The Strength of Harley Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Strength of Harley Company - Essay Example SWOT Analysis; is another framework that can be used in external analysis and it looks at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the market. These factors are used for determining the growth or decline of the market, the position of the business, direction, and potential for operations. The strength of Harley Company included customer loyalty and good reputation that they enjoyed in the local market, the dominance of super heavyweight motorcycle segment, state of art technological equipment for production, excellent workforce due to good treatment of employees and good strategies and organizational leadership. And the main threat was competition which was very stiff in the motorcycle market as well as an entrant of cheap products into the market. This analysis shows that Harley was in a greater position of making use of its opportunities and strengths to create strategies that would help it improve sales and gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. The creation of Harley Owners Group further saw an improved and close relationship between the company and the consumers because they were involved in social and charity events in the community. This delivered an atmosphere and the kind of emotions where the consumers felt an experience like they had never felt before linking with the Harley-Davidson Company. This help the company improved its sales and gain customer loyalty as well as competitive advantage in the market. Traditionally the majority of Harley consumers were blue-collar men aged the 20s and 30s but the demographic profile shifted and in 2002 the age group rose up from 30s to 40s. The company also recorded a 9% increase in female consumers down from 2 percent in 1987. The introduction of baby boomers into the market also improved their sales and as the prices rose up, the middle-aged professionals became the demographic targets and as they were the most attractive for the company.