Management
Introduction
Harley Davidson is one of the leading manufacturers of heavyweight motorcycles across the globe. This company has two organizations under its banner – the Harley Davidson Financial Services and the Harley Davidson Motor Company. The main products of Harley Davidson Motor Company are general merchandise, apparel, riding gear, accessories, and motorcycle parts of Harley Davidson, touring, cruiser and customized heavyweight motorcycles. On the other hand, the Harley Davidson Financial Services provides retail and wholesale finance services, protection plans, extended services, insurance and credit card schemes to the riders and dealers of Harley Davidson in Canada, U.S.A. and select global markets (Harley-Davidson, 2012).
Strengths of Harley Davidson
This company has a very strong brand image which is one of its main promotion tactics. While its rival provides a revolutionary motorcycle design each year Harley has stuck to implementing an evolutionary classical model for its products Clyde Fessler (2013). This is one of the main reasons for having a loyal customer base even today. It has emphasized on research and development activities and this is one of the key strengths of this organization. Its research and development team has come out with over thirty different motorcycle models which have been customized designs especially made for touring and targets young people who crave for adventure rides on motorcycles. The organization commands a broad customer base because of its broad service and product portfolio. The second quarter of the year 2012 has witnessed an increase in revenue of 21.6 percent as compared with the second quarter of the year before (Harley-Davidson, 2012).
Weaknesses of Harley Davidson and possible steps taken to overcome them
Although the company has over 30 models of customized Harley motorcycles for touring, critics opine that this organization is diversifying its bases very slowly as compared with competitors. To top it the recession of 2007 has slowed down sales. Another issue with this organization is it lack of investment community as compared to its niche and loyal customer base which is rather small.
Harley Davidson has not been able to keep up with the quality and matching standards of BMW and this has made the Michigan State Police to switch over to the later for its bikes. This is mainly because the bike is not able to match the mile per hour as compared with BMW and this is one of the main reasons for this body to switch over from Harley to BMW motorcycles. This is one of the main issues that this organization is facing. This issue with product is forcing organizations to switch over to those firms which provide motorcycles having better performance and speed (Harley-Davidson Inc., 2012). A serious issue is that of product recall and this has adversely impacted its performance over the long term by impacting the confidence of consumers. The company has gone ahead and globally recalled 308000 units of Trike, CVO Touring and Touring motorcycles. This was due to a highly dangerous fault with the braking systems of motorcycles wherein switching on brakes would lead to failure of the rear brakes or lead the brake lights to cease functioning. Again in the year 2012, the firm launched a repair servicing in order to repair faulty brakes in 12 motorbike models of around 1228 units. Such product recalls negatively impact the brand image thereby leading to decline in the sale of products.
The company is trying to overcome its weaknesses by taking certain important steps. In order to enhance quality and performance of its product lines, it has implemented the restructuring of its manufacturing operations. The manufacturing team will concentrate on product which provides enhanced operating effectiveness and providing improved response towards meeting the demands of its customers (UMC Staff, 2013).
Other than this Harley Davidson is highly dependent on domestic market as compared with Asian motorcycle manufacturers like Kawasaki and Honda which has quickly diversified and built an international base along with enhanced productivity and higher quality of products (Taylor, 2012). Both the motorcycles as well as its financial services are heavily concentrated in the United States of America and this firm has to expand to other global markets in order to escape from vulnerability akin with economic depression.
In this case it has an opportunity to start focussing on nearby markets in the Latin American countries. The firm has opened an office in Miami, Florida. This office can help in focussing on garnering niche clientele in the Latin American countries. The efforts taken have driven the retail sale of Harvey Davidson bikes in Latin America to 39.2 percent. In fact, the firm has registered a global increase in sales to 6.2 percent (UMC Staff, 2013). The company is in fact cashing on its opportunities to overcome the weakness of excessive concentration on domestic markets. Its products are sold across 67 nations worldwide and the firm has formulated innovative marketing plans by means of a strong research and development team to augment global development and at the same time sustaining the authenticity that it promises to offer and ensure that it commands brand loyalty (TDI Media, 2010).
The company has already implemented strategic restructuring plans which are customer centric and strives to minimize costs. Despite this it has several rival organizations like Honda and Kawasaki which has more diversified markets as compared with Harley Davidson. Also Harley Davidson products are far more expensive and the current recessionary trend may tend to slow down the customer market for Harley Davidson as compared with its rivals. A potential threat to Harley Davidson motorbikes in the United States of America has been posed by Polaris Industries. Polaris has created fresh products with flamboyant creations and at far competitive rates as compared with Harley Davidson. Polaris is one organization which is experimenting with innovating thinking in enterprise and has posed to be a threat to Harley Davidson in its domestic market. Hence, it is very essential that this organization plays to its strength of a strong research and development function in order to eliminate its threats and also overcome its main weakness of concentration in U.S.A. (Taylor, 2012).
Conclusion
It is very essential that the company plays to its strengths and opportunities in order to overcome threats and weaknesses. Opportunities of diversifying and concentrating on global market should be primarily focussed as this would help the firm to remain in competition. Also it should tread cautiously especially while deciding to expand its product base in Europe. This is because the continent has stringent standards of emission levels. Non compliance of these standards will not only lead to penalties but will adversely impact the brand image. At the same time, such emission standards will lead to higher operating expenses. Hence, the company should thoroughly strategise by carefully weighing its weaknesses and threats and accordingly devise plans that help in playing to its opportunities and strengths in order to remain one of the leading names across the globe.
References
Clyde Fessler (2013). The Harley-Davidson turnaround story: the rise and all of Harley-Davidson. Retrieved December 13, 2013 from http://www.clydefessler.com/Harley-Davidson.html
Harley-Davidson Inc. (2012). Harley-Davidson, Inc. – financial and strategic analysis review. Retrieved December 13, 2013 from http://callisto.ggsrv.com/imgsrv/Fetch?banner=4d609cd7&digest=27b6b6d33026b58ef227e0025dda7d42&contentSet=SWOT&recordID=47405_GDAUT29887FSA
Harley-Davidson (2012). Harley-Davidson results show continued improvement. Retrieved December 13, 2013 from http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Content/Pages/HD_News/Company/news.html?article=en_US/News/1483_press_release.hdnews
Taylor, A. (2012). The hurdles at Harley-Davidson. Retrieved December 13, 2013 from http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/03/autos/harley-davidson-polaris.fortune/index.html
TDI Media. (2010). An analysis of Harley Davidson’s international business strategy. Retrieved December 13, 2013 from http://tdimedia.blogspot.in/2010/03/analysis-on-harley-davidsons.html
UMC Staff (2013). Harley-Davidson: 2012 worldwide sales up 6.2%. Retrieved December 13, 2013 from http://ultimatemotorcycling.com/harley-davidson-2012-worldwide-sales-up-6-2/
