5Ws: Essential Marketing Strategy for Businesses

The 5W's is a business strategy used in marketing the products of a company to its clients and the market. It is a marketing strategy essential in relaying information that is concise to the targeted audience. The 5W's include who, what, when, where, and why, which are critical elements of seeking information about a given organization (Tobak, 2011). This marketing strategy applies to all types of business whereby companies can use it as a strategic tool for marketing and coming up with a new business plan (Sutton, 2015). The research paper will examine John Deere Company in the view of the 5W's to establish the history, customers, their products, their operations, their markets, and how they conduct business. A SWOT analysis will be undertaken to provide more details about the John Deere Company and its services as well as what makes it a successful company as well as areas that the management needs to oversee to maintain competitiveness in the market.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Who are They? History and their Customers

The company leadership has existed for over 180 years, with John Deere being the first owner and president of the business (Deere & Company, 2020). John May took over as the CEO later after John Deere dies and with Sam Allen continuing as the Board Chairman. The John Deere Company prides itself on working to uphold the core values of the founder, including commitment, innovation, integrity, and quality (Deere & Company, 2020). These values are instilled in any opportunity that the company gets to serve its clients, services, and products. The eight leaders who have been captains in the business adhere to the core values without compromising. Most of them have been family members who uphold the four core values of the founder. All the company leaders are dedicated to guiding the employees to perform business in the right war (Deere & Company, 2020). The company's mission is to work towards upholding the founders' core values of commitment, innovation, quality, and integrity when servicing those in the farming and construction sectors. The businesses' passion and purpose are based on their past are to help customers become productive and profitable. The company is positioned as the supplier of choice for equipment.

The main customers for John Deere Company are farmers, road construction companies, and individual organizations selling farm equipment (Deere & Company, 2020). One can say that John Deere Company offers its products and services to residential, construction, grounds, agriculture, and landscaping customers. Their products are services that are also used by sports companies, forestry, drivetrain, golf, and engine companies (Deere & Company, 2020). These customers likely purchase heavy equipment and especially the construction and farming market, form the most significant number of consumers for John Deere Company products. There are everyday customers for smaller and home-oriented products. Governments also form part of the largest consumers for the business as they purchase the heavy machinery in bulk (Deere & Company, 2020).

When were they Founded

John Deere Company was founded in the year 1837 in Grand Detour by John Deere, who was a blacksmith and the president of the organization (Deere & Company, 2020). The sole purpose of the company has been to deliver products and services to its customers. The company has been improving its outcomes every year, decade to decade. It started by making steel plows made of moldboard that could address farmer's needs in shedding the prairie soil that was thick in the Eastern United States. The production of plows increased every year up to 100 pieces in the year 1842 as the business had become a manufacturing company (Deere & Company, 2020).

John Deere Company became a partnership business in the year 1838 and expanded to Moline to offer water power as well as transportation services to people (Deere & Company, 2020). The leadership of the company changed in the year 1848, with Charles Deere taking the managerial power of the business and John Deere remaining the president. Charles Deere would run the company for the next 49 years to ensure the business id not affected by financial challenges affecting the nation (Deere & Company, 2020). Innovation in the company continued with the introduction of the Hawkeye Riding Cultivator in the year 1863. This new farming equipment was adapted for riding with a wooden peg that would break after hitting a solid object to save the shovels. The improvement replaced the 1950 Sure-Trip safety-Trip plows (Deere & Company, 2020). John Deere had its mold patents registered in the year 1864, and others in 1865. The U.S Patent Office became a registered trademark for Deere & Company in 1876 (Deere & Company, 2020).

The organization was incorporated as Deere & Company in the year 1868 with four shareholders. 65% of the company ownership went to John Deere and Charles Deere. The first branch of the company was in Missouri, Kansas City, as a semi-independent distributor in 1869 (Deere & Company, 2020). The other five offices of Deere & Company were opened in the next 20 years. The company began providing infrastructure improvement services in 1873. The innovation of the first electric power plant was done at the Rock Island country in 1881. After the death of John Deere in 1886, John Froehlich tested the first successful tractor powered by gasoline in 1892 (Deere & Company, 2020). John Deere Company acquired Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company in 1918. Charles Deere died in 1907, and William Butterworth took over the management of the company for 21 years. Different models of the tractor were designed in the following years with Model A in 1934, Model B, and Model DI for industrial use in 1935 and two others in the year 1952 (Deere & Company, 2020). Other innovations such as the production of military equipment were introduced in 1943 and the following years until the year 2017 when the John Deere Company acquired the Wirtgen Group to work together in the road construction industry (Deere & Company, 2020).

What They Do

New products from John Deere Company have been launched over the years, including the Hawkeye riding cultivator, shovels, corn planters, and Gilpin sulky plow (Deere & Company, 2020). It also offers services such as infrastructure improvement, including sidewalks, sewers, lighting, and streets. Among the best selling products on the company include the walking plows, gasoline power tractor, Gilpin sulkies, shovel plows, harrows, and cultivators. Other products that have been counted for distribution in John Deere Company are wagons, planters, hay and harvesting equipment, grain drills, cutter bar, as well as buggies since the year 1912 (Deere & Company, 2020). The company continues to pride in selling heavy equipment and machinery and competing with other operators in the industry, such as Caterpillar, JCB, Case as well as New Holland.

The significant presences of consumer goods such as small utility vehicles, lawnmowers as well as small tractors present the pride of John Deere Company in serving even the smallest segment in the market (Deere & Company, 2020). The effort sets the business on top of its competitors by tapping into more markets while holding its power and reputation of the robust and reliable machinery brand. The John Deere Company also provides financial services to contractors and especially in the agriculture sector, that might require monetary assistance to purchase the company's machines (Deere & Company, 2020). Furthermore, the product range of John Deere Company is stretched far and wide, starting with hand hedge trimmers to extensive, costly mining equipment. Based on the history of the organization, the company is active in producing farming as well as consumer products. The presence of construction equipment is limited in the market since the product line is not enormous when compared to the competitors (Deere & Company, 2020).

Why They Conduct Business

John Deere Company conducts business to make money and meet customer demands. That was first evident in the 1852 incident when the owner John Deere disagreed with the partners in creating products of low quality (Deere & Company, 2020). Deere argued that customers are not entitled to taking what the company manufactures. If they do not produce quality, then other companies will beat them and eventually lose their trade. The company wants to be the best in harvesting and tractor business as experienced over the years. In its vision, John Deere Company is in business to make its clients successful through the continuous improvement of products and services (Deere & Company, 2020). Business efficiency is an essential goal for the organization whose target is achieving excellent performance in its operations.

The company is also interested in conducting a business that empowers employees within its units and departments to achieve a balanced and aligned increased performance in its operations through teamwork (Deere & Company, 2020). The management focuses on changing the business operation to more eco-friendly and sustainable in meeting the needs of clients and environmental regulations. As such, John Deere Company continues with product transformation to meet the low engine emission regulations, the use of renewable materials, and sustainable disposal of waste (Deere & Company, 2020). Through automation, the company operates its business to reduce errors and increase productivity, make safer products, to meet market expectations.

Where They Operate their Business

John Deere Company reaches the entire world with its products and services. There are factories, offices as well as other facilities provided by the company in over thirty countries around the globe. The company also has branches where it conducts business in different countries, including Kansas City, Missouri, and Moline. Since 1908, John Deere Company exports equipment in countries such as New York City, Russia, Austria, South America, France, and England, among others (Deere & Company, 2020). John Deere Company is committed to extending its services and products globally, specifically in six primary areas, including Brazil, China, India, Canada, the United States, and Europe. It is anticipated that these regions precisely form 75% of the company's future growth in the world (Deere & Company, 2020). For instance, in Brazil, John Deere Company created a joint venture with Hitachi when starting two new factories there in 2014 (Allen & Deere and Company, 2014). The market for all heavy equipment at John Deere Company is broad and stretching in many locations all over the world, including Africa.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is an essential strategic tool for planning and used by organizations to analyze and establish their situation. SWOT helps in evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, as well as the threats a company faces in a given market (Gurel, 2017). The strengths and weaknesses evaluate the internal situation of an organization, while opportunities and threats assess the external condition of a company (Oreski, 2012). John Deere Company is an institution facing specific situations in the industry. SWOT analysis is a valuable tool that can assist in gaining an understanding of what kind of a case the business is facing in a competitive market intending to make useful recommendations for improvement in the future. Through SWOT analysis, new strategies can be identified for John Deere Company to use in exploiting the external opportunities, deal with the threats, build on as well as protect the strengths, and address the weaknesses.

Strengths

John Deere Company's success is prom...