Harley Davidson Case Study

To support your work, use your course and text readings (Hitt, M.,Ireland, R., and Hoskisson, R. (2011). Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization. [Vital Source digital version]. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.) and also use outside sources. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.  Must be plagiarism free.

Case Study: Harley Davidson (HD)

Read the case study located on page 176 of the section titled Case Studies in your textbook (listed above) and prepare a 7- to 10-page report in a Microsoft Word document, based on the following situation:

You have been asked to consult with Harley Davidson (HD) on three major strategic issues. In preparation of making recommendations for those issues. 

You should write a report  that addresses the following key strategic issues:

• Discuss the interaction among the economic, political, sociocultural, and technological sectors of the business environment to identify opportunities and threats.

• Summarize HD's current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).

• Appraise the effects of  HD’s size, speed of strategic decision making and implemetation, innovation, and quality on their ability to take competitive action.

• What has HD’s corporate-level strategy been historically? Be sure to justify your answer with examples.
• Explain how this strategy will stand up against the competition and conditions in the industry.

• Would following an acquisition or merger strategy be a good idea?  Why or why not?  If you were to recommend pursuing an acquisition, what problems would you advise HD to watch out for?

• • Discuss the uncertainties and risks of doing business in different regions throughout the world.

• Would HD be wise to pursue a cooperative strategy?  If so, which type of cooperative strategy would be best, why would it be best, and with whom should HD pursue this strategy?  If a cooperative strategy is not a good idea for HD explain why not.

Based upon your analysis, provide Harley Davidson with your recommendations related to their three major issues:

• Harley Davidson products are viewed as leisure items rather than necessities.  How should HD push sales in a down economy?  Should (or can) HD market their products as something other than leisure items?
• HD’s target market is difficult to manage.  In recent years HD has attempted to broaden its age 29-55 male market by including younger riders and women.  Is this the correct target market for HD?  If so, should marketing be segmented?  How?  Would marketing to different segments water down HD’s image?
• HD’s product demand is difficult to manage.  Recently overseas competition has refocused their product lines from the low end of the market to the more median price range.  As they did this, they also broadened their product lines.  How should HD manage their products?  Should HD have a product line to meet the needs of the entire market or should they focus on one area of the market?  If they follow a market focus strategy, what should their new target market be?

Support your responses with examples.

Cite any sources in APA format.

Use the following APA Level Headings and Helpful Hints 

Be sure to provide your introduction and conclusion...  below are the headings which reflect the grading rubric in the assignment

General Business Environment 

· Discuss the interaction among the economic, political, sociocultural, and technological sectors of the business environment to identify opportunities and threats. 

SWOT Analysis 

· Summarize HD's current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). 

Ability to Take Competitive Action 

· Appraise the effects of HD’s size, speed of strategic decision making and implemetation, innovation, and quality on their ability to take competitive action. 

Corporate-Level Strategy 

· What has HD’s corporate-level strategy been historically? Be sure to justify your answer with examples. 

Strength of Corporate-Level Strategy 

· Explain how this strategy will stand up against the competition and conditions in the industry. 

Acquisition or Merger Strategy 

· Would following an acquisition or merger strategy be a good idea? Why or why not? If you were to recommend pursuing an acquisition, what problems would you advise HD to watch out for? 

Uncertainties and Risks of Internationalization 

· Discuss the uncertainties and risks of doing business in different regions throughout the world. 

Pursuing a Cooperative Strategy 

· Would HD be wise to pursue a cooperative strategy? If so, which type of cooperative strategy would be best, why would it be best, and with whom should HD pursue this strategy? If a cooperative strategy is not a good idea for HD explain why not. 

Recommendations for Harley Davidson (copying questions in this section is acceptable/recommended) 

(Be sure your recommendations reflect the amount of points awarded in this paper - 30% - My suggestion is not to spend all your energy on the first 70% and then run out of steam at the end - Pace yourself as the recommendations since they are heavily weighted need to be more than a short paragraph)

1. Harley Davidson products are viewed as leisure items rather than necessities. How should HD push sales in a down economy? Should (or can) HD market their products as something other than leisure items? 

2. HD’s target market is difficult to manage. In recent years HD has attempted to broaden its age 29-55 male market by including younger riders and women. Is this the correct target market for HD? If so, should marketing be segmented? How? Would marketing to different segments water down HD’s image? 

3. HD’s product demand is difficult to manage. Recently overseas competition has refocused their product lines from the low end of the market to the more median price range. As they did this, they also broadened their product lines. How should HD manage their products? Should HD have a product line to meet the needs of the entire market or should they focus on one area of the market? If they follow a market focus strategy, what should their new target market be? 

Some additional helpful suggestions...

If it were me approaching this assignment, I might start with a generic description of the concepts involved and then apply it to the case. For example, to address the first section of the paper I might describe what the business general environment is. I might even explain why it is important a company understand and monitor its general environment. (ALL of this is in your text…go to the search space and type in general environment!) Of course you will paraphrase what you find and not quote and you will want to provide an intext citation since it is information from another source. 

You can take the same approach with each section of this paper. It will add depth to your analysis, provide academic strength (and help with meeting the page length requirement). No fluff to fill in spaces, just good relevant academic background to the concepts. 

Hope this helps…. 

Submission Details

The Rubric for this assignment is attached

Assignment 2 Grading CriteriaMaximum PointsDiscussed the interaction among the economic, political, sociocultural, and technological sectors of the business environment.10Summarized Harley Davidson’s current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.10Characterized important industry and resource factors and trends. Assessed the internal environment of HD to determine core competencies based on resources and capabilities.10Appraised the effects of HD’s size, speed of strategic decision making and implementation, innovation, and quality on their ability to take competitive action.10Summarized what HD’s corporate-level strategy has been historically and justified answer with examples.10Explained how this strategy will stand up against the competition and conditions in the industry.10Examined whether following an acquisition or merger strategy would be a good idea and identified potential problems to watch for if an acquisition strategy was pursued.10Discussed the uncertainties and risks of doing business in different regions throughout the world.10Discussed whether HD would be wise to pursue a cooperative strategy. Also identified the type of cooperative strategy that would be best, explained why would it be best, and suggested with whom HD should pursue this strategy? If a cooperative strategy was not a good idea for HD, explained why not.10Provided a well-reasoned, well-justified recommendation for HD’s first issue:

Harley Davidson products are viewed as leisure items rather than necessities. How should HD push sales in a down economy? Should (or can) HD market their products as something other than leisure items?

10Provided a well-reasoned, well-justified recommendation for HD’s second issue:

HD’s target market is difficult to manage. In recent years HD has attempted to broaden its age 29-55 male market by including younger riders and women. Is this the correct target market for HD? If so, should marketing be segmented? How? Would marketing to different segments water down HD’s image?

20Provided a well-reasoned, well-justified recommendation for HD’s third issue:

HD’s product demand is difficult to manage. Recently overseas competition has refocused their product lines from the low end of the market to the more median price range. As they did this, they also broadened their product lines. How should HD manage their products? Should HD have a product line to meet the needs of the entire market or should they focus on one area of the market? If they follow a market focus strategy, what should their new target market be?

10APA components15Written Components.15Total:160