Harely Davidson Situation Analysis

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) was founded in 1903. The home base was originally founded in and even today remains in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Harley-Davidson’s popularity grew significantly during World War I, when the U.S. infantry used 20,000 of the company’s motorcycles in its war effort (Taylor, 2010). Best recognized for its manufacturing of heavyweight motorcycles, Harley-Davidson has captured half the U.S. market and a third of the global market (Wikinvest, 2010). Harley-Davidson motorcycles are noted for their classic lines, custom paint jobs, dependability, fine craftsmanship and the Harley-Davidson signature choppy sounding engine. Most importantly, it has been

The Harley Owners Group or HOG is a factory sponsored motorcycle enthusiast club established in 1983. Its main aim was to negate the influence of outlaw bike-gangs as the face of the Harley Davidson brand and enhance the lifestyle experience of a Harley Davidson owner. This was the roadmap of the firm’s broad philosophy of getting close to the customer. There was a great need to address two main issues with respect to the brand.

By 1920, the company was producing almost 30,000 bikes annually and was the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer, taking the title away from Indian Motorcycle. However, a combination of a mild economic depression and Henry Ford’s Model T began eating away at Harley-Davidson’s profits, and the motorcycle company even had to reject a potential business partnership with Ford Motor Company to protect themselves (“William S. Harley, Arthur”). The partnership involved manufacturing Harley-Davidson bikes with a sidecar to be used to deliver mail, albeit under the Ford name. Harley-Davidson rejected this deal, but later used the idea to sell their own bikes to the Postal Service (Harley and the Davidsons). In 1914, the U.S Postal Service was using 4,800 Harley-Davidson motorcycles to deliver mail. To save their company, Harley designed motorcycles to be used by law enforcement across the United States. By the mid-1920s, roughly 3,000 law enforcement personnel would be riding a Harley-Davidson, a testament to William Harley’s engineering genius. In addition, Harley would design bikes with larger engines and brakes which helped boost sales for a short while before the Great Depression came. To counter the resulting plummet in sales, Harley gave the bikes a facelift, designing new bikes with more appealing fuel tanks and adding both stylized eagle designs and the company logo on the bikes to increase appeal. Around this time, bikes were also designed with different color patterns (“William S.

Harley Davidson Inc. is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, WI, USA, during the first decade of the 20th century, It has become one of the most formidable players in the US motorcycle industry. Harley Davidson holds 50.2% of the motorcycle market share in the US. Demand for motorcycle is elastic hence Harley Davidson cannot price fix.

However, Harley Davidson faced various difficulties when entering into international market such as life style, multicultural environment, expectations and requirement of customers, support from the market etc. Harley Owners Group (H.O.G) was created to update about the brand and mainly Harley Davidson members focus on to provide brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. More over movie industry helped potential Harley Davidson bikers to visualize themselves through “bad boy” image characterized in the movie (Mulder et al.,

In 1985, participating Harley Davidson dealerships facilitated local organization in the form of “chapter”. Through their local chapters HOG members are able to meet other rides, develop social ties, participate in community service and ride their motorcycles together.

Harley Davidson is a motorcycle manufacturing company whose headquarters is located in Milwaukee Wisconsin. The company is the biggest motorcycle producer in the United States, it is over a century old. Started by the Davidson brothers- Arthur, William, and Walter together with William s. Harvey, the company designs, manufactures, and distributes motorcycles not only in the United States but also to the rest of the world. It has since been producing heavyweight machines for its loyal customers. It has maintained its stability and growth, and this expected, for years to come.

Harley Davidson Inc. is a leading motorcycle manufacturer in America. The abbreviation used for the company is H-D or Harley and was formerly known as HDI. It is listed under New York Stock Exchange with ticker symbol HOG. The company was founded in the first decade of 20th century in Milwaukee Wisconsin. It was founded by the Davidson brothers – William, Walter and Arthur along with the William S. Harley. The company was among one of the two American motorcycle manufacturers who survived through the Great Depression. Harley Davidson faced tough times in its tenure; it has survived from the period of bad quality control and stiff competition from the Japanese companies.

The overall intensity of rivalry in the motorcycle industry is strong, key players in this industry include the Harley Davidson, Winnebago, Polaris, Thor, Artic Cat and Marine Products. These top performers hold a high percentage of

Historically Harley-Davidson to be a Niche Marketer, which is they had focused in on one particular aspect of the market. Kotler and Keller identified the following characteristics of niche marketing; customers have a distinct set of needs, they are willing to pay more to the firm that best suits their needs, it is not likely to attract competitors, gains economies through specialized products and it has a size, profit and to grow. Almost all of these hold true for the “heavyweight” segment of motor cycles that Harley-Davidson produced.

Harley Davidson has 1,460 dealership networks to service its customers, with the majority of those dealerships located in the United States. Harley believes the quality and effectiveness of their dealerships are instrumental in the strong demand for its products; therefore, placement of dealerships is a critical element. Recently the market share for Harley Davidson heavyweight motorcycles has fallen to 47.5% this year from 50.3% a year earlier. In fact, their peak was quarter 4 in 2013 at 58% market share (Hagerty, 2015). Because Harley prides themselves on their loyal following, price slashing is not an option for improving market share as that method only devalues Harley’s products. Instead, to further progress Harley’s placement they should focus efforts towards helping dealerships expand business skills to ensure dealers have the appropriate knowledge to sell more effectively. One way in which Harley is accomplishing this is with the Harley-Davidson University program they’ve established as a training program for dealers.

Regardless of their emergence in the market in the year, in 1903, Harley-Davidson together with the motorcycle industry did not have an easy start until the end of the Second World War. Many people used motorcycles during the period the war took place. Harley-Davidson was instrumental in supplying around 90,000 motorcycles to the American military during this period. Many veterans opted to buy motorcycles after returning home. This is because they enjoyed riding the motorcycles during the war and desired to continue riding them after the end of the war. This generation was called the "baby boomers" and became the primary target for Harley-Davidson to market their products.

•     Started as a partnership between a draftsman and a pattern maker in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1903. William Harley and Arthur Davidson intrigued by the newly invented motorcycles began experimenting with ideas to design and build their own motorcycle. They enlisted Arthur's brothers, Walter a skilled mechanic and William a machinist who gave live to the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. That early partnership has evolved into a family of millions of Harley-Davidson, Inc. stakeholders throughout the world.

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

Harley Davidson founded in 1903. Harley Davidson is the parent company for the group of companies doing business as Harley Davidson Motor Company (HDMC) and Harley Davidson Financial Services (HDFC) in USA.