John Deere Company

Abstract The John Deere Company was founded in 1804 in Rutland, Vermont. In 1836, they moved to Grand Decatur, Illinois to keep from going bankrupt in Vermont. What set them apart from the rest of the world was the "self-scouring steel plow," when John Deere designed a saw constructed from Scottish Steel, into a plow. Up until that time, farmers used iron plows or wooden plows that consistently had to be cleaned. Over the years, from the threat of bankruptcy, John Deere entered partnerships and built factories with Leonard Andrus ending when John Deere moved to Moline, Illinois, Robert Tate and John Gould which produced a great increase in production and building expansion. Eventually, Deere bought out Tate and Gould and was joined

There are three business segments of Deere, the agriculture and turf and construction and forestry segments make up its equipment operations and a credit segment provides financial services. In addition, John Deere makes products specifically for Home Depot and Lowes. (Hoovers, Inc., 2016)

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE The John Deere Company is known world-wide for their core values of integrity, quality, commitment, and innovation. Their philosophy is that "it's the right thing to do." As a corporation, Deere boasts not just governance policies, but a Code of Ethics, Guiding Principles, Code of Business Conduct, and Supplier Code of Conduct. To exemplify this, in March of 2016, the Ethisphere Institute has claimed the Deere Company to be among the world's most ethical company for the 10th straight year. Samuel R. Allen, chairman and chief executive officer at Deere & Company, is quoted as saying, "Across the world, John Deere is committed to ensuring that how we do business is aligned to our core value of integrity. This focus on ethical behavior helps John Deere continue to earn the loyalty of our customers, employees, communities and business

For the first six months of the year, net income amounted to $749.8 million or $2.36 per share down from $1.077 billion or $3.14 per share in 2015. With regard to shares, 2016 volumes were three million shares, the same as 2015. (News Bites US, 2016)

COMPETITORS

John Deere has worldwide competitors which include (but not limited to) Caterpillar, Inc., Kubota Corporation, Volvo, CNH, Hitachi, and Sandvik. One such competitor is Precision Planning owned by Monsanto. John Deere has offered to purchase Precision Planning. However, the Department of Justice has filed a civil suit to block the sale because the sale would in effect Deere's only competitor in the high-speed precision planting systems market. Both Deere and Monsanto have stated that they will contest the block and want to proceed with the sale. (Coons, R., 2016)

SWOT (STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, THREATS) A SWOT analysis conducted last year places Deere's strength with a strong distribution network and strong manufacturing capabilities. With fairness, the weaknesses were listed as a declining operational performance and a limited solvency position. Opportunities include new product launches and a positive outlook for Global Cranes, Lifting and Handling Equipment and threats are foreign currency fluctuations, increased price of raw materials, and a significant skills shortage in