Motorcycle Market: The Case of Harley Davidson

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Key information presented in the case
Harley Davidson is known as one of the main motorcycle manufacturers and sellers in the United States. The company had good business and great market share in the early 1960s when it commanded a total of about 70% 0f the motorcycle market, before the invasion or the intrusion of a small Japanese firm that manufactured lighter motorcycles, known as the Honda. The case study as identifies that Harley Davidson assumed the invasion by the Japanese firm and instead of tackling the competition, it waited for a long time which resulted in the company losing its command in the motorcycle market in the United States. Lack of action by the management of Harley Davidson resulted in the failure of the company which saw it being sold to AMF, an American company although it was later bought by Beals.
After the buyout by Beals, Harley Davidson improved in terms of its productivity after gaining production lessons from the Japanese firm. Furthermore, the company changed part of its marketing move which helped in the improvement in the overall performance of the company. Most people used the logo of the company’s bikes freely and this resulted in bad image for the company. As part of making up and restoring its image, the company decided to license all its logos and any other items that was relating to the company. This helped the company to obtain new customers a part from its already existing customer base. The demand of the products of the company also increased over time after the licensing of the products and the logo of the company. This meant that the company could not satisfy the demand hence this became a problem of its success. The company had also the potential of expanding in terms of exporting ...

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... of any given company is of great importance and must be maintained since it tells the customers a lot about the company. In solving the problem of image, Harley Davidson could opt for public image building campaigns. This will involve providing the right information to the public as well as the right quality of products. This can be by word of mouth which the customers will play a big role in or other means. The advantage of this is that more people will be aware of the company and have the right information hence eliminate the perception people had about it. The other alternative that the company may use, and applied was the licensing of the logo of the company. This makes people view the company as serious and the use of its long as something that should be respected. This helped build the image of the company and hence improve the performance in the long run.

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