Advantages Of Harley Davidson

Thus, aggressive brand management, production simplicity, and dedication to the product following are three competitive advantages of Harley-Davidson (Cheema at al., n.d.). However, one disadvantage of selling only Harley-Davidson products was that price-sensitive consumers might have sufficient buying powers to buy other products if they found somewhere else cheaper. The less differentiation between the products (such as motorcycles), the higher bargaining power of buyers they will likely switch to the other competitors. When a consumer can be able find a cheaper alternative, there is likely a high threat of substitutes even though Harley-Davidson is the major supplier in the U.S. As mentioned from the beginning of the case, since consumers

As described from the case, after becoming a publicly traded company, Harley-Davidson revamped its product line and followed an effective JIT technique for its product enhancement (Cheema at al., n.d.). In addition, it has focused on three major initiatives: improving the manufacturing process, restructuring business management, and aggressively managing its brand name through dealerships and licensed products (Cheema et al., n.d.). As a result, the advantages of quality control successfully helped the company serve the consumers’ needs. The company’s manufacturing process are capable of producing a variety of models. However, the problems concerned were the limited product designs (known for its weaknesses) as well as a major number of products recall from consumers recently, despite the fact that the company has been putting efforts on producing best quality products through continuous improvement

Since consumers view motorcycles as leisure and luxury items instead of a necessity, the company should be able to target those who live in urban areas with high public transportation and population. People who do not mainly use cars in those cities will likely consider buying a motorcycle for convenience and accessibility. Thus, the company needs to have an aggressive marketing in concentrating and addressing those needs which will result in more attention from the riders. From a consumer’s perspective, Harley-Davidson products are costly and expensive. Those who could be able to afford motorcycles are mainly wealthy and have high-income. These reasons explained why consumers think of motorcycles as leisure items. For instance, when sales decline, a cost reduction on the least popular models that did not give the company an above-average return should be considered as a second alternative. However, reducing model prices could risk the company’s margins, Harley-Davidson could protect its profitability by