Harley Davidson Research Paper

It doesn’t matter if you are in Germany, China or in Timbuktu you know the brand of Harley-Davidson. You can find a dealership on every continent except one, Antarctica.

Many of Harley-Davidson customers love the fact that Harley-Davidson motorcycles are made in America. For the last century, Harley-Davidson has been the only true American made motorcycle. Harley-Davidson has helped the American economy by having their factories and dealerships here in America, and by staffing those facilities.

During an interview in April of 2015 at the Loyalty Expo Brad Marg, the Chief Operations Officer of Harley Davidson, said he believes it’s the high-quality products and the dealerships, that are responsible for keeping their loyal customers. Harley-Davidson

works hard to find ways to motivate and reward their top customers in all the different branches of the company.
While building motorcycles in the United States is great, it comes with a down side.

The down side is, employment comes with higher wages and taxes. Harley-Davidson had been partnered up with the unions for the last few decades, which caused those wages to be even higher. The higher wages are one of the reasons, companies are looking to move their operations overseas including Harley-Davidson.

Product cost has gone up due to increases in the price of raw materials, labor, and overhead. They’ve had to liquidate assets (such as closing at least 2 of their facilities) and had to lay off those employees who were employed at those locations in an attempt to help balance out those increases.

Harley-Davidson has a challenging time getting into the European Market. The European market is flooded with motorcycles from Asia and from Europe itself. American motorcycles are more expensive than those produced in Europe and in Asia. Only fourteen percent of their total sales come from Europe.

The opportunity to grow in Asia and India is limitless. The land and labor are cheaper and could help with lowering the operations cost, which can only help the product cost, and their profit margin. Harley-Davidson has just opened a new facility in Thailand and are hoping that the production there will help offset the costs here in

America.
Women and the younger generations are interested in riding.

Advertisements need to be increased, with innovative ideas to capture the interest of these demographics. (Maybe Hollywood could help by producing a movie that puts Harley-Davidson front and center). Harley-Davidson is working on recruiting women riders by offering three to four-day riding courses at their dealerships. They believe by offering the classes, more women who have been dreaming of riding, but were too afraid to, will gain their courage through these classes.

With the younger generations, they can be both an opportunity and a threat for Harley-Davidson. As young adults enter the world, more and more of them have higher debts (due to college costs), than the generations did before them. Harley-Davidson has launched an internship, for 8 college students, for the summer. They will all receive the three to four-day riding courses and a free motorcycle to take across the country. Their assignment is to take photos and post as much as they can on social media in hopes to spark interest in the younger generation.

Harley-Davidson Financial can work with lower interest rates so, more people will be interested in financing with them, instead of the

competition.
Since President Trump announced the new tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from out of the country, Harley-Davidson has been bracing for the worst. Since most of our steel trade is with Canada, by way of $5.1 Billion in 2017. The taxes for Canada will be well over $1 Billion, which they will pass along to their customers. Because of the steel and aluminum tariffs, the European Union is talking about placing tariffs on all imported Harley-Davidson motorcycles, which will make it even harder to sell in Europe. In India, Harley-Davidson must assemble the motorcycles in country as to avoid a 100% tariff there.
Environmental laws are a big downside to Harley-Davidson. They are always changing and multiplying and requiring modern technology to help prevent pollution. Environmental laws affect how they build, recycle, and handle waste from the building of motorcycles. Harley-Davidson had to pay out $15 million to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) for fines in 2016.
Harley-Davidson has been hit hard by competitors. Competitors from Europe and Asia, such as BMW, Honda, and Kawasaki, have brought in racing and sport motorcycles, which are lighter weight motorcycles. Polaris, a non-American company, has brought back the Indian motorcycle, which was Harley-Davidson’s biggest competitor in the beginning. Polaris is trying to take way Harley-Davidson’s customers by building their motorcycles here in the United States and saying they are American Made.