The strengths of the Harley Davidson company are many. Harley-Davidson owns one of the strongest brands in the world, which helps it attract and retain a loyal customer base. The company established a strong brand image with its motorcycles achieving iconic status and being ranked among the world’s most valuable brands. Harley-Davidson has been continuously ranked among the top 100 global brands in the world. The company holds 55.7% share in the US heavyweight market; and is ranked #1 or #2 in the heavyweight motorcycle market share in nine countries across Europe. Harley-Davidson’s motorcycles are known for their traditional styling, design simplicity, durability and quality. The company achieved industry recognition for its high quality, best design, robust performance and unflinching customer confidence, loyalty and trust of its products and services.
The Harley Davidson brand has significantly contributed to the success of the company by building strong market recognition and a loyal customer base. The company reported strong operational efficiency with decreased cost and increased margins in 2012. Harley Davidson’s revenue stood at $5,580.51m, showing an increase of 5.1% over $5,311.71m in 2011. Its operating income increased to $1000.18m in 2012, indicating 20.5% growth over $829.97m in 2011. The company reported increased operating margin of 17.92% in 2012, as compared to 15.62% in 2011. The operating margin has increased 229 basis points (bps) over 2011 which may indicate management's high focus on improving profitability. The increased operating margin may indicate efficient cost management or a strong pricing strategy by the company. On the other hand, the company reduced its operating cost as percentage of sales to 82...
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...5. Association des Constructeurs Europeens de Motorcycles (ACEM) is likely to introduce €3 standard for mopeds and €4 standard for motorcycles by 2012. It also proposed the introduction of more stringent emission test cycle, and €5 standard for motorcycles by 2015. Such implementations might require the company to redesign its vehicles, which could result in increased operating costs. Failure to comply with the standards could result in penalties and affect its profit margins.
Conclusion
The outlook for Company Name, based on an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is ……..
Works Cited
1. "Harley-Davidson Strategic Analysis." Scribd. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
2. "Investor Relations | Harley-Davidson USA |." Investor Relations | Harley-Davidson USA |. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
3. Correctly Cite Source
Speedster Athletics Company has been able to generate favourable gross margins over the last three years consistently over the industry average of 26%. Gross margin is in a declining trend over 2010 to 2011 where 2011 gross margin is 27% (1371/5075*100%) which is 1% lower than 2011, however this is above the industry average level, proving that Speedster company is capable of generating better margins.
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.
A nurse is required to be responsible and accountable, updating their knowledge and skills continually by using professional development (NMC, 2008). This requires an understanding and awareness of what Evidence Based Practice (EBP) is. Nurses make decisions about their practice using EBP. Ways in which this can be utilized in the improvement of knowledge and practice is, for example; using established sources of evidence. (Marquis et al, 2012). Nursing practice uses a range of approaches to improve and develop patient care so as a nurse the skill of evaluating sources of evidence is necessary to do this effectively. Evidence is gathered through research. EBP consists of research, data collection and nursing research. When searching for evidence to improve your practice the range of information available is vast. A distinction must be made between evidence that is reliable under scrutiny and evidence which is unreliable. Fitzpatrick (2007) asserts that, to understand evidence based practice is to understand where to look and what credible sources of evidence are. Sources that are credible include information published by a government body or academic institution. Fitzpatrick (2007) recommends identifying key aspects of information of the source to ascertain its credibility, for example; who is the author and where did the research come from? Is the article true or false and how long has it been there? (Fitzpatrick, 2007). A journal article is scrutinised by peers and editors and publishers, whereas in contrast a piece of information on a general website could be published by any person and make any claim and may not pass scrutiny under a peer review. Databases like EBSCO for example have articles that are peer reviewed.
To conclude Evidence Based Practice is a process of building up accurate information from medical research which has been correlated and assessed. From this the nurse is capable of advising the best plan of care. For nursing standards to improve it is vitality important that the nurse is given the time to research and the trust to start off the process of change for better care.
Quality of care and patient outcomes rely heavily on practice based on evidence found in systematic reviews of randomized-control trials. While administration often-times implements core measures that involve EBP in their regulations, it is ultimately the nurse’s responsibility to include EBP into their care of patients. Nurses have an obligation to include EBP into their care because “it leads to the highest quality of care and the best patient outcomes” (Melnyk & Overholt, 2015). The nurse leaders really have a responsibility here because it is their responsibility to stress the importance of EBP as well as reviewing research to determine the best possible findings to implement into their unit’s care. Careful monitoring must be performed to assure compliance because “despite the multitude of positive outcomes associated with EBP and the strong desire of clinicians to be the recipient of evidence-based care, an alarming number of healthcare providers do not consistently implement EBP” (Melnyk & Overholt, 2015). Often times, I find seasoned nurses act putout with anything that changes their methods of care. The important thing to remember is that seasoned nurses, while often-times set in their ways, are great nurses and presenting EBP findings and their success during implementation will keep them involved with EBP because they ultimately want to do what’s best
EBP is better carried out through individuals who are well supported both professionally and personally. Staff is supported in such a way that if they are not it can fail. Well educated nurses can carry out evidence based practices but what if a whole hospital could ensure that all of it's nursing staff could do the very same.
Polit and Beck (2010 p. 4) describe the research process as “a systematic inquiry designed to develop trustworthy evidence about issues of importance to the nursing profession, including nursing, practice, education, administration and informatics”. With the use of research, nurses can update themselves with the knowledge and analytical skills necessary to facilitate the use of appropriate evidence in clinical decision making for effective health service delivery (Greenhalgn 2010). Clinical decisions should be supported by current, appropriate and robust evidence rather than invalid primary training or the interpretation of personal experiences (Thompson and Dowding 2002). Baker (2010 p. 6) defines EBP as “the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of theory-derived, research-based information to make decisions about care delivery to individuals or groups of patient, taking into consideration individual’s needs and preferences”. It offers the nurse with the skills and knowledge to assess best update health care literature and practice (Donald and Greenhalgh
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.
Strengths: Ducati is known for its brand and quality. They also distinguish themselves from the other competitors with unique and innovative design which gives them technical superiority. Ducati is associated with the lifestyle of people and it created the “World of Ducati”. It will be able to do well in the new market since it an established brand.
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.
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)
Honda- focused differentiation, medium pricing, breadth of product line is high. Strengths are quality, reliability, overall value, and styling.
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The Nursing School at Boise State University joined in a partnership with one of the local medical centers to implement an EBP model. The medical center distinguished a need to utilize more EBP in patient care so a project was initiated and successfully completed. Throughout the stages of the project, there was an awakening of what nurses can contribute to their own practice. The staff nurses were the central focus of this project. “Staff nurses “drive the machine” of evidence-based practice, because they observe, assess, ask questions, pass on ideas, and implement new knowledge into clinical practice” (Reavy & Tavernier, 2008, p. 167).