The Agility Advantage: How to Identify and Act on Opportunities in a Fast-Changing World by Amanda Setili

Author:Amanda Setili [Setili, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781118964439
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2014-08-27T14:00:00+00:00

Lessons from AGCO on Developing Breakthrough Strategies

Chapter 4 told the story of AGCO, one of the world's largest agricultural equipment manufacturers. You'll recall that AGCO observed farmers around the world to understand their changing needs and then used these observations to add innovative new technologies to its products. The company shifted from selling only heavy equipment toward selling services, advice, and optimization. The new strategy has paid off in higher margins and sales growth for both the company and its dealers, and in the form of differentiation from its strongest competitor, John Deere.

How exactly has AGCO built this capability to be agile in the agricultural equipment marketplace? It has developed a framework of principles that enable breakthrough thinking in the company, including the following.

Get All Functions Involved

AGCO enlisted all areas of its business—from manufacturing to finance to dealer relations, sales, and marketing—to work together to develop breakthrough ideas. This cross-functional approach tapped into diverse skills and points of view. It also enabled AGCO to create its innovative “Fuse” technologies, which integrate telematics, data management systems, and auto guidance solutions that together have the potential to make farming much more productive and profitable.

Use Metaphors to Stimulate Thought

AGCO found that talking about the farm as what it was—a farm—made it difficult for employees to break out of their normal thought patterns regarding how they might solve customers' problems. The company decided to shift the conversation by speaking in the metaphor of a manufacturing facility. Using this metaphor changed the conversation, gave employees new language and ideas, and afforded the freedom to ask more revealing questions of the customers and of one another.

Look at the Whole Ecosystem

Because the research teams were on each farm for three weeks, they had plenty of time to observe the farmers' whole ecosystem—workers, dealers, extension agents, insurers, and other businesses that provided them with support. Building on the factory metaphor, they asked farmers questions in four areas:

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