1) John Deere, an American agricultural machinery company based in Illinois, has hired you as a business strategy consultant. Until 2010, John Deere was considered the leader in farming machinery in the US. Over the last ten years, their domestic sales have dropped due to lower-cost and lower-quality foreign competition. At the same time, manufacturing costs have increased substantially. Consider the following questions: A) In the US, 85% of farms are small, family-run businesses, while the remaining 15% are large agribusinesses. Domestic sales for John Deere are down by 40% over the last five years. Much of this loss is due to two factors. First, US trade tariffs against foreign countries, particularly China and the EU, resulted in retaliation in farming sector, meaning that US crop exports are down by 65%. Second, foreign-competitor pricing for similar machinery is 30% lower than John Deere pricing. Discuss your strategy recommendations for recapturing John Deeres domestic sales over the next three years

2) Costs for John Deere manufacturing in the US have increased by 50% over the last three years. John Deere employs a labor force of 1,500 people across 5 factories (Alabama; California; Colorado; New York; and Texas). John Deere utilizes both general and custom-made parts to manufacture its machines. General parts have increased in price by 20% since 2017 and custom parts have increased 300% in the last year alone. Another costly input is computer electronics which accounts for 40% per machine. The cost distribution is as follows: Total Cost: $75,000 Labor Cost: $20,000 Electronics: $35,000 Parts / Other Inputs: $20,000 Discuss your top 3 strategy options for combating the rising cost of manufacturing.