The features of sustainable business practices include the ability of a leader to foresee final objectives of the company, to evaluate the process of achievement of these objectives and to provide steps to attain the goal. The effective leadership begins with understanding the process and development of the appropriate steps.
Marie Ziegler, Vice President and Treasurer for Deere & Company, joined the company in 1978. Holding different positions, from consolidation accountant to vice president, she studied carefully the requirements of the world market and business capabilities and had managed her company in a way it became a global leader in its field. She took responsibility in making heavy equipment and other products conform to the standards of the industry.
While working out steps of business sustainability strategy, Marie Ziegler reviewed several key factors which are an integral part of effective leadership: multidisciplinary teams, cross-cutting approach, encouraging learning. She organized communication and transparency of business, chose appropriate tools and skilled actors. She defined roles and responsibilities.She faced requirements and successfully fulfilled them.
New Requirements for Emission Norms
In 2011 United States Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA) worked out emission regulations for equipment. New requirements set reducing particular matter by 90%. Emissions of NOx are reduced to 50%. According to the tests, John Deere products meet these standards.
John Deere has always been ahead of the game when it comes to meeting emissions regulations. We pioneered the use of many advanced technologies with our engines and proved their performance in off-highway applications. This gives us a head start for fuel economy as well as delivering higher power bulge, more torque rise, and faster transient response time.
Marie Ziegler is a leader Deere & Company was waiting for. Good education and personal traits helped her to become a strong leader who made company grow and remain profitable. She possesses all qualities of effective leader: strong-minded, purpose-oriented, wise and smart. She understood that “sustainability can stimulate technological innovation, advance competitiveness, and improve the quality of life”. That is why her strategic plan was oriented towards the improvement of product and life quality.
The company’s slogan “Nothing runs like a Deere” has determined a plan of actions for the world market. First, the company needed to meet EPA standards in order to be competitive member of the industry. Thus, Marie Ziegler’s goal was to improve John Deere products and have them approved by EPA. This step stipulated progress of the company. “Two years ago we were not generating adequate returns,” Ziegler says. “Frankly, we did not have a business that was as great as our products”.
The way Marie Ziegler implemented a culture of sustainability in Deere & Company included such important features as values, vision, strategy and systems. According to Beemer, “Deere & Company’s policy will ensure that our environmental efforts support our corporate goals of profitable growth and continuous improvement”.
Thus, values should be considered as ideas and practices used in business to be successful. Marie Ziegler was a task-oriented leader. Nevertheless, she paid sufficient attention to the employees and considered them as one big team with a common goal. Her strategic plan for the company also included deferential relationship among the employees and their motivation as well as respectful attitude to the customers. A company can exist until it has its customers. Meanwhile, quality of the products depends on the relationship within the company. And the relationship between workers and CEO reveals its real values. Marie Ziegler discovered this ‘happy medium’ and built the strategy of the company’s development keeping these factors balanced.
Vision is also important, since without this feature it is impossible to evaluate market demands, competitiveness of the company, the way of improvement in order to meet issued standards and the level of progress while applying particular business strategies.
Strategy as The Main Component of Company’s Success
Business is a complicated system which requires clean scheme. For big success no improvisation can be acquired. Marie Ziegler’s strategy was quite effective, since sustainability level in the company is relatively high. When officials from John Deere discussed sustainability in Germany at the official meeting they provided the essential information concerning energy saving issues and environmental protection measures. As Ziegler says, “To ensure a successful future, we’ve got to be strong globally”. System is a feature which makes Ziegler’s management strategy distinguish from the others. Once she said, “I like working with creative people. I’m not creative myself”.
To my way of thinking, the general management strategies must be applied in agricultural sphere: investments, smart management, clear scheme and innovative technologies. Investments are necessary to begin business: build facilities, buy equipment and hire employees. Smart management determines successful strategy of the development and leads business in a way to obtain a good profit as well as to provide work satisfaction for the workers. Clear scheme stipulates progressive implementation of the task and helps to avoid misunderstandings among the members of senior management. Innovative technologies allow to accelerate production process as well as to improve quality of the product. Moreover, they help to save energy and costs which is important in business.
To conclude, it is worth noting that culture of sustainability is an integral part of business nowadays. Marie Ziegler is a talented successful leader who achieved considerable results in this issue. She had enough talent to lead business in a serious branch of industry and to succeed.