Harley Davidson Dyna - Marketing Case Study

Running head: HARLEY-DAVIDSON DYNA CASE STUDY

Harley-Davidson Dyna - Marketing Case Study

Robert Lawson

Saint Leo University

MKT-301-CL02

Michael Poliquin

April 19, 2009

Table of Contents

The Harley-Davidson Company 3

Harley-Davidson Product Offerings 4

Harley-Davidson Sales 5

Harley-Davidson Competitors 6

Harley-Davidson Customer Demographics 7

Harley-Davidson's View on Nature and Conservation 7

The Harley-Davidson Dyna 8

SWOT Analysis 11

Marketing Strategy 14

Global Events 16

Current Events 17

References 19

Harley-Davidson Dyna- Marketing Case Study

The Harley-Davidson Company

Harley-Davidson started as a partnership between a draftsman and a pattern maker in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1903. William Harley and Arthur Davidson intrigued by the newly invented motorcycle began experimenting with ideas to design and build their own motorcycle. They enlisted Arthur's brothers; Walter a skilled mechanic and William a machinist, and together they gave life to the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. That early partnership has evolved into a family of millions of Harley-Davidson, Inc. stakeholders throughout the world. ("Harley-Davidson," 2005)

The Harley-Davidson mission statement is extremely simple and goes directly to the core of what the company is trying to achieve: "We fulfill dreams through the experiences of motorcycling, by providing to motorcyclists and to the general public an expanding line of motorcycles and branded products and services in selected market segments." (Harley-Davidson Motor Company, 2004)

In 1995 a very successful partnership was formed between the publicly held company and its unionized workforce, since then Harley-Davidson had led the United States in heavyweight motorcycle sales. As a sure sign of how well the company is doing, its stock has split five times since 1986. (Callon)

Harley-Davidson Product Offerings

Harley-Davidson branded motorcycle products emphasize traditional styling, design simplicity, durability and quality. Harley-Davidson offers a wide range of products and services to the motorcycling enthusiast. The Harley-Davidson line of motorcycles, are in the class known as heavyweight motorcycles, which include all motorcycles with engines larger than 750cc. There are five basic styles or families of heavyweight motorcycles produced by Harley-Davidson. These are Touring, Dyna, Softail, Sportster, and VRSC. The Harley-Davidson engine ranges in size from 883cc's to 1800cc's. The current model year line includes 35 models within these five styles, with suggested retail prices ranging from the mid $6,000 range to the lower $20,000 range. Harley-Davidson also offers a few limited-edition, factory-custom motorcycles. These are available in limited quantities and offer unique features, paint schemes and accessories. There are currently four custom motorcycle models offered with suggested retail prices ranging from the upper $24,000 range to the mid $33,000 range. (SmartCycleShopper.com, 2009)

Beside the heavyweight line of motorcycles, the company offers a complete line of genuine motorcycle parts and accessories, apparel and other branded merchandise. The Buell motorcycle company, a fully owned subsidiary, produces a line of sport motorcycles for another set of riders altogether than the traditional Harley-Davidson rider. The MV Agusta Group, based in Italy, builds motorcycles for Harley-Davidson which is favored mostly by the European riders. Harley-Davidson Financial Services offers a variety of financial and insurance option to the motorcycle buyer.

Harley-Davidson Sales

Harley-Davidson worldwide sales have increased from 132,300 motorcycles in 1997 to 313,769 in 2008. This is in spite of a falloff in the last couple of years due to a worldwide market slowdown. Harley-Davidson had its best sales year in 2006 when the company shipped 349,200 motorcycles worldwide. This relates worldwide to a revenue increase from $1,763,000,000 in 1997 to $5,594,307,000 in 2008. (Harley-Davidson, 2009)

Even with the falloff over the past two years in Harley-Davidson sales, the market share for Harley-Davidson has stayed fairly constant, even increasing in the foreign motorcycle market, most notably in Europe and Japan. One of the major advantages that Harley-Davidson brings to the marketplace is the fact that they own or brand the complete line of replacement parts as well as offer high quality apparel which to the motorcycle enthusiast is as important to riding as the motorcycle itself.

Harley-Davidson also has stayed on top by expanding its offerings to not only include the heavyweight lines of Motorcycles but also bringing the more sporty Buell line to the table as well.

Harley-Davidson Competitors

The top competitors to Harley-Davidson both worldwide and here in the United States are Honda and Yamaha. Here in the United States Harley-Davidson is the leader in sales holding a market share of over 28%, followed by Honda at 25% and Yamaha at 17%.

Worldwide Harley-Davidson places second to Honda's 29.2% with a market share of 23.3%. Yamaha again places third at 15.2% of the world motorcycle sales.

Since the mid nineties there has been a big push from independent motorcycle companies here in the United States as well as the major companies throughout the world to cut into Harley-Davidson's market share here in the U.S. They are making this attempt by offering more heavyweight motorcycles that are either much cheaper, the ploy being used by the Japanese companies, or much sportier and customized looking, as the small American and European companies are attempting. This ploy is working somewhat here in the U.S. but has kind of backfired in the rest of the world. In 1988 Harley-Davidson was the 6th largest worldwide motorcycle manufacturer, but by 1995 they had attacked