...Harley-Davidson Case Analysis Harley-Davidson Case Analysis Rayzhaun Jones Mississippi Valley State University Strategic Management Dr. Jimmie S. Warren Abstract With the growing global economy, companies are looking for ways to improve their market share. Many excellent firms have learned how to beat their competitors through the implementation of new management, marketing, and manufacturing techniques. Harley-Davidson is one of those excellent companies whom have challenged traditional ideas. We intend to show through this case study that any company can follow Harley-Davidson’s techniques and lead them to excellence. Mission Statement “We fulfill dreams through the experiences of motorcycling by providing to motorcyclists and too the general public an expanding line of motorcycles, branded products, and services in selected market segments.” Vision Statement “Harley-Davidson is an action-oriented, international company, a leader in its commitment to continuously improve its mutually beneficial relationships with stakeholders. Harley-Davidson believes the key to success is to balance stakeholders’ interests through the empowerment of all employees to focus on value-added activities. Company Profile and Case Analysis Harley-Davidson Inc. is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Harley-Davidson specializes in the sales of heavyweight motorcycles that are designed for cruising on highways. Harleys have a distinct design and exhaust sound that have appealed...
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...Introduction Harley-Davidson, Inc. was established and entered the motorcycle industry in 1903. The company has primarily focused its resources on the heavyweight motorcycle segment of the industry and is differentiated from its competitors because its focus is only on the motorcycle industry as opposed to other transportation markets such as: cars, boats, ATVs or snowmobiles. The company has experienced both the “good and bad times.” The company was founded by several young men in 1903, was bought out by AMF, experienced a leveraged buyout and ultimately became incorporated with its IPO in 1986. In addition to a constantly changing ownership structure, Harley-Davidson has also experienced significant issues with quality control, inconsistent management and a reputation for being associated with tattoos and pornography. By 1998, the company resolved its quality and image concerns, gained financial stability but continued to face supply concerns and threats of competition by new entrants and possible product substitutes. The challenge facing current Harley-Davidson management is how to combine the company’s approach in marketing the Harley image with consistent financial stability and increasing market share to outperform the competition. Industry Overview Harley-Davidson competes against other American and several internationally based companies within the motorcycle industry. Harley-Davidson has focused...
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...Harley-Davidson: Strategic Profile and Case Analysis Della Shelly, Melie Solomon, Jim Tunison Misericordia University Table of Contents Section I: Introduction3 Section II: Company History3 Section IIa: The Road to Decline4 Section IIb: The Turnaround5 Section III: Porter’s 5 Forces6 Section IV: SWOT Analysis7 Section V: Looking Forward11 Section VI: Future Strategic Actions 12 Section VII: Achieving Continued Success 12 Section VII: Conclusion14 Section VII: Sources 15 ------------------------------------------------- Section I: Introduction Harley-Davidson is an American cultural and business icon. Surprisingly, it has achieved its fame and fortune by essentially relying on designing, manufacturing, selling, and servicing a relatively stable product: two wheels, a 45 V-Twin engine, and a set of handlebars. The most striking distinction about Harley is not the fact that it is successful in selling a single product for over one hundred years, but the fact that its motorcycles have maintained its attractiveness with a broad range of consumers. Outlaw bikers, investment bankers, and people in the middle of a midlife crisis, all seem to be drawn to its lure. Harley can attract such a melting pot of consumers because it is a representation of the American dream…Freedom. ------------------------------------------------- Section II: Company History Harley-Davidson enjoyed a decent amount of success soon after its inception in 1903. The founders, William...
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...Moto-Mods When one thinks of a motorcycle, Harley-Davidson generally comes to mind. Harley- Davidson is America’s oldest and most renowned motorcycle company (Corporate Design Foundation, 1995-2011). The company prides itself with its distinguished design that customers have come to love and has been a part of the company since its beginning. Because of that, Harley-Davidson has chosen not to abandon its original design but simply to enhance it. Accordingly, the company has given birth of a new idea to customize the tanks and fenders without altering the prestigious Harley design. Self-application decals called Moto-Mods are less expensive than opting to paint the motorcycle parts, and it aligns with the company’s vision. A successful marketing plan of this new idea involves a thorough research of the potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and trends. When marketing a new product, the company must consider numerous different variables. Specifically, Harley-Davidson discusses the segmentation and target market for the new product, and how it relates to the Moto-Mods. Also described is how consumers have an effect on the market strategy. The promotional strategy of the company is dependent upon the target market and its buying preferences. Last, every successful company has competitors and although Harley has its customers are “Harley for Life” they are trying to offer products like the competition that will interest consumers shopping for a bike...
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...College 12-10-2010 Harley-Davidson, Inc.: A Strategic Audit Sheila Lenz Western Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses Part of the Accounting Commons, Sales and Merchandising Commons, and the Strategic Management Policy Commons Recommended Citation Lenz, Sheila, "Harley-Davidson, Inc.: A Strategic Audit" (2010). Honors Theses. Paper 1853. This Honors Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Lee Honors College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact maira.bundza@wmich.edu. WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY Harley-Davidson, Inc.: A Strategic Audit Sheila Lenz December 10, 2010 LEE HONORS COLLEGE - CAPSTONE THESIS 2 Table of Contents Analysis Business 3 Mission Statement Analysis 3 Porter's Exercise 4 Marketing Strategy 5 Financial Analysis 5 IFAS Summary 9 EFAS Summary 10 SFAS Summary 11 Recommendations SWOT Analysis 12 Portfolio Analysis 16 Corporate Strategy 16 Business Competitive Strategy 18 Business Cooperative Strategy 18 Conclusion 19 Works Cited 20 Harley-Davidson, Inc.: A Strategic Audit Analysis Business Harley-Davidson, Inc., known for its famous bar and shield trademark, is based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is currently a public company with over 100 years of experience producing motorcycles. Harley consists of two...
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...Case Study: Harley-Davidson -Analyse Harley-Davidson resources and capabilities, and identify its key strengths and weaknesses - Analyse the international competitive environment in which Harley-Davidson is operating to identify its main threats and opportunities. Recommend a forward strategy for Harley-Davidson, which addresses these issues. International Management Individual Assignment Table of Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. Harley Davidson Overview 4 2.1. Harley-Davidson Current Strategy 4 2.2. Resources And Capabilities 5 3. Industry Analysis 6 3.1. Porter’s Five Forces Model 6 3.2. International Competitive Environment 7 4. SWOT Analysis 9 5. Forward strategy recommendation for Harley-Davidson 10 6. Conclusions 12 6. References 13 1. Introduction This report is based on Harley-Davidson, Inc., case study. The aim of this report is to analyse industry and international competitive environment where Harley-Davidson is operating in. One must apply and fully analyse theoretical concepts and frameworks in order to fully comprehend how Harley-Davidson is differentiate itself in the international competitive environment and what strategies is using to achieve higher market share. The empirical material is being analysed by exploring the general information of Harley-Davidson company itself, following by the industry and competitive environment analysis, review of SWOT theoretical framework. Finalising with the recommendations of forward...
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...Case Analysis 2: Harley-davidson MKT 201:001 Long Island University Angel Pagan November 17, 2012 Case Analysis 2: Harley-Davidson This case focuses on the iconic motorcycle brand of Harley-Davidson. Harley-Davidson is an American motorcycle manufacturing company founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Since Harley-Davidson was established in 1903, the manufacturer has experienced its ups and down. It especially encounters struggles like any other automobile industry during economic downturns. On the verge of bankruptcy around 1980, Harley-Davidson made a surprising comeback. This comeback was mainly a result of Harley-Davidson’s incorporation of customer services into its products, product differentiation through quality and design as well as focusing production on a consistently high level of quality. Today, the company’s annual worldwide sales total more than $4 billion worldwide and have an annual output of 200,000 motorcycles along 35 different models in seven product lines. With these results it is safe to say that Harley-Davidson dominates the U.S. motorcycle market and is also strong in Europe and Japan. Harley-Davidson does a very good job at differentiating its product. In fact, product differentiation is the main component of Harley-Davidson’s marketing strategy. They want to offer a motorcycle like no other motorcycle on the market at the highest quality. Harley-Davidson not only stresses its level of quality but its consistency of quality as well. Quality...
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...Harley-Davidson: Preparing for the Next Century English 3345 - Business Team #4: Natalie Martell Martha Martinez Virginia Lopez Myles Melendez History, development, & growth: The birth of the Harley-Davidson legend began around the 1900’s, in a small shed in the Davidson family backyard in Milwaukee. What started out as an ambition for Walter Davidson, to be the best bicycle rider, turned out to be a step into a multimillion dollar business. William D., Walter, and Arthur Davidson, along with their long time friend William S. Harley, built their first motorcycle using the best available tools, which were their hands and brains. The Harley –Davidson Motor Company was put into motion in 1903 when they built three of the first model motorcycles, and so began its 100 year journey. In 1907, they had one full-time employee, and they sold 50 motorcycles, so they filed for incorporation of the company. The Davidson’s and Harley were always trying out new innovations to make their motorcycles better and faster. In 1908 the reputation of the company was raised a level higher through the winning victory race of Walter’s Harley motorcycle with the V-twin engine which they designed themselves. This race was one of many that Walter would go on to win with his Harley, and eventually transformed the company into the world's leading producer of motorcycles. They were always looking to improve and make the best machine there could be, and by 1918 Harley-Davidson...
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...Harley-Davidson: Preparing for the Next Century English 3345 - Business Team #4: Natalie Martell Martha Martinez Virginia Lopez Myles Melendez History, development, & growth: The birth of the Harley-Davidson legend began around the 1900’s, in a small shed in the Davidson family backyard in Milwaukee. What started out as an ambition for Walter Davidson, to be the best bicycle rider, turned out to be a step into a multimillion dollar business. William D., Walter, and Arthur Davidson, along with their long time friend William S. Harley, built their first motorcycle using the best available tools, which were their hands and brains. The Harley –Davidson Motor Company was put into motion in 1903 when they built three of the first model motorcycles, and so began its 100 year journey. In 1907, they had one full-time employee, and they sold 50 motorcycles, so they filed for incorporation of the company. The Davidson’s and Harley were always trying out new innovations to make their motorcycles better and faster. In 1908 the reputation of the company was raised a level higher through the winning victory race of Walter’s Harley motorcycle with the V-twin engine which they designed themselves. This race was one of many that Walter would go on to win with his Harley, and eventually transformed the company into the world's leading producer of motorcycles. They were always looking to improve and make the best machine there could be, and by 1918 Harley-Davidson...
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...handles the problem of how Harley Davidson which produces traditional bikes can maintain its position in this changing environment. Company Information: Harley Davidson’s EPS has been growing at a very strong rate for the last decade. Since 1996 the company’s EPS has grown at an extremely fast 22 % annual rate. Industry Structure: Decisional Problem: Decision Alternatives: Alternative One - Continue as before / Status Quo Alternative Two – Reposition Buell Alternative Three – Renewing the Harley Davidson Brand Alternative four – Selling Buell Statements: Vision Mission Question 4 Internal and External analysis of Harley Davidson Harley Davidson appears to be doing financially sound. This company has been around over a century now and it continues to have a strong presence in the world market for heavy weight cruisers. We will perform a strategic analysis to identify HD`s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities and threats. External analysis Porter’s five forces Internal Rivalry: The market for heavyweight motorcycles is fairly concentrated. There are only four major firms producing these motorcycles. In addition to HD the other three are Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki. HD has been a dominant player in the market with a market share of over 50% in the past. Today this market share has fallen to about 50% due to other manufacturing companies expanding their motorcycle production and through heavy marketing especially to American consumers...
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...Case Study 5 Kim Chau California Southern University MKT 86500 September 19, 2014 Dr. Hoon Harley-Davidson: Style and Strategy Have Global Reach Introduction In the case of Harley-Davidson, Style and Strategy Have Global Reach, a question of survival in an economic storm is raised – given a new CEO and a revised vision, can Harley-Davidson weather trouble times (Schermerhorn, 2011). Historically, Harley-Davidson was founded by William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson in 1903. They built their first three motorcycles in a shed in Milwaukee. By 1909, they introduced their trademark bike. It had 2-cylinder, v-twin engine which was also the faster bike at the time coming in at 60mph. During World War I, almost half of all Harley-Davidson motorcycles produced are sold for use by the U.S. military. At War's end, it was estimated that the Army used some 20,000 motorcycles in their efforts, most of which were Harley-Davidsons. By 1920, Harley-Davidson is the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. New Harley-Davidson motorcycles can be purchased from over 2,000 dealers in 67 countries worldwide (Harley-Davidson Timeline, 2014). In 1969, American Machine and Foundry Co (AMF) merged with Harley. During the early 80’s recession, market shares started to decline, revenue was at an all-time low. According to Daniel Klein’s tariff policy analysis (Klein, D., 1984), in 1980 the company had record sales of $289 million and pretax earnings of $12.3 million, but in 1982 sales...
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...BUSINESS STRETEGY | HARLEY DAVIDSON | | SUBMITTED BY- MANISHA YADAV(IB/05/04) | | SUBMITTED TO-MR. AMIT SAREEN | 9/14/2013 | | Table of content Chapters | Page No | Introduction | | History | | Value | | Vision,Mission | | Product Extension | | Intensive Strategies | | Organizational Chart | | Management | | İnternal & External Forces | | Micheal Porter Analysis | | Market Share | | Human Resource | | Strategic mix | | Competitive Profile Mix | | Internal Analysis Factor Mix | | SWOT & SWOT Matrix | | BCG | | Conclusion | | Possible Strategies | | Introduction Harley-Davidson is an American motorcycle manufacturer with a rich history and cultural tradition. Founded in 1903 in Milwaukee, WI, Harley just celebrated its 100th anniversary with a series of events around the world that culminated in hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists rallying last summer on the shores of Lake Michigan. In 1929, there were 241 motorcycle manufacturers in the US. After the Depression, only two remained: Harley and Indian. By 1953, Indian went out of business, leaving Harley-Davidson as the only American motorcycle manufacturer. Financial difficulties in the 1970’s led to the parent company, AMF putting the motorcycle division up for sale. Without a buyer, a group of Harley managers bought out the company and rescued it with a business turnaround that included brand extensions into licensed...
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...Harley-Davidson Case Analysis MGMT 4290 Professor McGowan Keiven Cosgriff I. CORE PROBLEM Harley-Davidson has a strategy problem; the company’s core problem is its need to reexamine and alter its strategy to ensure continued success in the changing global environment. Harley-Davidson has a solid foundation and the potential for continued success and industry leading performance, however, times are changing and Harley must adapt. II. S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS Strengths Harley-Davidson is a strong company with several core strengths. First, Harley has unprecedented brand recognition and customer loyalty. For example, in 2004 42% of new Harley-Davidson purchasers owned a Harley previously. Richard Teerlink, retired Harley CEO stated, “There are very few products that are so exciting that people are willing to tattoo your logo on their body.”[1] Moreover, Harley-Davidson’s guiding concept is that its brand is more than a brand; it is an iconic image with an accompanying lifestyle and culture. Second, Harley differentiates itself from the Japanese by offering support to various enthusiasts and social groups. For example, the Harley-Davidson Owners Group (HOG), which has worldwide membership in excess of 900,000, helps cultivate a hard-core loyal customer base. Essentially, by owning a Harley you become a member of a special community of people who all share an interest in one product. Third, Harley derives strength from its strong market position, in 2004, Harley controlled...
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...Sales at Harley-Davidson”, pages 75-76 and “Delta Air Lines plays Catch-Up”, pages 77-79. This paper combines both case studies in one document, depicting business driven information systems used and strategic decision making from both well known businesses. Case Study 1 Chapter 2, Closing Case Two (Revving Up Sales at Harley-Davidson), pages 75-76 1. How does Talon help Harley-Davidson employees improve their decision-making capabilities? Talon is the information system that Harley-Davidson uses. It handles the inventory, vehicle registration, warranties and point-of-sale transactions for all Harley-Davidson dealerships. “The system checks dealers’ inventory, generates parts orders, and analyzes global organization information” (Phillips, 2009). Talon has been one of Harley-Davidson most successful informational systems used. Talon has provided Harley-Davidson employee the information needed to earn more revenue. Harley-Davidsons’ $50 million is more than 2 percent of its revenue and far above the manufacting industry average. “Talon gives Harley-Davidson managers’ a 360-degree view into enterprisewide information that supports strategic goal setting and decision making throughout all levels of the organization” (Phillips, 2009). 2. Identify a few key metrics a Harley-Davidson marketing executive might want to monitor on a digital dashboard. Marketing executive may want to monitor their performance, internal and external. This will show Harley-Davidson is keeping...
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...Question 1 SWOT Analysis Harley- Davidson being the largest motorcycle manufacturing company should set their goals and objectives and put them into action this is by carrying out a SWOT analysis on the their product. The SWOT analysis allows for the organizations achievable goals to be reached. Identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable to achieving the objectives is very important to businesses. The SWOT analysis is made up of Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths are the characteristics that give a business a competitive advantage over other businesses. The case of Harley-Davidson has based its marketing strategy on not only selling the motorbikes but also the lifestyle whereas its competitors only concentrate on selling their products. Since the price of motorcycles is expensive, Harley has been able to create value by keeping the value of motorcycles below demand, this enables the business to compete with the other manufacturers whose prices are low. Harley developed a strategy of value over price that is offered through customization options and niches. Weaknesses is an internal characteristic that places the business at a disadvantage with others, the fact that Harley is a large manufacturer worldwide means that more resources should be used in ensuring that quality products are taken to the market hence the motorcycle prices would be higher than those of its competitors. Opportunities involves all the elements that a project could...
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