1)
Massey Ferguson operates as a producer of farm machinery, industrial machinery and diesel engines. In these types of industries are many SME's (small and medium-sized enterprises) and MNE's(multinational enterprises), as Massey Ferguson, present. As a result there is a high level of competition in these markets. Massey Ferguson has to suggest against those other types of players.
Furthermore these types of industries are dependent from other economical circumstances. Economical and political crisis, as 1980, have direct influence into sales and so to the financial situation of Massey Ferguson. To solve those situations the management has to forecast such critical situations and make the right management decisions. In our opinion the companies needs a solid/good financial standing to still be able to react to changing demands during external crisis and market fluctuations.
As a big player it is necessary to use the existing advantages against the SME's, which are locally more connected to their customers and could benefit from these reason.
MNE's should offer their customers special financing options (for example with legal entities) and consequently be more independent from the external interest rates.
In addition the MNE's should use the economies of scale and standardize their production to reduce their costs and increase their gross margin per unit.
A problem for the bigger players and especially for Massey Ferguson is the distance between production and sales. Due they are located in different countries the companies are at the mercy of the exchange rate und currency fluctuations. A Problem with the local SME'S don't have to struggle with. An approach to this problem could be to connect production and sales more regionally.
2)
Massey Ferguson's strategy includes delivering SME's and MNE's all over the world with a full range of product line. Even if they were successful...