SWOT Analysis of Harley Davidson Company - Assignment Example

            In terms of the market segment that they are targeting according to the company website (2010), it is the case that the company focuses on motorcycle riders in the super-heavy category. Owing to the relatively high cost of the bikes it would be the case that a focus would be on individual riders interested in leisure riding as well as larger accounts in the case of highway patrol officers.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths

• The company has exceptional customer loyalty to the point that they tattoo themselves with the brand name.
• The company has several successful ancillary products (Apparel, custom components, etc) which provide an excellent revenue stream (Harley-Davidson.com, 2010).

Weaknesses

• Under Harley Davidson’s business mode which incorporates mass production, quality control becomes difficult (Peterson, 2009)
• The association with outlaw biker groups negatively hurts the brand, especially among first-time buyers.

Opportunities

• Large growth potential in emerging markets.
• The nature of motorcycles may be their best selling point. During tough economic times, a motorcycle comes across as a more economical mode of transportation and during more affluent economic times people may want to purchase bikes for touring purposes.

Threats

• Many competitors with the resources to compete with the company in the same segment. (Wilson, 1995)
• In the Asian market, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha, Daelim, and Hyosung all make Motorcycles in the super heavy class.
• In Europe BMW, Triumph, KTM, JAWA, and VOXAN amongst others compete in the same or similar classes.