Introduction
Harley-Davidson Motor Company is an American manufacturer of motorcycles based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The company sells heavyweight motorcycles designed for cruising on the highway. Harley-Davidson motorcycles (popularly known as "Harley") have a distinctive design and exhaust note. They are especially noted for the tradition of heavy customization with its special engine roar and signature teardrop gas tank which is considered a unique experience that symbolizes the best of the American dream. Harley has been manufacturing motorcycles for more than a century and has earned themselves an enduring place in America’s automotive history. We believe Harley is overall a successful company but our case study shows that there are few marketing developments can be achieved.
Problem
As our group discussed, we believe that the problem with Harley begins with their product raw material expense. Those expenses then roll over to the retail price of the bikes causing the limited target market of the company to have a median income of $80.000. The motorcycles are heavy, which are designed for the American male.
Analysis
Most of Harley’s customers are male, only about 11 percent are female. I think this is the problem of Harley since they are only producing heavyweight motorcycles. Being too heavy is a major problem with female customers. Harley somehow needs to customize their products so it can fit both male and female customers because not every man is big and strong enough to ride a Harley bike. Another problem which I think Harley might want to consider is the price. As it said in the case, the largest group of Harley owners, and target market have a median income of more than $80,000. Since the economy is going down plus too many people are unemployed, not everyone will be able to afford to buy a Harley bike. It will even affect the old customers to consider carefully before deciding to buy another Harley bike. According to Forbes, the average income of an American family is about $45,000 or less. Yet Harley might want to consider reducing the price or produce a bike that won’t cost too much. They certainly don’t want to miss this big group since 28 percent of their customers are first time bikers. In July 17, 2008 the company announced its results for the second quarter ended June 29, 2008 on its website as revenue for the quarter was $1.
Company Overview – Caterpillar Tractor Co. was founded in 1925 and was the product of a merger between The Holt Manufacturing Company, owned by BBB HHH, and C.L Best Tractor Co., owned by DDD BBB. The company had a great demand in WWI and this lead to the first foreign operation of many to come in the future.
Within the lawn and garden industry, 74 percent of sales came from finished goods, such as lawn mowers, in 1995. Riding lawn mower sales are very seasonal. Front-engine mowers were viewed by consumers as more powerful while rear-engine mowers were viewed as better capable to handle large jobs. However, the front-engine mowers were most popular.
When one thinks of classic Americana, they reminisce about the 1970s and 1980s and the notion of the nostalgic past in terms of what is the classic American image. It was a time of economic prowess where the blue collar factory worker would work 9 to 5 and then go to the local bar with his coworkers. However, times have since changed. The industrial plants that once dominated the Great Lakes economic region has become a shell of its past to the point where it is now none as the Rust Belt as industry left and white collar jobs became the norm. Since this degradation has settled into this once industrial cities, many cities and companies have sought to rebrand themselves in order to build from their reputations in the past to appeal to the nostalgia felt today. One such case where these is a correlation between a company and city are that of Harley Davidson, founded 1904, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Both have sought to rebrand themselves to the public and consumer, with Milwaukee seeking to transformation its image into that of a young and vibrant and city while Harley targets a new clientele. It is this shift to Harley’s "cult branding" to attract new clients that parallels Milwaukee's attempts to integrate itself to a service sector economy based on touristic leisure and the consumption of
Harley-Davidson owns a twenty percent market share followed closely by Honda, Yamaha, and Kawasaki. One thing they have had to overcome in the marketplace is the stereotypical image associated with motorcycle owners. It seems the publ...
The next ratio we will review is gross profit margin. Gross profit margin (GPM) measures the percentage of each sales dollar remaining after the firm has paid for its goods. The higher the gross profit margin, the better. Harley Davidson's gross profit margin was 35.08% for 2001, 34.09% for 2000.
...es how powerful of a symbol it has become. You wouldn’t consider the fact that someone drives a Honda Accord a defining characteristic of his or her identity but somehow that changes when it becomes a Harley Davidson Heritage Softtail. "Four wheels move the body two wheels move the sole" (Harley Davidson Ad/ 1992). It becomes clear that the motorcycle is much more than a vehicle; it is a manifestation of American values. When you break it down nothing seems more American that freedom, and brotherhood. Film has fully capitalized on these characteristics helping make the motorcycle a powerful image that has had a defining impact on American culture.
This case study is about “Specialized Bicycle Components Inc.” known as Ride the Red “S”. Specialized was founded in 1974 by Mike Sinyard. According to Chris Murphy, director of marketing for Red “S”, specialized is for serious riders. He says, “The customer is buying the ride from us, not just the bike.” The company began to produce its own bike parts by 1976, and introduced the first major production mountain bike in the world in 1980. Specialized now has an extensive global distribution network of 5000 retailers in 35 countries in Asia, North America, South America, and Australia. They maintained a reputation as the technological leader in the bike and bike accessories. The formal mission is still the same since they established the company “To give everyone the best ride of their life.”
"Harley-Davidson: At Last" as presented in Hartley's Marketing Mistakes and Successes presents the circumstances around HD's near collapse and since rinse to near mythic success. This case is a great example of marketing myopia; HD saw them-selves as full-size motorcycles' manufactures, not in the transportation, or even the entertainment industry. They believed no one bought motorcycles for transportation, but rather for leisure time use.
During the 1970's, HD was facing a decline in market share due to increased competition with Japanese companies. By phasing out weak models, becoming more selective, and limiting sales and promotions, HD was able to carve out a niche in the marketplace which it enjoys today. Now again faced with a period of decline, HD is relying on its newly adopted marketing objectives. First, HD needs to expand its potential customer base to include enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts young males, and females into buying HD motorcycles over any other competitor. This thought is accomplished through the introduction of the VRSC’S, and the lower and narrow Sportsters, Dyna’s, Softail’s and positioning them in the market to a younger demographic. Secondly, HD needs to position the VRSC’S, Sporster, Dyna and Softail to also appeal to first time buyers of motorcycles. HD's strong brand identity can help pull in new clients.
(Potential $loss if reduce price = 94962.yr but losing market would be a bigger problem.)
The motorcycle industry offers products which can be viewed as luxuries or wants as opposed to necessities. When concerning Harley-Davidson, most motorcycle owners have purchased their bikes as a second vehicle, using them more during weekends and off-time instead of during the work week. This implies that the motorcycles serve for recreational purposes and thus are an item which can be expendable at times. This has hurt the industry recently with the slight recession the United States economy is facing. Another interesting thing to note about the motorcycle industry is the different appeal bikes carry in different global regions. In the United States for instance, Harley-Davidson has had much success because of the market trends and tastes people enjoy. Harley-Davidson has benefited from a U.S. market which enjoys casual and recreational riding. This isn’t necessarily the case overseas, as in Europe the trendy pick is a sleeker street bike, with a focus on speed and handling as opposed to power and comfort.
James, W. B., & Graham, B. (2004). Strategic change in the face of success? Harley-Davidson, Inc. Strategic Change, 13(4), 205.
Ever since the day we were born, we as Americans have been taught to grab the bull by the horns and go for their dreams. Family, schools and the media, to name a few, have carefully programmed us to accomplish great things, to have good jobs, and most importantly, make money. In this success driven culture many people will do what ever they need to do to become wealthy and powerful. Unfortunately, the paths they take to their pot of gold can leave, us as a society, looking greedy and shameless. With its new advertisement of the Viper SRT-10, Dodge has clearly captured some of our society’s view on money; do whatever it takes to get it. It pictures an old wealthy man and his beautiful, young bride with a brand new Dodge Viper sports car sitting in the background. In our days of Anna Nicole Smith and countless other gold digging Playboy bunnies, not to mention all of the not-so-famous people doing the same thing, this ad truly fits into our time and culture. In fact, if this ad was published 30 years ago, the majority of the population would be shocked, maybe even outraged. However, seeing it today, most Americans, including myself, laugh at it because it is something we have become accustomed to. Dodge has done a great job in choosing their audience and knowing how to get their attention, by using a humorous and thought provoking picture, a well planned color scheme and a clever slogan.
Having both marketing strategies and both products analyzed and the history of the important marketing decisions made and techniques used by the company written down, it will be interesting to perform a critical analysis of how the market and business realities made an impact on the marketing of Tesla Motors, why it happened and what was the effect. The presence of the CEO and the impact he makes on the public and investor confidence will also be critically reviewed. Based on the results, a list of recommendations will be composed for both representatives and marketing specialists who work in the same or similar
Italian manufacturer Piaggio ranks as one of the world’s top four players in its core business. It has consolidated leadership in the European 2-wheeler market. Piaggio should not miscalculate its competitors. Competition in the industry is very powerful, not only nationally but internationally as well. This is due to two well-established companies in this sector which are the Japanese Yamaha and Honda. Yamaha and Honda strengths are their long-run experience in the sector and the high quality image of products. Due to participations to the motorcycle championships, these two companies constantly receive positive feedbacks to their efforts in researching for first class products. In the future, other kinds of competitors are expected to arise: Chinese companies whose ability to imitate and create similar products at highly competitive prices is getting more and more dangerous (Piaggio, 2008)