Harley Davidson: Finally, I will explain the nearly collapse of HD and nearly awesome success of Flash proposed by Hartley's "Marketing Error and Success". This case is a good example of marketing myopia; HD is a manufacturer of full size motorcycles, not transportation or even entertainment industry. They think that everyone uses it for leisure rather than buying motorcycles for transportation. As in the automotive industry of the day, Harley Davidson thought that its treatment customers purchased their products more than the main competitors mainly because they were foreigners.
Harley Davidson implemented a strategic change from the JIT approach to the supplier benchmark to achieve overall improvement, growth and overcome difficulties. Harley-Davidson's video case study found that the main driving force for supplier development is pursuing a sustainable competitive advantage by continuous improvement by customers and their suppliers (Southey 2009; Manufacturing Excellence Association nd).
This case study is an analysis of the differentiation strategy Harley - Davidson Inc. adopted to distinguish from competitors. Furthermore, due to changes in demographics and financial turmoil, we will also address the problems and challenges facing Harley-Davidson. I forgot to mention important things, but the case study will give us the idea of what strategies Harley - Davidson Inc. can apply in the future to maintain and enhance our competitive position. According to M. Porter, there are two general business-level strategies that can achieve higher margins than competitors. First, companies can focus on cost reduction and reduce costs to create more economic value than competitors. Second, enterprises can concentrate on product differentiation and create economic value by offering products that customers prefer rather than competing products. In other words, in addition to offering products at a lower price, the company offers a number of unique products valuable to buyers.
This case focuses on the iconic motorcycle brand Harley-Davidson. Harley Davidson is an American motorcycle manufacturing company established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Since Harley - Davidson was founded in 1903, manufacturers have experienced ups and downs. In the economic downturn, it encountered the same fight as other automobile industries. Harley - Davidson came back unexpectedly, in the crisis of bankruptcy around 1980. This revenue is primarily due to Harley Davidson incorporating customer service in its products, product differentiation by quality and design, and consistently high quality focus. Today, the annual worldwide sales of the company exceeds $ 4 billion worldwide, and seven product lines produce 200,000 motorcycles per year with 35 models. Based on these results, Harley Davidson is safe to say that it dominates the US motorcycle market, it is strong in Europe and Japan.