This 20 page paper looks at the US Motorcycle manufacturer Harley Davidson. The paper starts by looking t the way that planning and strategy development takes place in the firm. The external and internal, environments are then assessed with the USE of PEST and SWOT analyses. The results are used to assess potential strategies that could be implemented to improve the performance of the firm, along with an outline of an implementation strategy. The bibliography cites 12 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: TS14_TEstrathd.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
WEAKNESSES 17 4.2.3 Opportunities 18 4.2.4 Threats 19 5. POTENTIAL STRATEGIES 19 6. HONDA 21 7. RESOURCES 22 REFERENCES 26 1. Introduction Harley Davidson is a very well known brand, the motorcycles are more than transport; they have
become an iconic product, associated with the US. The firm has faced a number of difficulties over the years, and although it may be seen as successful there has been
an ongoing problem with the firm, the number of bikes sold over the last decade has increased significantly, but they have been unable to make any headway in increasing their
market share, competing against firms such as Honda and BMW who also manufacture and sell heavy motorcycles in many of the same market. In order to determine a strategy
that may help the firm achieve increased market share it is important that the firm itself is understood along with the environment in which it is operating, this means looking
at the general planning process and how strategy is formulated and then considering the firm itself and looking at the way they compete. 2. Strategic Objectives Harley Davidson
has a number of strategic objectives. The firm has a very product regimented view this is seen with the vision statement which says "We inspire and fulfill dreams around the
world through Harley-Davidson motorcycling experiences" (Harley Davidson, 2009). This is supported by the vision statements which states "Harley-Davidson, Inc. is a global leader in fulfilling dreams and providing extraordinary customer
experiences through mutually beneficial relationships with our stakeholders" (Harley Davidson, 2009). The focus of planning and development for these general goals to be attained has been based on developing and
supplying the characteristic bikes with a high level of engineering, resulting in a product focus. The planning process has changed over the years, In the early years the