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Milwaukee is where it all started for Harley Davidson. In 1903, William Harley Walter and Arthur Davidson created the first of millions Harley Davidson. It was one of the two major motorcycles that were able to survive the great depression. Since 1977, the only motorcycles sold to the public under the Harley-Davidson brand have been heavyweight motorcycles, with engine displacements greater than 700 cc, designed for cruising on highways. It is one of the most well known brands in the world of motorcycles and otherwise as well. Harley-Davidson maintains an enormous brand community, which keeps active through clubs, events, and a museum. The worth of Harley Davidson brand and its logo was somewhere around $40 million which was 0.8% of the company’s new revenue in year 2010. Harley Davidson has often set the benchmark for other motorcycle manufacturers through the years. By the end of World War I, 20,000 cycles were used in military duty and till date it is a favorite for the US army. Harley Davidson has continued to install the same V-Twin engine it invented years ago. It has mostly concentrated on aesthetic changes and ignored the technical changes that were required in the modern era. The critics say that Harley Davidson should innovate and get modern updations to its models. Whereas if we listen to the Harley Davidson loyals, they would insist on maintain HD’s Heritage.
Strategic Analysis of the External Environment of Harley Davidson:
The strategic management analysis of Harley Davidson will require some tools like PESTEL analysis, SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, Porter’s Five Force analysis, Key success factors, Industrial Life Cycle, Competitor Analysis, Environment basics and Degree of Turbulence.
PESTEL Analysis: The PES...
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...e Harley Davidson heritage to the rest of the world.
REFERENCES:
Harley Davidson, Strategic Analysis . 2013. Harley Davidson, Strategic Analysis . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.slideshare.net/MahmoudMHamid/harley-davidson-strategic-analysis. [Accessed 16 December 2013].
Harley-Davidson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Harley-Davidson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley-Davidson. [Accessed 16 December 2013].
Harley-Davidson Strategic Analysis. 2013. Harley-Davidson Strategic Analysis. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.scribd.com/doc/12517953/HarleyDavidson-Strategic-Analysis. [Accessed 16 December 2013].
harley davidson. 2013. harley davidson. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.slideshare.net/ercan_1244/harley-davidson-12030842. [Accessed 16 December 2013].
Needless to say, that experience has changed over time. It began from a simplistic design in 1904 as a motorized bike. However, as time progressed it brought about the introduction of the biker gang era. These were the bad asses image riding their heavy bikes down the highway, rebels who refused to give in to society’s pressures. It was the time of the Hell’s Angels, with their patches, long hair, and untidy beards that became the symbol of freedom on the road. They created the mantra of the bad ass dude on a bad ass American bike and no one was gonna tell him what to
In this argument I will be focusing on Fox Car Rental, Inc. as the basis for a systematic analyses of the organization, as I identify the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the existence of the organization and its operations. Also, I will be providing three pitfalls to strategic management. In order to facilitate my argument, the use of a strategic matrix analyses will be utilized.
Ask any ten enthusiasts what two cars epitomize the concept of an automotive rivalry and at least nine of them will instantly conclude the Chevrolet or Chevy Camaro and the Ford Mustang, two cars that make up part of a small automotive segment known as Pony Cars. These fire-breathing leviathans of the street snarl with guttural reverberations boastfully announcing their presence with the mere turn of key. For nearly five decades, these mechanical beasts have captured the imagination of the American driver and ignited the most contentious debate in automotive history: Which car reigns supreme? Muscle car buffs waste no time quoting sales figures, vehicle performance, track times, or even mundane statistics like vehicle dimensions or available colors to simply justify their support for one model over the other. As this debate rages on, the makers of these brutes fan the flames through targeted marketing strategies, consumer promotions, pricing strategies, and creative advertising all in effort to win an automotive war the likes of which have never been seen or fought before (Davenport, 2013).
Harley-Davidson states their mission as “We fulfill dreams through the experiences of motorcycling by providing to motorcyclists and to the general public an expanding line of motorcycles, branded products and services in selected market segments.” They have performed wonderfully over the past hundred years, and have not forgotten their mission or where they came from. Over the years they have stuck with the things they know, and also expanded into related services and products. Out of the 151 motorcycle manufacturers, Harley-Davidson and Indian were the only two companies to survive the Great Depression. Harley-Davidson was the only one in America after Indian dropped out in 1953, but face Indian again now since they re-entered the market in 1999.
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.
The series of activities that are enacted by a firm that add value to a product beyond the cost of the production are referred to as the value chain. Harley Davidson offers a combination of superior performance and unique attributes within its value chain that promotes their core competencies and provides them with a competitive advantage.
"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.
HD has chosen the strategic direction of targeting women and the younger market that is technologically conscious in order to increase its share in the first time motorcycle owner market space. With the introduction of the new VRSC’S, and the new lowered sporster 833 L and the 1200 L, design for small riders who want more power, also promoting the already existing HD motorcycle owners to step forward and purchasing a bigger model. HD is in a position of attaining a sizeable share in the first time motorcycle owners, the young males, and females’ marketplace. To target the women and the young market with the new product line, the company has adopted the following marketing objectives: to expand its current market (market expansion), diversify its product line (product diversification), and modify its marketing mix to target women and the younger demographic.
...d our money in each segment. For example, in the first year we were given the option to spend $500,000 to invest in advertising. We decided on using all $500,000 which gave us the highest awareness and shareholder value for that year. As the rollovers continued we made a few errors in terms of financing our budget for marketing, which mirrored in our attempt to sell the highest amount of bikes.
We can analyze whether Ducati should enter the Cruise market of Harley Davidson or not by doing a SWOT analysis and the benefits Ducati will be able to attain financially in the new market.
Allstate insurance is the second largest property and casualty insurance company by premiums in the United States. Allstate insurance handles about 12% of the U.S home and auto insurance market. (Allstate, 2014). Many of Allstate’s customers fall under what one could refer to as a traditional selection of insurance for automobiles. Recently, Allstate has noticed a major shortcoming in lifestyle insurance, which includes coverage for motorcycles, boats, and other recreational vehicles, in comparison to its competitors. The motorcycle insurance sector is a 10.4 billion dollar industry and growing (PRWEB, 2012). The U.S. Department of Transportation website reports some astounding figures, including that 5,370,035 motorcycles were registered three years before the article, 7,138,476 motorcycles registered at the time of the article, and grew to 9,477,243 registered motorcycles at the end of 2012 (NHTSA, 2013). It is obvious as to why Allstate would identify motorcycle insurance as a worthy lifestyle product to devote marketing research dollars into in order to develop new strategies for cornering a share of the market.
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)
Harley-Davidson was founded in 1903 by William Harley and Arthur Davidson and continued to grow throughout the First and Second World Wars, before being absorbed by American Machine and Foundry (AMF) in 1969 (James & Graham, 2004; Johan Van & Brian, 2000). Facing stiff completion from Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, AMF sold Harley to a group of executives led by Jeff Bluestein and Vaughn Beal (James & Graham, 2004; Teerlink & Ozley, 2000). A tariff on imported heavyweight motorcycles and a public offering put Harley-Davidson on sound financial footing. Richard Teerlink joined the company in 1987 as President and brought about substantial structural change working with consultant Lee Ozley (Teerlink & Ozley, 2000). Today, Harley-Davidson is a cultural phenomenon consisting of Harley-Davidson Credit and Insurance, ...
We think it would be interesting to quote first Harley-Davidson's mission, in order to get a first approach of what is the purpose of the company from their point of view. The mission talks first about dreams, rather than motorcycles, which is what the public has in mind. This mission says:
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.