Harley Davidson Industry Analysis Essay

Industry and Company Analysis of Harley Davidson Inc

William Harley and Arthur Davidson started Harley Davidson Inc. in 1903 when they were intrigued by the newly invented concept of motorcycles. The pair was so moved by the concept they decided to begin manufacturing their own motorcycle which will would be unique by many measures (Oosterwal, 2010). Since the company’s onset; innovativeness has been at core of the firm’s business strategy, and the business has willfully followed this strategy. From their inception Harley Davidson has enjoyed an active path of enormous growth and gradually emerged as the most recognized motorcycle producer in North America. In fact such is the growth story of the firm, a company of its size has managed

The luxury and recreational industry, as a whole, consists of many associated products and services, all of them target high end consumers, which also increases brand loyalty (Oosterwalt, 2010). Like Harley Davidson, other luxury or high end products and services can be regarded as lifestyle and statement products, where consumers are looking to make a statement, by linking themselves with a specific brand. Inevitably this makes the markets of these lifestyle products vulnerable to the slightest turmoil in the economy, such as, the 2009 global recession. During the global recession the recreational vehicle industry was faced with a downward trend (Repine Jr., 2011). Obvious reasons for the downward trend were due to the value of the dollar depreciating and the real income of consumers decreasing, during economic times such as these, the lifestyle products industry is going to see a major decline. As the economy is slowly growing and market conditions are improving, consumers again are thinking of making considerable lifestyle purchases. Recent growth trends are likely to impact the industry as conditions will improve after the recent set back (Repine Jr., 2011). The recreational vehicle industry is divided into three major divisions specifically; Motor Homes, Travel Trailers and lastly

The level of competition is fierce in the mainstream market, because numerous competitors in the industry, such as, Japanese producers like Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and BMW in Europe. Domestically, Yamaha can be considered a direct model competitor, because they are now producing clones of the Harley Davidson model, however they lack the brand image Harley Davidson enjoys (Oosterwalt, 2010). In the United States market Harley Davidson has been the market leader for the last fifteen years. For that reason the level of competition in that top segment is not that fierce though at the same time the market is much confined so the chances of growth is a bit