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A Case Study: Agriculture Best, LLC

IntroductionHow to get business entrepreneurs to do entrepreneurial marketing is often a

challenge. Entrepreneurs often view market leadership as an objective, but forgetinternal entrepreneurship and leadership. The evolution of leadership is a challengewhen the founder has been responsible for everything including product innovation.Often companies respond with increased efforts in sales when there is a lack ofunderstanding the full influence of entrepreneurial marketing and leadership in thecompany; or the concepts are not continually applied.

Situation Agricultures B est is an early stage agricultural soil additive (or amendment)

company located in California. The company services the Berry, vegetables, and winevineyard agriculture market segments with 14 products. Agriculture s Best offerscustomized, organically-based treatment programs that build healthy soil ecology. Its"program" approach to building and maintaining soil health enables Agriculture s Bestcustomers to substantially reduce their use of water and synthetic inputs, leading tolower operating costs and improved resource management. The company improvescrop quality and yield in agricultural applications. It also improves horticultural plantquality, leading to superior plant / tree health and flower blooms.

Agricultures Best unlocks the potential of soil to produce high-quality yields withreduced inputs. The company enables commercial growers to:

o Improve crop quality and yield by increasing uniformity & shelf-lifeo Reduce water usage by improving soil structureo Suppress disease and control pests by maintaining microbial diversity in soilo Mitigate water quality issues by improving water infiltration / retentiono Improve nutrient cycling & retention by holding nutrients in root zoneo Produce strong, healthy plants by increasing resistance to stress / disease

Agricultures Best helps commercial farm growers to transition to more sustainablegrowing practices. By promoting soil health and strong root growth, the companydevelops vigorous plants that are able to reach and maintain high levels of productionthroughout the growing season.

Key ManagementThe companys two principle owners are Terrence (founder, president/CEO) and

Lauren (EVP). They manage a company of 20 employees in Californias farm belt . Apersonable individual, Terrence has spent the last thirty years in the productionagriculture industry. Prior to founding Agricultures Best , Terrence spent six years at a

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major Chemical Company where he evaluated emerging technologies and developedprograms and products to manage the ecology of agricultural and horticultural soils. Heholds a BA degree in Biology from Case Western Reserve University and an MS degreefrom The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Lauren joined Agricultures Best inearly 2009 to help Terrence manage and grow the business. Previously, Lauren spentfive years at Cit igroups Corporate & Investment Bank in the Private Equity Placementsand Equity Sales divisions. She was also a Summer Associate at PayPal in theConsumer Marketing group. Lauren has a BA from Brown University and an MBA fromthe Kellogg School of Management.

SituationTerrence (Terry) and Lauren level of frustration with the company has been growing,

because of a lack of sales during the non-slow growing seasons. Terry has beenupdating the company as to the increasing level of US and international competition,

lack of grower loyalty to any vendor, and his lack of time to focus sole on sales. He alsonoted that as the grower market consolidates they are seeking simplicity in products.Terry felt that the emerging competition from Asian countries in a profitable berry marketmight spur local growers to by his products. Terry primary responsibility is sales,marketing, customer service, and product development. Lauren han dles the companys finance and operations.

Lauren was on her way back from an agriculture growers meeting early to have acritical partners meeting on what to do to change the companys approach to marketing& sales. She knew that with the increase in market competition among vendors thateverything in the company had to change if it is to grow. She faced a tough problem

with Terry who was use to selling to local growers in the field the companys products.She cringed at the prospect of having to continually write personal checks to cover thecompanys losses until the planting season when growers placed orders for soilamendment type products. Lauren was coming t o the partners meeting with a list ofdemand changes for her continued financial support of the company. As she drove backto the company she wondered about how entrepreneurial were they? She askedquestions about what type of leadership was right for growing the company and whethertheir current products were too innovative for the market? She knew their marketingstrategy had to change, as well as their financial strategy to support their growth.

Professor: Hiram Willis

Case principles to consider are entrepreneurship, leadership, innovation, and marketingstrategy.