser-focused on their specific areas of expertise. They have clear accountabilities, know what each is responsible for, and allow for cleaner lines of communication and minimal bureaucratic hurdles. Powers believes that this split structure, “is what really makes this model work.”

The second significant structural change involved the teams themselves.

“In the past, teams were structured around an application or specific technology,” says Powers, “so a shift from a strategic project to a tactical need could slow that strategic project down significantly.”

Powers says, “We started really looking at our applications and processes,” in new ways. They identified what was obsolete as well as what could be streamlined or grouped together. Supply Chain Solutions then completely revamped their product taxonomy around these newly identified value streams and restructured their teams accordingly.

Besides being more efficient, Powers notes this new product structure also created, “a stronger sense of empowerment and ownership,” throughout the team — from the product owner to the team members. “That’s their baby and their pride and joy.”

So, they get to really take that to the next level and know they had a real hand in making a positive impact,” versus just checking off a list of requirements and requests.

The teams also changed how they worked.

In Scrum, teams break large work into smaller increments. This, says Powers, along with a well-prioritized backlog meant “the teams were able to move from the tactical to the strategic without losing momentum.” The net result of these changes in structure and process, combined with John Deere’s strong analytics, is clear; John Deere’s lines kept running — through the pandemic, supply bottlenecks, and shortages. At the same time, the Supply Chain Solutions teams were able to deliver multiple award-winning strategic initiatives that helped the company control or recoup costs and boost efficiency. These included:

• Modernizing the ‘Cost Central’ internal application that is a hub for material cost management throughout the company. The upgrades included increased its ease of use, visibility of data like expected cost, and an overall improvement in user experience and engagement.
• A strategic initiative that leveraged analytics and the increased visibility spurred by John Deere’s Agile transformation for digital products that  allowed the company to recoup some $20 million in duty drawbacks .
• A strategic initiative that combined machine learning and analytics to increase leverage buying power and cost control by creating visibility into parts with similar dimensions, components, performance, and material characteristics but different part numbers.

9.4 Additional Results and Metrics

John Deere’s leadership began their Agile transformation by setting ambitious goals. Each represents a level of targeted improvement any company would love to achieve.

Throw in the unprecedented level of complexity and V.U.C.A. that have been the hallmark of supply chains throughout 2020 and 2021 and you might expect that John Deere’s Supply Chain Solutions teams would, at best, come close to achieving them.

Instead, just six months after the end of the immersion phase of their training, Supply Chain Solutions has smashed through those ambitious goals and has achieved far more than anticipated. The data collected by John Deere on five specific areas tell the story best:

• Cycle Time:  Before John Deere’s Agile transformation, the time it took for Supply Chain Solutions to go from idea to delivery was 54 days. Now it takes just 11 days.  This represents a 79 percent improvement , far more than the 40 percent targeted by leadership.
• Time to Market:  Leadership wanted to decrease this by 40 percent.  Supply Chain Solutions has decreased it by 66 percent , from a baseline of 89 days to 30.
• Functions/Features Delivered per Sprint:  Supply Chain Solutions was delivering nine functions per sprint before their Agile transformation. Leadership wanted that number to increase by 125 percent. Six months after their immersion phase ended, Supply Chain Solutions is now delivering 49 functions per sprint,  an improvement of 448 percent .
• Deploys:  Here leadership targeted a 125 percent increase over the baseline of 10. Instead, Supply Chain Solutions has increased that to 67, a 567 percent improvement .
• Cost Efficiency:  Hiring the right people, with the right skills for the right roles allowed Supply Chain Solutions to eliminate ‘middlemen’ and costly handoffs. This allowed the teams to deliver the above results while  reducing overall costs by 20 percent .
• Team eNPS: Employee Net Promoter Score, or eNPS, is an effective way to measure team happiness and engagement. A score above 50 is considered excellent so leadership set a target score of 50+ for this metric.  Supply Chain Solutions’ current eNPS score is 60 .

To Powers, that last data point personifies their Agile transformation. “Having fun at work and getting things done are not mutually exclusive,” she says, “we went through this journey and people started having fun, and we’re seeing the difference in the results.”

9.5 Conclusion 

At the start of their Agile journey, many questioned if it would work in the structured and intertwined environment. “Lots of people doubted that Agile would work here. That you could do an Agile transformation in Supply Chain Solutions.”

Powers freely admits that she was one of those doubters.

Then, she had her “a-ha” moment.

“Suddenly I saw how it absolutely applies to everything you do,” no matter how complex or intertwined. She admits that “It may take a little blind faith to start your Agile journey,” before adding,” the pieces will make sense. The teams will deliver more, you’ll accomplish more, and everybody will love what they’re doing.” That, she says, is the game-changer. For Supply Chain Solutions, Agile allows them to adapt while the game itself keeps changing.

10. Future of Scrum, Scrum@Scale, and the Agile Operating Model at John Deere

The success of the AOM built on Scrum and Scrum@Scale as well as DevOps, Organization Design and a modernized technology stack is undeniable.

The group’s Scrum Teams are happier, more empowered, and more engaged. As Amy Willard notes, “We can deliver functionality that our customers love faster than ever before.” Rework is down. Quality is up.

“The verdict is in,” says Josh Edgin – The AOM was clearly “the right thing to do.”

Successful implementations are known to spread organically throughout an organization. Well beyond the group that launched the transformation. Edgin says this has already begun at John Deere.

“One of our Agile coaches was asked to go down to the factory floor and work with one of the factory teams. They had tremendous success.”

Global IT Vice President Ganesh Jayaram sees “The fact that Agile has made it into the vernacular of the broader company,” as one of his favorite signs of success.

Research and development, manufacturing, human resources, are all areas where he believes the AOM can help drive beneficial outcomes. “You can transform any function,” says Jayaram, “You have a backlog, you prioritize, you become customer-centric.” That, he says, would be the AOM’s biggest win.

As a company, John Deere’s higher purpose is clear: We run so life can leap forward. The Global IT group is positioned to help achieve that purpose for decades to come.

Update: On May 31st, 2022, Ganesh Jayaram was appointed the Chief Information Officer at John Deere. 

How John Deere’s Global IT Group Implemented a Holistic Transformation Powered by Scrum@Scale, Scrum, DevOps, and a Modernized Technology Stack

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Digital Innovation and Transformation

Mba student perspectives.

• Assignments
• Assignment: Growing Businesses in the…

From Product to Platform: John Deere Revolutionizes Farming

See how a 179-year-old company has created the go-to platform for the agricultural industry, allowing John Deere to compete against both other farm equipment manufacturers as well as new Ag Tech entrants.

John Deere is the number one farm equipment manufacturer in the world with 2016 worldwide revenues of $26.6B. [1] In 2012 John Deere created the open platform, MyJohnDeere, an information system to help agricultural producers optimize the management of production data, equipment information and farm operations. The company provides an interesting case study to see how product-centric firms can strive to utilize platform-centric models to compete in the digital age.

Value Creation through Ag Big Data & Platforms

The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service highlighted several examples of how Big Data can create value in the Agricultural industry including, “increasing the resilience of production systems; improving understanding of genotype by environmental interactions; and enhancing human and animal health.” The industry is already seeing a competitive edge given to those players who are data focused. This includes a general shift to those who are familiar with technology and platforms in other areas of their life, a shift from supply to a demand-driven industry in which farmers are expected to react quickly to consumer food demands, and a move towards open communication between members of the community. [2]

John Deere saw the opportunity to enter the Big Data space with their platform, MyJohnDeere. In 2012 the company launched several software products that connected John Deere equipment with other machines, owners, operators, dealers and agricultural consultants. This software analyzed individual data through sensors added to the latest John Deere equipment combined with historical data on everything from weather and soil conditions to crop features. This information is shared across stakeholders to help farmers manage their fleet, reduce downtime inefficiencies, and save on fuel costs. [2] Consumers manage all of this information through smart phones, tablets and computers, allowing information to be accessible at all times.

Pathways to a Just Digital Future

Utilizing an Open Platform to Capture Value

In 2013 John Deere opened their platform to allow input suppliers, agriculture retailers, local agronomists, and software companies to provide applications and software that connect through the platform. A spokesperson for the company said “these collaborations will greatly benefit our customers by expanding the choices they have to improve productivity, efficiency and yield.” [3]

MyJohnDeere is free for consumers who purchase John Deere equipment, and from what can be seen from the website it does not look like John Deere is charging 3 rd party developers a fee for integrating on their platform (however all applications must be approved by John Deere). While the benefit to the consumer is straightforward, the move towards bringing in 3 rd party developers highlights John Deere’s strategy to become a central platform for farm equipment hardware and software. It seems the company has learned about the importance of open systems in winning a platform game, and several other benefits are likely to come out of this:

• Increase hardware purchases – John Deere has seen competition from low-cost competitors, but by integrating a software platform into its products, it can provide a reason for consumers to pay more for its hardware.
• Prevent hardware multi-homing – one of the benefits of MyJohnDeere is connecting all equipment in one software database. Creating this unified platform gives incentives to farmers to purchase all equipment through John Deere instead of through multiple hardware providers.
• Create barriers for Agriculture Tech companies to enter the space and capture all the value. As we saw in several cases including Nokia and Samsung, when software platforms gain marketplace control, they can push hardware margins down. By being an early mover in this space, John Deere is preventing the emergence of strong Ag Tech companies to become the market power. In fact, John Deere is making these Ag Tech players complementors for its platform instead of competitors.
• Big Data – A big trend in any industry today is whoever owns the data wins. Big Data itself can become a revenue generator and John Deere is likely thinking about how it can utilize the vast data it is gathering in the future.

There are hundreds of Ag Tech products out there, but John Deere has shown it has become integral to this space. When developing apps to help farmers in decision-making, Chris Harbourt, chief executive officer of Agrible in Champaign, said the most frequent comments he hears is “I want something that integrates with my John Deere…” [4]

John Deere is not stopping in their quest for agricultural platform dominance. For a fascinating look at how John Deere sees the future of farming take a look at this video (you can skip to ~1:00):

[1] https://www.deere.com/en_US/corporate/our_company/investor_relations/financial_data/earnings_releases/2016/fourthqtr16.page

[2] Gustafson, M. (2014). BIG DATA AND AGRICULTURE. AgriMarketing, 52(2), 24-25,27. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/docview/1518588141?accountid=11311

[3] https://www.deere.com/en_US/corporate/our_company/news_and_media/press_releases/2013/corporate/2013nov14_corporaterelease.page

[4] http://www.illinoisfarmertoday.com/news/regional/tech-transition-ag-companies-expected-to-consolidate-innovate/article_31aa52e8-bc99-11e6-a3db-6341bf3fd3ab.html

Student comments on From Product to Platform: John Deere Revolutionizes Farming

Cassie – this is SO interesting!

I’ve heard of tons of startups in the agriculture space, who are all trying to help farmers optimize everything from their use of fertilizers, ability to identify crop diseases early, share/rent equipment. But it DOES seem like John Deere has a huge advantage because of its installed base of users already familiar with the brand, and already using its products. It particularly helps with both the network effects and multi-homing questions, by strongly-encouraging (forcing?) users to adopt the John Deere platform – and eventually driving more sales of their actual equipment. In a way, it’s the opposite of the simulation – where there was no money to be made on the device, and all economic opportunity came from the apps/digital components. Here – the digital component is the free platform, and the devices will drive revenues. Overall – that seems like a better model – since the platform component is scalable with limited variable costs!

Great post! Really interesting that John Deere, as the incumbent with a long history as a product company, has been able to launch this platform to stay ahead of the competition! By opening up their platform to other 3rd party developers, they are in effect making MyJohnDeere the go-to platform for ag tech. I could see this being a winner-take-all market with no need for farmers and other users to multi-home on other platforms, especially since John Deere has a head start in aggregating big data that will create really strong direct and indirect network effects.

Love the post! I think i agree with Sonali. It feels like an Apple model almost where the value is in the UX and the data, but they monetize it through the physical products and give the software away.

I feel like because the farming industry is so family focused, with land and equipment being passed down generation after generation, if this will make their hardware extremely sticky and ensure that once john deere is able to sink its teeth into a farmers field, they are stuck forever.

This is incredibly interesting and a great example of a legacy equipment provider actually being ahead of the technology / software game. I’m curious about how they internally managing resource allocation between the software and equipment tech teams and how they went about building this platform in the first place.

Hi Cassie, thanks for the post!

I just came back from a class taught by Michael Porter on John Deere’s Internet of Things platform. The case described it is difficult for the company to drive adoption. Most farmer users generally use the Automatic Guidance features (70% adoption), and 10-15% use the Variable-rate Application Technology to save on fertilizer and pesticide uses. It looks like the customers are not easily sold on the data analytics features, and John Deere need to significantly improve customer service to encourage adoption.

Really loved this post. Thanks for sharing in class!

Your mention of education efforts in class triggered an additional thought on my part …. I thought the “future of farming” video was fascinating, but the main farmer character didn’t really resonate with me in terms of being representative of John Deere’s core customer. I’m from a small farming town in MN, and the farmers in my town (granted they’re not running large, commercial sized farms) tend to be traditional, not tech savvy, and love rolling up their sleeves and being outdoors. I did wonder if perhaps the shift to platform is actually ahead of the market, and I was not surprised to hear you say in class that adoption has been low. Will be interested to 1) see if JD’s “farmer education efforts” can help them cross the chasm into mainstream farmers; and 2) how quickly that will happen.

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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.

Brought to you by:

The strategic transformation of John Deere: Precision Agriculture, AI, and the Internet of Things

By: Kannan Ramaswamy, William E Youngdahl

The case focuses on the precision agriculture industry, an emerging combination of technologies and solutions targeted at improving the economics and sustainability of the agricultural industry.…

• Length: 10 page(s)
• Publication Date: Nov 5, 2023
• Discipline: Strategy
• Product #: TB0702-PDF-ENG

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The case focuses on the precision agriculture industry, an emerging combination of technologies and solutions targeted at improving the economics and sustainability of the agricultural industry. Within the context of the industry transformation, the case specifically examines the strategic decisions made by John Deere, the leading agricultural machinery and equipment manufacturer in the world as it charts its course towards digitally transforming the company. The case provides an ideal platform to explore a broad spectrum of topics ranging from ecosystems and platforms, defining and delivering a unique customer value proposition, and leveraging contemporary tools such as artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), data analytics, and deep learning to revolutionize the old and tradition-bound agricultural business. John Deere has introduced a set of leading-edge tractors, sprayers, and farm equipment that promise to personalize agriculture at the plant level. The technologies embedded in its tractors along with cloud-based analytical capabilities provide farmers with real-time actionable data and advice. As it launches a new way of farming, the company confronts skeptical customers who think the equipment is too expensive and hard to repair, and the data streams too complex to comprehend and apply to their field-level decisions. There are other issues relating to data privacy and ecosystem management that Deere confronts as it aspires to emphasize its software platform as the way to the future. The reader is asked to assess the way the Leap Ambitions strategy has played out in the marketplace and suggest course corrections as needed to guarantee that Deere can ensure it derives the maximum value from the ecosystem.

Learning Objectives

To identify the core strategy elements involved in articulating a clear strategy for an established company that operates in a mature industry setting.

To explore the integral interplay between strategic transformation decisions and digital transformation decisions as it relates to what can be achieved through contemporary technologies (digital transformation) and how should companies harness new technologies (strategic transformation).

To understand the intricacies of building an ecosystem business and the challenges associated with managing a platform with multiple players.

To debate the pros and cons of establishing forward looking customer value propositions and the challenges associated with their implementation

Nov 5, 2023

Discipline:

Thunderbird School of Global Management

TB0702-PDF-ENG

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John Deere leads the way with IoT-driven precision farming

Precision farming makes the most of limited natural resources to feed more people.

Did you know that one in seven people in the U.S. depends on food banks to survive?

Or that one out of six children—roughly 100 million—in developing countries is underweight?

Hunger is a global problem.

Natural resources are limited. How do you grow more food on the same amount of land? Lower the cost of food production?

Lane Arthur tackles this challenge every day for John Deere ‘s Intelligent Solutions Group (ISG). Arthur is ISG’s director of digital solutions, and his team develops IoT and data driven solutions for farmers. Arthur is amazing! He has a Ph.D. in genetics and development from Columbia University in addition to a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Georgia. He recently explained how IoT-based precision agriculture increases crop yields by optimizing land, seed and fertilizer usage.

What is precision agriculture?

Precision agriculture is about getting more from each decision, each job that goes into growing the food we eat. The foundation of that is highly automated farming machines guided by software, GPS technology and satellites. With sub-inch accuracy, farmers control the precise placement of seeds and chemicals. They spray precisely the right amount of fertilizer and harvest precisely. Sensors and IoT make those things possible.

Does precision farming require drivers?

The tractors do have drivers, but the highly automated machines run themselves by GPS technology and modems in the cabs. You keep a driver there because you need to get to the field, to turn the tractor around, and in some cases adjust it a bit.

Precision agriculture depends on knowing your precise location on a field. GPS coordinates aren’t 100 percent accurate; they are often plus or minus 20 or 30 feet. A real reference point on the ground is used for triangulation to improve accuracy. John Deere uses Real Time Kinematics (RTK) and correction signals to provide farmers’ equipment with sub-inch accuracy.

How precision agriculture increases food production

Farmers don’t farm alone. They rely on others for seed and fertilizer recommendations. Farming productivity improves as partners are connected. Sensors provide the information needed by the partners in the farming ecosystem to increase yields through better coordination.

Here’s an example: A farmer has finished harvesting his corn. He doesn’t own the equipment to break up the corn stalks so that they don’t wither and decay. Sensors detect when a field has been harvested and alert the partner that has the equipment to break up the corn stalks. This level of coordination across hundreds of partners ensures that more food can be grown more efficiently.

The kind of data that is tracked

Agriculture involves five steps:

• Preparing the soil
• Spraying applications, fertilizer or chemicals
• Managing: Determining what you did well and what you’ll do next year by collecting data for all of these steps

For example, consider planting seeds in a 100-acre field with about 33,000 seeds per acre. Just the right number of seeds has to be planted at the right location and depth to maximize yields. Traditional planting systems use a seed tube. Precision farming improves spacing accuracy by compensating for turns that the planter makes while maintaining in-row spacing. This reduces wasted seeds and stunted plants when they’ve been planted too close together.

How the sensor data from a planter is managed

Data from the sensors on the planter is fed to a wireless data server under the seat of the tractor. It pushes the data to the cloud every five seconds. John Deere has its own data centers, but the company also works with public cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). Communication with the planter is bidirectional.

A seed rep might divide a field into zones based on elevation and soil type. He prepares a “seed prescription” for the field—similar to a medical prescription. This defines what seeds should be planted and at what spacing on the field. The planting instructions are sent directly to the John Deere planter, which changes the seed planting accordingly. It’s highly automated.

Who owns the sensor data? Farmers or John Deere?

Data is extremely valuable. John Deere believes farmers should control the data generated by their operations. This involves deciding who it should be shared with. For example, a farmer could decide to share data from one field or only share data from one planting season with a partner.

How IoT increases farm yields

Seed providers work closely with farmers to recommend what seeds to use in order to maximize crop yields. Sensor data on soil conditions, moisture and crop yields for that field drives such recommendations, which benefit both the farmer and the seed provider.

Example recommendation:

“We’ve looked at your results, and this hybrid is better suited for your fields and your soil than the ones you used this past year. I have a better product recommendation for you and a rate. If you had put that in at 30,000 seeds per acre, you would have been better in this part of the field; in another part of the field don’t plant so much.”

Seed providers also use the sensor data to design new seed varieties. They can improve seed characteristics by evaluating the yields that their customers achieve in different soil types and weather conditions.

How willing are farmers to innovate?

Farmers are very innovative and willing to try things to see if it helps them do their job better, Arthur said. They’re incredibly industrious and entrepreneurial. They rig their own machines; they do all kinds of stuff. Even people toward the end of their careers have a history of doing the next best thing.

“I recently met with two family farmers, a father and son. The dad said precision farming was interesting, but he wasn’t sure about it. The son commented that because of sensor data, they changed their fertilizer strategy and used less fertilizer,” Arthur said. “It’s a generational thing where the younger person adopts it faster. In other cases, the older guys are pushing the younger guys.”

Global hunger unfortunately isn’t disappearing any time soon. Precision farming let’s growers make the most of limited natural resources to feed more people.

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The opinions expressed in this blog are those of Deepak Puri and do not necessarily represent those of IDG Communications Inc. or its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies.

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John Deere Component Works (A) Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

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Division recognized the inadequacy of the existing, traditional cost systems to estimate the cost of production. Describes innovation based on a system that has been developed to more accurately track the overhead of separate products. Provides students the opportunity to critique the standard cost system and estimate the characteristics of the proposed system, which tracks the cost of production activities. "Hide by Robert S. Kaplan, Artemis March Source: Harvard Business School 19 pages. Publication Date: 04 May 1987. Prod. #: 187107-PDF-ENG

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John deere ecosystem a case study in innovation, agility, and growth.

By Norma Watenpaugh, CEO of  PhoenixCG  specializing in collaborative business ecosystems to accelerate innovation and open new markets.

As someone who has been architecting and managing business partner ecosystems for more than 30 years in the tech industry, I am quite interested in the attention ecosystems have been receiving from management pundits of late.

I’ve observed that more and more companies are beginning to think of partner ecosystems as a “new” way to help boost  growth and innovation . I, however, believe they always were. Now that more industries are becoming digitally savvy, these partner ecosystems are a critical way to navigate digital disruption and become more agile and responsive to change.

Why build partner ecosystems?

MORE BY FORBES

Eos data analytics: balancing risk, reward and intuition when establishing strategic partnerships, the role of ai in agrifood, how vertical farming and agtech can help address food insecurity.

My favorite example is John Deere. I have no ties to the brand, but I find its evolution to be an excellent example of partner ecosystems. John Deere is a 180-year-old company that is known for its tractors and builds a range of industrial equipment and machinery.

As a farmer’s daughter, I learned to drive a tractor at the tender age of 6. Never did I imagine even a few years ago that a tractor would become an internet of things edge platform. The modern John Deere tractor can gather data and upload it to the cloud to be utilized by independent software developers for a spectrum of applications, which farmers can then access from computers, tablets or smartphones.

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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.

- 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.

- Strong Balance Sheet – The financial statement of Reman Deere's looks strong and will help the company going forward.

- 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.

- 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.

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.

- Customers are moving toward mobile first environment which can hamper the growth as Reman Deere's still hasn’t got a comprehensive mobile strategy.

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

- 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.

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

Economic Factors

- Inflation rate is one of the key criteria to consider for Reman Deere's before entering into a new market.

- 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

- Consumer buying behavior and consumer buying process – Reman Deere's should closely follow the dynamics of why and how the consumers are buying the products both in existing categories and in segments that Reman Deere's wants to enter.

- 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

- 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.

- Health and safety norms in number of markets that Reman Deere's operates in are lax thus impact the competition playing field.

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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Rosalind Fox At John Deere Case Study Solution Analysis

by HBR Four

Rosalind Fox At John Deere Case Study Solution & Analysis. Get Rosalind Fox At John Deere Case Study Analysis & Solution. Contact us directly at buycasesolutions(at)gmail(dot)com if you want to order for Rosalind Fox At John Deere Case Solution, Case... More

Rosalind Fox At John Deere Case Study Solution & Analysis. Get Rosalind Fox At John Deere Case Study Analysis & Solution. Contact us directly at buycasesolutions(at)gmail(dot)com if you want to order for Rosalind Fox At John Deere Case Solution, Case Analysis, Case Study Solution. Anthony J. Mayo, Olivia Hull Less

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Rosalind Fox at John Deere Case Study Solution & Analysis Rosalind Fox at John Deere Case Study Solution & Analysis. Our tutors are available 24/7 to assist in your academic stuff, Our Professional writers are ready to serve you in services you need. Every Case Study Solution & Analysis is prepared from scratch, top quality, plagiarism free. Authors: Anthony J. Mayo, Olivia Hull Get Case Study Solution and Analysis of Rosalind Fox at John Deere in a FAIR PRICE!! Steps for Case Study Solution & Analysis: 1. Introduction of Rosalind Fox at John Deere Case Solution The Rosalind Fox at John Deere case study is a Harvard Business Review case study, which presents a simulated practical experience to the reader allowing them to learn about real life problems in the business world. The Rosalind Fox at John Deere case consisted of a central issue to the organization, which had to be identified, analysed and creative solutions had to be drawn to tackle the issue. This paper presents the solved Rosalind Fox at John Deere case analysis and case solution. The method through which the analysis is done is mentioned, followed by the relevant tools used in finding the solution. The case solution first identifies the central issue to the Rosalind Fox at John Deere case study, and the relevant stakeholders affected by this issue. This is known as the problem identification stage. After this, the relevant tools and models are used, which help in the case study analysis and case study solution. The tools used in identifying the solution consist of the SWOT Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, PESTEL Analysis, VRIO analysis, Value Chain Analysis, BCG Matrix analysis, Ansoff Matrix analysis, and the Marketing Mix analysis. The solution consists of recommended strategies to overcome this central issue. It is a good idea to also propose alternative case study solutions, because if the main solution is not found feasible, then the alternative solutions could be implemented. Lastly, a good case study solution also includes an implementation plan for the recommendation strategies. This shows how through a step-by-step procedure as to how the central issue can be resolved. 2. Problem Identification of Rosalind Fox at John Deere Case Solution Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected]

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Harvard Business Review cases involve a central problem that is being faced by the organization and these problems affect a number of stakeholders. In the problem identification stage, the problem faced by Rosalind Fox at John Deere is identified through reading of the case. This could be mentioned at the start of the reading, the middle or the end. At times in a case analysis, the problem may be clearly evident in the reading of the HBR case. At other times, finding the issue is the job of the person analysing the case. It is also important to understand what stakeholders are affected by the problem and how. The goals of the stakeholders and are the organization are also identified to ensure that the case study analysis are consistent with these. 3. Analysis of the Rosalind Fox at John Deere HBR Case Study The objective of the case should be focused on. This is doing the Rosalind Fox at John Deere Case Solution. This analysis can be proceeded in a step-by-step procedure to ensure that effective solutions are found. In the first step, a growth path of the company can be formulated that lays down its vision, mission and strategic aims. These can usually be developed using the company history is provided in the case. Company history is helpful in a Business Case study as it helps one understand what the scope of the solutions will be for the case study. The next step is of understanding the company; its people, their priorities and the overall culture. This can be done by using company history. It can also be done by looking at anecdotal instances of managers or employees that are usually included in an HBR case study description to give the reader a real feel of the situation. Lastly, a timeline of the issues and events in the case needs to be made. Arranging events in a timeline allows one to predict the next few events that are likely to take place. It also helps one in developing the case study solutions. The timeline also helps in understanding the continuous challenges that are being faced by the organisation. 4. SWOT analysis of Rosalind Fox at John Deere An important tool that helps in addressing the central issue of the case and coming up with Rosalind Fox at John Deere HBR case solution is the SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis is a strategic management tool that lists down in the form of a matrix, an organisation's internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats. It helps in the strategic analysis of Rosalind Fox at John Deere Once this listing has been done, a clearer picture can be developed in regards to how strategies will be formed to address the main problem. For example, strengths will be used as an advantage in solving the issue. Therefore, the SWOT analysis is a helpful tool in coming up with the Rosalind Fox at John Deere Case Study answers. One does not need to remain restricted to using the traditional SWOT analysis, but the advanced TOWS matrix or weighted average SWOT analysis can also be used. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected]

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] 5. Porter Five Forces Analysis for Rosalind Fox at John Deere Another helpful tool in finding the case solutions is of Porter's Five Forces analysis. This is also a strategic tool that is used to analyse the competitive environment of the industry in which Rosalind Fox at John Deere operates in. Analysis of the industry is important as businesses do not work in isolation in real life, but are affected by the business environment of the industry that they operate in. Harvard Business case studies represent real-life situations, and therefore, an analysis of the industry's competitive environment needs to be carried out to come up with more holistic case study solutions. In Porter's Five Forces analysis, the industry is analysed along 5 dimensions. • These are the threats that the industry faces due to new entrants. • It includes the threat of substitute products. • It includes the bargaining power of buyers in the industry. • It includes the bargaining power of suppliers in an industry. • Lastly, the overall rivalry or competition within the industry is analysed This tool helps one understand the relative powers of the major players in the industry and its overall competitive dynamics. Actionable and practical solutions can then be developed by keeping these factors into perspective. 6. PESTEL Analysis of Rosalind Fox at John Deere Another helpful tool that should be used in finding the case study solutions is the PESTEL analysis. This also looks at the external business environment of the organisation helps in finding case study Analysis to real-life business issues as in HBR cases. • The PESTEL analysis particularly looks at the macro environmental factors that affect the industry. These are the political, environmental, social, technological, environmental and legal (regulatory) factors affecting the industry. • Factors within each of these 6 should be listed down, and analysis should be made as to how these affect the organisation under question. 7. VRIO Analysis of Rosalind Fox at John Deere This is an analysis carried out to know about the internal strengths and capabilities of Rosalind Fox at John Deere . Under the VRIO analysis, the following steps are carried out: • The internal resources of Rosalind Fox at John Deere are listed down. • Each of these resources are assessed in terms of the value it brings to the organization. • Each resource is assessed in terms of how rare it is. A rare resource is one that is not commonly used by competitors. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected]

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] • Each resource is assessed whether it could be imitated by competition easily or not. • Lastly, each resource is assessed in terms of whether the organization can use it to an advantage or not. • The analysis done on the 4 dimensions; Value, Rareness, Imitability, and Organization. If a resource is high on all of these 4, then it brings long-term competitive advantage. If a resource is high on Value, Rareness, and Imitability, then it brings an unused competitive advantage. If a resource is high on Value and Rareness, then it only brings temporary competitive advantage. If a resource is only valuable, then it’s a competitive parity. If it’s none, then it can be regarded as a competitive disadvantage. 8. Value Chain Analysis of Rosalind Fox at John Deere The Value chain analysis of Rosalind Fox at John Deere helps in identifying the activities of an organization, and how these add value in terms of cost reduction and differentiation. This tool is used in the case study analysis as follows: • The firm’s primary and support activities are listed down. • Identifying the importance of these activities in the cost of the product and the differentiation they produce. • Lastly, differentiation or cost reduction strategies are to be used for each of these activities to increase the overall value provided by these activities. Recognizing value creating activities and enhancing the value that they create allow Rosalind Fox at John Deere to increase its competitive advantage. 9. BCG Matrix of Rosalind Fox at John Deere The BCG Matrix is an important tool in deciding whether an organization should invest or divest in its strategic business units. The matrix involves placing the strategic business units of a business in one of four categories; question marks, stars, dogs and cash cows. The placement in these categories depends on the relative market share of the organization and the market growth of these strategic business units. The steps to be followed in this analysis is as follows: • Identify the relative market share of each strategic business unit. • Identify the market growth of each strategic business unit. • Place these strategic business units in one of four categories. Question Marks are those strategic business units with high market share and low market growth rate. Stars are those strategic business units with high market share and high market growth rate. Cash Cows are those strategic business units with high market share and low market growth rate. Dogs are those strategic business units with low market share and low growth rate. • Relevant strategies should be implemented for each strategic business unit depending on its position in the matrix. The strategies identified from the Rosalind Fox at John Deere BCG matrix and included in the case pdf. These are either to further develop the product, penetrate the market, develop the market, diversification, investing or divesting. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected]

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] 10. Ansoff Matrix of Rosalind Fox at John Deere Ansoff Matrix is an important strategic tool to come up with future strategies for Rosalind Fox at John Deere in the case solution. It helps decide whether an organization should pursue future expansion in new markets and products or should it focus on existing markets and products. • The organization can penetrate into existing markets with its existing products. This is known as market penetration strategy. • The organization can develop new products for the existing market. This is known as product development strategy. • The organization can enter new markets with its existing products. This is known as market development strategy. • The organization can enter into new markets with new products. This is known as a diversification strategy. The choice of strategy depends on the analysis of the previous tools used and the level of risk the organization is willing to take. 11. Marketing Mix of Rosalind Fox at John Deere Rosalind Fox at John Deere needs to bring out certain responses from the market that it targets. To do so, it will need to use the marketing mix, which serves as a tool in helping bring out responses from the market. The 4 elements of the marketing mix are Product, Price, Place and Promotions. The following steps are required to carry out a marketing mix analysis and include this in the case study analysis. • Analyse the company’s products and devise strategies to improve the product offering of the company. • Analyse the company’s price points and devise strategies that could be based on competition, value or cost. • Analyse the company’s promotion mix. This includes the advertisement, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, and direct marketing. Strategies will be devised which makes use of a few or all of these elements. • Analyse the company’s distribution and reach. Strategies can be devised to improve the availability of the company’s products. 12. Rosalind Fox at John Deere Blue Ocean Strategy The strategies devised and included in the Rosalind Fox at John Deere case memo should have a blue ocean strategy. A blue ocean strategy is a strategy that involves firms seeking uncontested market spaces, which makes the competition of the company irrelevant. It involves coming up with new and unique products or ideas through innovation. This gives the organization a competitive advantage over other firms, unlike a red ocean strategy. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected]

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] 13. Competitors analysis of Rosalind Fox at John Deere The PESTEL analysis discussed previously looked at the macro environmental factors affecting business, but not the microenvironmental factors. One of the microenvironmental factors are competitors, which are addressed by a competitor analysis. The Competitors analysis of Rosalind Fox at John Deere looks at the direct and indirect competitors within the industry that it operates in. • This involves a detailed analysis of their actions and how these would affect the future strategies of Rosalind Fox at John Deere . • It involves looking at the current market share of the company and its competitors. • It should compare the marketing mix elements of competitors, their supply chain, human resources, financial strength etc. • It also should look at the potential opportunities and threats that these competitors pose on the company. 14. Organisation of the Analysis into Rosalind Fox at John Deere Case Study Solution Once various tools have been used to analyse the case, the findings of this analysis need to be incorporated into practical and actionable solutions. These solutions will also be the Rosalind Fox at John Deere case answers. These are usually in the form of strategies that the organisation can adopt. The following step-by-step procedure can be used to organise the Harvard Business case solution and recommendations: • The first step of the solution is to come up with a corporate level strategy for the organisation. This part consists of solutions that address issues faced by the organisation on a strategic level. This could include suggestions, changes or recommendations to the company's vision, mission and its strategic objectives. It can include recommendations on how the organisation can work towards achieving these strategic objectives. Furthermore, it needs to be explained how the stated recommendations will help in solving the main issue mentioned in the case and where the company will stand in the future as a result of these. • The second step of the solution is to come up with a business level strategy. The HBR case studies may present issues faced by a part of the organisation. For example, the issues may be stated for marketing and the role of a marketing manager needs to be assumed. So, recommendations and suggestions need to address the strategy of the marketing department in this case. Therefore, the strategic objectives of this business unit (Marketing) will be laid down in the solutions and recommendations will be made as to how to achieve these objectives. Similar would be the case for any other business unit or department such as human resources, finance, IT etc. The important thing to note here is that the business level strategy needs to be aligned with the overall corporate strategy of the organisation. For example, if one Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected]

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] suggests the organisation to focus on differentiation for competitive advantage as a corporate level strategy, then it can't be recommended for the Rosalind Fox at John Deere Case Study Solution that the business unit should focus on costs. • The third step is not compulsory but depends from case to case. In some HBR case studies, one may be required to analyse an issue at a department. This issue may be analysed for a manager or employee as well. In these cases, recommendations need to be made for these people. The solution may state that objectives that these people need to achieve and how these objectives would be achieved. The case study analysis and solution, and Rosalind Fox at John Deere case answers should be written down in the Rosalind Fox at John Deere case memo, clearly identifying which part shows what. The Rosalind Fox at John Deere case should be in a professional format, presenting points clearly that are well understood by the reader. 15. Alternate solution to the Rosalind Fox at John Deere HBR case study It is important to have more than one solution to the case study. This is the alternate solution that would be implemented if the original proposed solution is found infeasible or impossible due to a change in circumstances. The alternate solution for Rosalind Fox at John Deere is presented in the same way as the original solution, where it consists of a corporate level strategy, business level strategy and other recommendations. 16. Implementation of Rosalind Fox at John Deere Case Solution The case study does not end at just providing recommendations to the issues at hand. One is also required to provide how these recommendations would be implemented. This is shown through a proper implementation framework. A detailed implementation framework helps in distinguishing between an average and an above average case study answer. A good implementation framework shows the proposed plan and how the organisations' resources would be used to achieve the objectives. It also lays down the changes needed to be made as well as the assumptions in the process. • A proper implementation framework shows that one has clearly understood the case study and the main issue within it. • It shows that one has been clarified with the HBR fundamentals on the topic. • It shows that the details provided in the case have been properly analysed. • It shows that one has developed an ability to prioritise recommendations and how these could be successfully implemented. • The implementation framework also helps by removing out any recommendations that are not practical or actionable as these could not be Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected]

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] implemented. Therefore, the implementation framework ensures that the solution to the Rosalind Fox at John Deere Harvard case is complete and properly answered. 17. Recommendations and Action Plan for Rosalind Fox at John Deere case analysis For Rosalind Fox at John Deere, based on the SWOT Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, PESTEL Analysis, VRIO analysis, Value Chain Analysis, BCG Matrix analysis, Ansoff Matrix analysis, and the Marketing Mix analysis, the recommendations and action plan are as follows: • Rosalind Fox at John Deere should focus on making use of its strengths identified from the VRIO analysis to make the most of the opportunities identified from the PESTEL. • Rosalind Fox at John Deere should enhance the value creating activities within its value chain. • Rosalind Fox at John Deere should invest in its stars and cash cows, while getting rid of the dogs identified from the BCG Matrix analysis. • To achieve its overall corporate and business level objectives, it should make use of the marketing mix tools to obtain desired results from its target market. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected]

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JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A Case Analysis and Case Solution

Posted by Peter Williams on Aug-09-2018

Introduction of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A Case Solution

The JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A case study is a Harvard Business Review case study, which presents a simulated practical experience to the reader allowing them to learn about real life problems in the business world. The JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A case consisted of a central issue to the organization, which had to be identified, analysed and creative solutions had to be drawn to tackle the issue. This paper presents the solved JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A case analysis and case solution. The method through which the analysis is done is mentioned, followed by the relevant tools used in finding the solution.

The case solution first identifies the central issue to the JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A case study, and the relevant stakeholders affected by this issue. This is known as the problem identification stage. After this, the relevant tools and models are used, which help in the case study analysis and case study solution. The tools used in identifying the solution consist of the SWOT Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, PESTEL Analysis, VRIO analysis, Value Chain Analysis, BCG Matrix analysis, Ansoff Matrix analysis, and the Marketing Mix analysis. The solution consists of recommended strategies to overcome this central issue. It is a good idea to also propose alternative case study solutions, because if the main solution is not found feasible, then the alternative solutions could be implemented. Lastly, a good case study solution also includes an implementation plan for the recommendation strategies. This shows how through a step-by-step procedure as to how the central issue can be resolved.

Problem Identification of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A Case Solution

Harvard Business Review cases involve a central problem that is being faced by the organization and these problems affect a number of stakeholders. In the problem identification stage, the problem faced by JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A is identified through reading of the case. This could be mentioned at the start of the reading, the middle or the end. At times in a case analysis, the problem may be clearly evident in the reading of the HBR case. At other times, finding the issue is the job of the person analysing the case. It is also important to understand what stakeholders are affected by the problem and how. The goals of the stakeholders and are the organization are also identified to ensure that the case study analysis are consistent with these.

Analysis of the JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A HBR Case Study

The objective of the case should be focused on. This is doing the JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A Case Solution. This analysis can be proceeded in a step-by-step procedure to ensure that effective solutions are found.

• In the first step, a growth path of the company can be formulated that lays down its vision, mission and strategic aims. These can usually be developed using the company history is provided in the case. Company history is helpful in a Business Case study as it helps one understand what the scope of the solutions will be for the case study.
• The next step is of understanding the company; its people, their priorities and the overall culture. This can be done by using company history. It can also be done by looking at anecdotal instances of managers or employees that are usually included in an HBR case study description to give the reader a real feel of the situation.
• Lastly, a timeline of the issues and events in the case needs to be made. Arranging events in a timeline allows one to predict the next few events that are likely to take place. It also helps one in developing the case study solutions. The timeline also helps in understanding the continuous challenges that are being faced by the organisation.

SWOT analysis of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A

An important tool that helps in addressing the central issue of the case and coming up with JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A HBR case solution is the SWOT analysis.

• The SWOT analysis is a strategic management tool that lists down in the form of a matrix, an organisation's internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats. It helps in the strategic analysis of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A.
• Once this listing has been done, a clearer picture can be developed in regards to how strategies will be formed to address the main problem. For example, strengths will be used as an advantage in solving the issue.

Therefore, the SWOT analysis is a helpful tool in coming up with the JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A Case Study answers. One does not need to remain restricted to using the traditional SWOT analysis, but the advanced TOWS matrix or weighted average SWOT analysis can also be used.

Porter Five Forces Analysis for JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A

Another helpful tool in finding the case solutions is of Porter's Five Forces analysis. This is also a strategic tool that is used to analyse the competitive environment of the industry in which JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A operates in. Analysis of the industry is important as businesses do not work in isolation in real life, but are affected by the business environment of the industry that they operate in. Harvard Business case studies represent real-life situations, and therefore, an analysis of the industry's competitive environment needs to be carried out to come up with more holistic case study solutions. In Porter's Five Forces analysis, the industry is analysed along 5 dimensions.

• These are the threats that the industry faces due to new entrants.
• It includes the threat of substitute products.
• It includes the bargaining power of buyers in the industry.
• It includes the bargaining power of suppliers in an industry.
• Lastly, the overall rivalry or competition within the industry is analysed.

This tool helps one understand the relative powers of the major players in the industry and its overall competitive dynamics. Actionable and practical solutions can then be developed by keeping these factors into perspective.

PESTEL Analysis of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A

Another helpful tool that should be used in finding the case study solutions is the PESTEL analysis. This also looks at the external business environment of the organisation helps in finding case study Analysis to real-life business issues as in HBR cases.

• The PESTEL analysis particularly looks at the macro environmental factors that affect the industry. These are the political, environmental, social, technological, environmental and legal (regulatory) factors affecting the industry.
• Factors within each of these 6 should be listed down, and analysis should be made as to how these affect the organisation under question.
• These factors are also responsible for the future growth and challenges within the industry. Hence, they should be taken into consideration when coming up with the JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A case solution.

VRIO Analysis of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A

This is an analysis carried out to know about the internal strengths and capabilities of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A. Under the VRIO analysis, the following steps are carried out:

• The internal resources of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A are listed down.
• Each of these resources are assessed in terms of the value it brings to the organization.
• Each resource is assessed in terms of how rare it is. A rare resource is one that is not commonly used by competitors.
• Each resource is assessed whether it could be imitated by competition easily or not.
• Lastly, each resource is assessed in terms of whether the organization can use it to an advantage or not.

The analysis done on the 4 dimensions; Value, Rareness, Imitability, and Organization. If a resource is high on all of these 4, then it brings long-term competitive advantage. If a resource is high on Value, Rareness, and Imitability, then it brings an unused competitive advantage. If a resource is high on Value and Rareness, then it only brings temporary competitive advantage. If a resource is only valuable, then it’s a competitive parity. If it’s none, then it can be regarded as a competitive disadvantage.

Value Chain Analysis of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A

The Value chain analysis of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A helps in identifying the activities of an organization, and how these add value in terms of cost reduction and differentiation. This tool is used in the case study analysis as follows:

• The firm’s primary and support activities are listed down.
• Identifying the importance of these activities in the cost of the product and the differentiation they produce.
• Lastly, differentiation or cost reduction strategies are to be used for each of these activities to increase the overall value provided by these activities.

Recognizing value creating activities and enhancing the value that they create allow JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A to increase its competitive advantage.

BCG Matrix of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A

The BCG Matrix is an important tool in deciding whether an organization should invest or divest in its strategic business units. The matrix involves placing the strategic business units of a business in one of four categories; question marks, stars, dogs and cash cows. The placement in these categories depends on the relative market share of the organization and the market growth of these strategic business units. The steps to be followed in this analysis is as follows:

• Identify the relative market share of each strategic business unit.
• Identify the market growth of each strategic business unit.
• Place these strategic business units in one of four categories. Question Marks are those strategic business units with high market share and low market growth rate. Stars are those strategic business units with high market share and high market growth rate. Cash Cows are those strategic business units with high market share and low market growth rate. Dogs are those strategic business units with low market share and low growth rate.
• Relevant strategies should be implemented for each strategic business unit depending on its position in the matrix.

The strategies identified from the JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A BCG matrix and included in the case pdf. These are either to further develop the product, penetrate the market, develop the market, diversification, investing or divesting.

Ansoff Matrix of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A

Ansoff Matrix is an important strategic tool to come up with future strategies for JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A in the case solution. It helps decide whether an organization should pursue future expansion in new markets and products or should it focus on existing markets and products.

• The organization can penetrate into existing markets with its existing products. This is known as market penetration strategy.
• The organization can develop new products for the existing market. This is known as product development strategy.
• The organization can enter new markets with its existing products. This is known as market development strategy.
• The organization can enter into new markets with new products. This is known as a diversification strategy.

The choice of strategy depends on the analysis of the previous tools used and the level of risk the organization is willing to take.

Marketing Mix of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A

JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A needs to bring out certain responses from the market that it targets. To do so, it will need to use the marketing mix, which serves as a tool in helping bring out responses from the market. The 4 elements of the marketing mix are Product, Price, Place and Promotions. The following steps are required to carry out a marketing mix analysis and include this in the case study analysis.

• Analyse the company’s products and devise strategies to improve the product offering of the company.
• Analyse the company’s price points and devise strategies that could be based on competition, value or cost.
• Analyse the company’s promotion mix. This includes the advertisement, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, and direct marketing. Strategies will be devised which makes use of a few or all of these elements.
• Analyse the company’s distribution and reach. Strategies can be devised to improve the availability of the company’s products.

JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A Blue Ocean Strategy

The strategies devised and included in the JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A case memo should have a blue ocean strategy. A blue ocean strategy is a strategy that involves firms seeking uncontested market spaces, which makes the competition of the company irrelevant. It involves coming up with new and unique products or ideas through innovation. This gives the organization a competitive advantage over other firms, unlike a red ocean strategy.

Competitors analysis of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A

The PESTEL analysis discussed previously looked at the macro environmental factors affecting business, but not the microenvironmental factors. One of the microenvironmental factors are competitors, which are addressed by a competitor analysis. The Competitors analysis of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A looks at the direct and indirect competitors within the industry that it operates in.

• This involves a detailed analysis of their actions and how these would affect the future strategies of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A.
• It involves looking at the current market share of the company and its competitors.
• It should compare the marketing mix elements of competitors, their supply chain, human resources, financial strength etc.
• It also should look at the potential opportunities and threats that these competitors pose on the company.

Organisation of the Analysis into JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A Case Study Solution

Once various tools have been used to analyse the case, the findings of this analysis need to be incorporated into practical and actionable solutions. These solutions will also be the JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A case answers. These are usually in the form of strategies that the organisation can adopt. The following step-by-step procedure can be used to organise the Harvard Business case solution and recommendations:

• The first step of the solution is to come up with a corporate level strategy for the organisation. This part consists of solutions that address issues faced by the organisation on a strategic level. This could include suggestions, changes or recommendations to the company's vision, mission and its strategic objectives. It can include recommendations on how the organisation can work towards achieving these strategic objectives. Furthermore, it needs to be explained how the stated recommendations will help in solving the main issue mentioned in the case and where the company will stand in the future as a result of these.
• The second step of the solution is to come up with a business level strategy. The HBR case studies may present issues faced by a part of the organisation. For example, the issues may be stated for marketing and the role of a marketing manager needs to be assumed. So, recommendations and suggestions need to address the strategy of the marketing department in this case. Therefore, the strategic objectives of this business unit (Marketing) will be laid down in the solutions and recommendations will be made as to how to achieve these objectives. Similar would be the case for any other business unit or department such as human resources, finance, IT etc. The important thing to note here is that the business level strategy needs to be aligned with the overall corporate strategy of the organisation. For example, if one suggests the organisation to focus on differentiation for competitive advantage as a corporate level strategy, then it can't be recommended for the JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A Case Study Solution that the business unit should focus on costs.
• The third step is not compulsory but depends from case to case. In some HBR case studies, one may be required to analyse an issue at a department. This issue may be analysed for a manager or employee as well. In these cases, recommendations need to be made for these people. The solution may state that objectives that these people need to achieve and how these objectives would be achieved.

The case study analysis and solution, and JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A case answers should be written down in the JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A case memo, clearly identifying which part shows what. The JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A case should be in a professional format, presenting points clearly that are well understood by the reader.

Alternate solution to the JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A HBR case study

It is important to have more than one solution to the case study. This is the alternate solution that would be implemented if the original proposed solution is found infeasible or impossible due to a change in circumstances. The alternate solution for JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A is presented in the same way as the original solution, where it consists of a corporate level strategy, business level strategy and other recommendations.

Implementation of JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A Case Solution

The case study does not end at just providing recommendations to the issues at hand. One is also required to provide how these recommendations would be implemented. This is shown through a proper implementation framework. A detailed implementation framework helps in distinguishing between an average and an above average case study answer. A good implementation framework shows the proposed plan and how the organisations' resources would be used to achieve the objectives. It also lays down the changes needed to be made as well as the assumptions in the process.

• A proper implementation framework shows that one has clearly understood the case study and the main issue within it.
• It shows that one has been clarified with the HBR fundamentals on the topic.
• It shows that the details provided in the case have been properly analysed.
• It shows that one has developed an ability to prioritise recommendations and how these could be successfully implemented.
• The implementation framework also helps by removing out any recommendations that are not practical or actionable as these could not be implemented. Therefore, the implementation framework ensures that the solution to the JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A Harvard case is complete and properly answered.

Recommendations and Action Plan for JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A case analysis

For JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A, based on the SWOT Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, PESTEL Analysis, VRIO analysis, Value Chain Analysis, BCG Matrix analysis, Ansoff Matrix analysis, and the Marketing Mix analysis, the recommendations and action plan are as follows:

• JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A should focus on making use of its strengths identified from the VRIO analysis to make the most of the opportunities identified from the PESTEL.
• JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A should enhance the value creating activities within its value chain.
• JOHN DEERE COMPONENT WORKS A should invest in its stars and cash cows, while getting rid of the dogs identified from the BCG Matrix analysis.
• To achieve its overall corporate and business level objectives, it should make use of the marketing mix tools to obtain desired results from its target market.

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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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