Internal Analysis and SWOT - Coursework Example

? Harley Davidson’s Strengths and Weaknesses and Their Effects to the Company Harley Davidson is the top manufacturer of high profiled motorcycle around the globe. Harley Davidson is a parent of the conglomerate of major manufacturing firms which include the Harley-Davidson company for motor vehicle as well as Harley–Davidson services on finance firm. Harley Davidson designs, manufactures, and sells heavyweight motorcycles. The company markets its products in North America, Europe, Asia pacific and Latin America. This company offers 30 models geared towards custom and touring Harleys across a global network which has more than 1600 dealers spread across 6 continents, (Taylor, 2012). The firm Harley Davidson gives retail as well as wholesale programs on financing insurance to its customers and dealers. This paper sets out to explore both the strengths and the weaknesses of the company, Harley Davidson. One of the strengths that Harley Davidson‘s has is the fact that it has one of the strongest brand images which attracts and retains loyal customer base. In this respect, the company is ranked top globally. The company established a strong brand image with its motorcycles known for traditional styling, design, simplicity, durability and quality. It has achieved industry recognition for its high quality, best design robust performance unflinching customer continence, loyalty and trust of its products and services. Its brand has contributed to its success significantly by building strong market recognition and loyal customer base. A brand name is in most cases what the clients look out for. It is possible that a company or an organization produces one of the best products in the market but the fact that it has a lowly regarded brand name makes it have very poor sales and returns. In the event that an organization has its brand name being in the top flight on the minds of the clients, the organization is very much capable of running away with mistakes. Clients tend to overlook some of the mistakes that are made by organizations which have strong brand names in the market as oppose to their counterparts who have lowly regarded brand names. In this regard, the fact that Harley Davidson has a highly reputed brand name is a very major strength that company boasts with. Another strength that Davidson has is a broad product portfolio. It offers a wide range of products and services through its two business segments. Motorcycles and financial services segment besides a line of motorcycle parts, accessories, general merchandise, Harley Davidson designs, manufactures, sells heavyweight touring, custom and performance motorcycles, (UMC Staff, 2013). Harley Davidson offers a package of wholesale and retail financial service for its products thus producing a competitive edge in the market. In the event that an organization simply concentrates on the production of simply one product, it is inclined towards getting obsolete. Unless it has a monopoly in the market, single product production is often quite monotonous. Clients get so used to the product and within a short time they feel bored with it. Like they say, a change is as good as a rest. In case another company comes into play that offers the same product to the market, the firm with a solitude product is likely to face a huge client base shift that shall through it out of the market. Offering numerous products is also good for an organization as in the event that one of the products is doing bad in the market due to seasonality complexities, the other products are able to cushion it financially and hence the organization as a whole shall be able to thrive and stand the test of time. This affirms the fact Harley Davidson has a great strength in producing a high variety of products in the market. Yet another strength that Harley Davidson has is the fact that it has research that is focused as well as development activities which facilitates innovation and attracts industry retention. Its product development center undertakes the development of new and better quality products. Harley and Davidson spent $145M, $136.2M, $143.1M and $163.5M in fiscal years 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008 respectively on research and development activities. Continuous research and development activity enable the company to maintain a leading position in custom and touring motorcycle market and development products from performance segment. With effective research, a firm is able to develop quite considerably. This is because it is able to innovate something completely new in the market that shall make it stand out from the rest of the corporations in the same industry. This is in fact the whole point behind any business venture. Coming up with a product that is unique and that shall stand out. In this case, the organization in question shall have a very easy time convincing clients to make purchases from them. It shall in this case spend less on product promotion and have the number of its sales increased quite tremendously. This implies that the fact that Harley Davidson has a well-established research scheme is a very elaborate strength that the company has. Harvey Davidson has its weaknesses too like any other company. Product recall affects the company’s current revenue but could also affect its long term performance by reducing customer confidence. In February 2012 Harley Davidson launched a repair service campaign to fix faulty brakes in about 1228 units of 12 models, in October 2011 the company recalled over 308,000 units of Touring, CVO Touring and Trike motorbikes, (Harley Davidson, 2012). Clients need to have confidence in the products that they purchase. In the event that some of the products that they purchase get to be recalled, they get the feeling that the company as a whole simply produces substandard goods. This might trigger them to look out for the other opportunities that are out in the market and in the process they shall all run away from the company. No organization wants to have its clients running away in preference to the other organizations. This makes the fact that product recalls affect the attitude of clients to be a very dangerous element in the operation of Harley Davidson. It is quite a striking weakness which the firm needs to address with urgency. True to the doctrines of hard work and dedication in the firm, the weakness is being addressed effectively and shall soon be a matter of the past that sank into oblivion. Dependency on the domestic market is another one of Harvey Davidson‘s weakness. The company focuses predominantly on the US and generates a major part of its revenue from that market which could increase business risk. For instant in 2011 its financial services reported revenue of $649.44M comprising 95.3% from the US, O.7% from Europe and 4% from Canada such geographical concentration makes it vulnerable to the risks of economic downturn in any single market, (GlobalData, 2012). The world is increasingly becoming a global village with the increased development in information technology. Evert organization is striving to have a global market share. This is the epitome of success as it shall see to it that the firm exploits all the opportunities that it has at its disposal. It is quite detrimental if an organization has the capability of exploiting a bigger market and simply concentrates on developing its throngs around just a small market. There is the possibility of the small market getting an alternative product and in that case all the clients will run away from the organization in a sudden wholesome format. This shall effectively through the organization out of business. It is therefore a huge weakness that Harley Davidson only concentrates on the US as its hub of operation and this should as well be addressed with urgency. The firm needs to establish marketing strategies that shall explore the global market. Harvey Davidson’s strong brand image coupled with its wide range of products helps it to be a front runner in the industry. However, dependence on domestic markets and product issues are a few areas of concern to the company. But expansion in the global markets especially Asian markets and launch of new models could ensure a strong future for the company. A press release by Milwaukee (2012) the president and chief executive officer at Harley Davidson observes that continued focus on business strategy through exceptional product development, manufacturing and retail capabilities is a roadmap to success of the company. References Taylor, A., (2012).  The Hurdles at Harley-Davidson.  CNN Money – Fortune.  Retrieved from: http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/03/autos/harley-davidson-polaris.fortune/index.html GlobalData, (2012). Harley-Davidson, Inc. – Financial and Strategic Analysis Review.  Retrieved from:http://callisto.ggsrv.com/imgsrv/Fetch?banner=4d609cd7&digest=27b6b6d33026b58ef227e0025dda7d42&contentSet=SWOT&recordID=47405_GDAUT29887FSA UMC Staff, (2013)  Harley-Davidson | 2012 Worldwide Sales Up 6.2%.  Ultimate Motorcycling.  Retrieved from:http://ultimatemotorcycling.com/harley-davidson-2012-worldwide-sales-up-6-2/   Harley Davidson, (2012).  Harley Davidson shows continued improvement.  Retrieved from:  http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Content/Pages/HD_News/Company/news.html?article=en_US/News/1483_press_release.hdnews  Marketingteacher.com (2011). SWOT Analysis. Retrieved, from http://marketingteacher.com/lesson-store/lesson-swot.html Be.wvu.edu (n.d.). External analysis. Retrieved, from www.be.wvu.edu/divmim/mgmt/insch/External.ppt Looney, D. C., & Ryerson, A. (2011). Lehman Trikes: A story within a story. Journal Of The International Academy For Case Studies, 17(7), 45-58. 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