Titel-Trader 2.2009.indd - Agritechnica Trader

COMPANIES AND MARKETS
Continues from page 24
ditional category V comprises
a few further manufacturers of
tractors and harvesting machinery
of European signifi cance.
What does “corporate
growth” say about the
quality of an enterprise?
Sales volume alone says nothing
about the quality of an enterprise
– this is evidenced above
all in the current depressed
economy period by the decline
of many companies – large
banks, General Motors, Porsche
and many other key fi gures in
the automotive branch, the German
department store group Arcandor,
or the automobile supplier
Schäffl er. In one form or
another, such major players began
at some stage to neglect
their core competence, to produce
at a tangent to the market,
to lose their innovative force, or
to become entangled in speculative
transactions or company
takeovers. Positive turnover
growth of small, medium-sized
or large companies is the result
of sustained management, of innovative
force and new problem
solutions, the broad-based stakeholding
of staff in corporate development,
and networked activity
in the entrepreneurial
26 TRADER | 2 | 2009
environment. Those companies
in the agricultural machinery
branch that thanks to their constant
readiness for change kept
abreast of the times with their
products and their organisation
were able to profi t from the upswing
in the market (above all as
of the middle of the decade), to
grow at an above proportionate
rate, to multiply their equity and
to enlarge the return on their invested
capital. These companies
are now better placed to continue
developing their products
and organisation in a declining
market and to enter the next upswing
phase from a stronger po-
sition. Let us look briefl y at the
strategies and strengths of the
listed companies in the various
enterprise categories (Table 8):
Six global longliners –
consolidation and
substantial growth
(Category I):
The six global longliners,
whose accumulated sales of
some 32.3 billion euros in the
agricultural machinery branch
in 2008 is estimated to have accounted
for a good half of global
agricultural machinery business
by western manufacturers,
have increased their annual sales
by two and a half times in the
current decade (comparison be-
tween 2008 and 1999) and thus
made a signifi cant contribution
to consolidating the branch.
Some 75 % of the tractors for
farm use and a much larger
share of self-propelled combine
harvesters and chopper-type forage
harvesters come from these
transnational enterprises. The
highest growth rates during this
longterm period were achieved
by Agco and Claas with a plus
of 210 % and 192 % respectively.
At the beginning of the decade,
Agco added Valtra tractors to
its range comprising the brands
Massey Ferguson, Fendt and
Challenger. Claas acquired Re-
nault Agriculture in 2004, thus
expanding its European market
leadership in grain and green
forage harvesting to include the
tractor branch, a new avenue for
the group.
The Case New Holland
(CNH) Group started to implement
the merger at the beginning
of the year 2000. By 2008
it was able to double turnover
by comparison with the consolidated
pro-forma sales of the
two world brands back in 1999.
The Italian Argo Group that
took over the brand and production
rights of McCormick
tractors and Laverda harvesting
machinery from CNH at the beginning
of the decade was also
able to double its annual sales
by 2008 (+ 118 %). The growth
of the SDF Group proceeded at
a somewhat more leisurely pace,
but still displayed signs of strategic
expansion in global presence
and a strategic majority shareholding
in the diesel engine
manufacturer Deutz AG. John
Deere developed strong longterm
growth (+ 180 % ) and unbroken
world market leadership
with its strategy of “exceptional
operating performance” that
claims innovation leadership in
the fi eld of intelligent agricultural
machinery processes and,
through “disciplined growth”
of its assets, achieves the high-
est returns among comparable
competitors.
The highest growth rate
among the competitors in Category
I was achieved by John
Deere in 2008 with a sales leap
of 35 % in agricultural machinery
by comparison with the preceding
year 2007 – followed by
CNH (plus 28 %), Claas (+23 %)
and Agco (plus 22%).
Combined implement
manufacturers for arable
and grassland farming
(Category II):
This category of equipment
manufacturers operating in both
implement segments and comprising
Kuhn, Kverneland and