Page 43 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

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STRATEGIC PLANNING ONE COMPANY, ONE TEAM
In 2010, Peterson underwent a major revamp and recommitment to its vision and values. By then the nation’s economy had been in a three-year slide. Even so, during that period Peterson took on a couple of opportunities that came with a now-or-never price tag: SITECH (December 2009), the new Halton
territory ( July 2010), and an International Truck dealership ( June 2011). It was time for Peterson to look at who we were, where we were going, and who we wanted to be in the future.
Top management adopted Caterpillar’s Strategic Development Program in early 2010 to do just that. The program was part of Caterpillar’s Vision 2020, designed to get its entire supply chain pulling in the same di- rection. Peterson was the sixth Cat dealer to undergo the sweeping process. According to owner/CEO Duane Doyle Sr., the purpose was “to create a one company, one team approach where everybody gets involved”. Peterson developed its plan based on teamwork, integration, and cross-function synergy.
Peterson’s entire executive committee went through a rigorous six-month training process to re-envision and realign the company for the current business environment. Then they rolled it out to all employees at all twen- ty-two Peterson locations in November and December 2010. “We’ve become a very large company, even in the depths of the recession,” explained Duane Sr. during those meetings, “so this new strategy is very important. We need to have a very clear sense of direction and set of guidelines to know that we’re going in the right direction. Our core values have not changed. They are still who we are and who we will continue to be. This strategy is just a new way of applying them.”
Several things emerged from the strategy process: • Concise, easy-to-understand Core Values
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