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Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Jeffery R. Williams / For the past couple years, farm income has declined due to lower prices for corn, soybeans, and wheat. This decline has caused agricultural producers to keep equipment longer, which has affected equipment sales at John Deere. When times are good, producers buy new and trade used equipment, but when a producer’s profit is lower than previous years, they tend to save their money for input costs for the next growing season. The decline in farm income has had a negative effect on agriculture sales, but dealers can maintain their market share goals and still be profitable if they adjust their focus to other areas of their business, including sales of parts and equipment service. The goal of this study is to create an analysis tool that field managers can use to help dealers see the potential sales, profit, and pay for performance that they are missing because they are not up to suggested guidelines for sales of parts and equipment service. The tool includes several metrics from an existing report called the Categorization Report. These metrics are Dealer Performance Market Share, Aftermarket Performance Factor, Service Market Performance Factor, and Net Operating Return on Sales. The tool calculates the differences between the dealer metrics and John Deere metrics. Further, this tool is used to compare an individual dealer to other dealer averages and determine what a high performance, fully optimized dealer looks like and how much more a dealership could be selling in sales, parts and service to be a sustainable business in today’s economy. The tool is used to examine three scenarios to demonstrate its flexibility. These scenarios include a top-ten dealer, a large-scale above-average dealer, and a merger of three dealerships. The spreadsheet tool will display a two-page summary that shows how a dealership compares with other dealers that are similar in size and how they compare to the top-ten elite dealers in their category. The summary will also include market share maps to show which dealer-specific geographical areas need improvement to earn more sales in the future.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

<p>Informationsteknologin (IT) är i dagens samhälle en förutsättning för företag ochorganisationers utveckling och konkurrenskraft. En av de stora utmaningarna är att hanterade ökade mängderna information på ett effektivt sätt. Ett verktyg för det är att investera iett intranät som stödjer den interna informationen och kommunikationen i verksamheten.Det finns ett identifierat gap i teorin kring tillvägagångssätt vid införande av intranät blandsmå- och medelstora företag.</p><p>Syftet med uppsatsen är att <em>studera tillvägagångssätt vid införande av intranät i små- och medelstoraföretag samt att ta fram rekommendationer för ett intranätinförande.</em></p><p>Utifrån syftet har ett tolkande förhållningssätt enligt aktionsforskningsmetoden använts dåjag själv varit delaktig i det som undersökts. Den empiriska datainsamlingen har utökatsgenom en intervju med ett företag som infört ett intranät samt en intervju med enintranätkonsult.</p><p>Den teoretiska referensramen syftar till att stödja förståelsen för införande av intranät ochtar exempelvis upp vad ett intranät är, orsaker till misslyckade intranät samt metoder ochmodeller som kan vara lämpliga vid ett intranätinförande. De empiriska data har samlats infrån ett företag som infört intranät samt från en konsult som arbetat med intranät.</p><p>I analysen har en diskussion förts kring insamlad teori och empiri vilket har mynnat ut istudiens slutsatser. Studien har pekat på ett antal faktorer som är viktiga att tänka på vidintranätinförande. Dessa är:</p><ul><li>Bygga upp stöd från verksamheten</li><li>Nulägesanalys för att undersöka behovet</li><li>Användarmedverkan</li><li>Förankring och kommunikation</li><li>Stöd från utomstående konsult</li></ul><p>De vanligaste misstagen vid intranätinförande är Brist på initialt stöd från verksamhetenoch Inte tillräckligt fokus på användarna.</p><p>Jag rekommenderar att studera de agila metoderna närmare då de lämpar sig bra för mindreprojekt där förändringar kan uppstå under projektets gång. Varje enskild verksamhetbehöver dock utifrån de förutsättningar som finns besluta vilken metod som ska tillämpas.Förankring och användarmedverkan bör prioriteras redan i det initiala arbetet medintranätet.</p> / <p>Information technology (IT) is a prerequisite for companies and organizations'development and competitiveness. One of the major challenges is to manage the increasingamounts of information in an efficient manner. One solution is to invest in an intranet thatsupports the business' internal information and communication. There is an identified gapin theory regarding how to implement intranets among small-and medium-sized businesses.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to <em>study the approach for how to implement intranets intosmall and medium-sized enterprises and develop recommendations for an intranetimplementation.</em></p><p>An interpretive approach according to the action research method was applied because Iwas involved in what was studied. Besides the action research the empirical data consiststwo interviews, one with a company who has implemented an intranet and one with anintranet consultant.</p><p>The theoretical framework is aimed to support the understanding of the implementation ofintranets and describes for example what an intranet is, reasons for failure of the intranet aswell as methods and models that may be suitable for an intranet implementation. Theempirical data is gathered from a company that has implemented an intranet and from aconsultant who works with intranets.</p><p>The analysis contains a discussion around the theoretical framework and empirical data andsubsequently led to the conclusions of the study. The study has identified a number offactors that are important to have in mind when implementing an intranet. These are:</p><ul><li>Support from the organization</li><li>Analysis of the current situation to examine the need</li><li>User involvement</li><li>Establishment and communication</li><li>Support from external consultant</li></ul><p>The most common mistakes in intranet implementations are Lack of initial support fromthe organization and Not enough focus on users.</p><p>I recommend studying the Agile methods more closely because they are suitable for smallerprojects where changes can occur during the project. Every organization need to decidewhich method to use based on the existing conditions. Establishment and userinvolvement should be prioritized from the initial work with the intranet.</p>

<p>Local and international pundits concur that education systems play a pivotal role in fostering and developing values in learners. In some countries, like South Africa, the values and rights&nbsp / enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights resonate in the Schools Act. As one of the concerns of education is nationbuilding, my study investigates if the integration of the values does&nbsp / achieve tolerance and co-operation in the classroom by examining how learners make sense of values in the Mathematical Literacy curriculum. While I firmly believe that educational&nbsp / institutions have a responsibility to integrate positive values into all aspects of the school curriculum, it is my contention that learners cannot fully benefit from values specifically related to the&nbsp / Mathematical Literacy curriculum itself on their own. All stakeholders in education need to come together to establish an informed understanding of policy documents and reconcile the complexities and challenges that surround the transmission of values, so that educators will be able to assist learners in a meaningful way. The classroom life of a learner is intricately woven&nbsp / with that of the teacher. In order to unearth the views and practices of learners and teachers, I adopted a participatory approach. The qualitative study that ensued was conducted in three Mathematics Literacy classrooms at secondary schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The observation sessions afforded me the opportunity to experience and appreciate how the teachers&nbsp / integrate values into the Mathematical Literacy lessons while observing learners‟ behaviour in the classroom. The interactions and interviews with both learners and teachers aided in further unravelling their understanding and implementation of values in the Mathematical Literacy lessons. For learners to develop into responsible, caring and morally just citizens who arecapable of critical thought, they&nbsp / equire an education that provides them with the necessary opportunities and tools to develop. Mathematical Literacy is able to provide learners with the relevant opportunities and thinking&nbsp / tools to construct meaning around moral concepts. I strongly believe that for learners to accomplish this goal, educators need to be appropriately capacitated to facilitate opportunities for their&nbsp / learners.I did not find any evidence in the literature that suggests a fail-safe theoretical approach to success in values education. I am of the opinion that for any measure of success in values education, a combination of these theories of learning and moral development has to be employed.</p>

<p>Local and international pundits concur that education systems play a pivotal role in fostering and developing values in learners. In some countries, like South Africa, the values and rights&nbsp / enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights resonate in the Schools Act. As one of the concerns of education is nationbuilding, my study investigates if the integration of the values does&nbsp / achieve tolerance and co-operation in the classroom by examining how learners make sense of values in the Mathematical Literacy curriculum. While I firmly believe that educational&nbsp / institutions have a responsibility to integrate positive values into all aspects of the school curriculum, it is my contention that learners cannot fully benefit from values specifically related to the&nbsp / Mathematical Literacy curriculum itself on their own. All stakeholders in education need to come together to establish an informed understanding of policy documents and reconcile the complexities and challenges that surround the transmission of values, so that educators will be able to assist learners in a meaningful way. The classroom life of a learner is intricately woven&nbsp / with that of the teacher. In order to unearth the views and practices of learners and teachers, I adopted a participatory approach. The qualitative study that ensued was conducted in three Mathematics Literacy classrooms at secondary schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The observation sessions afforded me the opportunity to experience and appreciate how the teachers&nbsp / integrate values into the Mathematical Literacy lessons while observing learners‟ behaviour in the classroom. The interactions and interviews with both learners and teachers aided in further unravelling their understanding and implementation of values in the Mathematical Literacy lessons. For learners to develop into responsible, caring and morally just citizens who arecapable of critical thought, they&nbsp / equire an education that provides them with the necessary opportunities and tools to develop. Mathematical Literacy is able to provide learners with the relevant opportunities and thinking&nbsp / tools to construct meaning around moral concepts. I strongly believe that for learners to accomplish this goal, educators need to be appropriately capacitated to facilitate opportunities for their&nbsp / learners.I did not find any evidence in the literature that suggests a fail-safe theoretical approach to success in values education. I am of the opinion that for any measure of success in values education, a combination of these theories of learning and moral development has to be employed.</p>

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.