This 13 page paper looks at the well know motorcycle manufacture and American icon; Harley Davidson. The paper starts by looking at the history of the company and then performs a SWOT analysis looking at the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by the company. The bibliography cites 7 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: TS14_TESWOTharley.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
1. Introduction There are few commercial products that have as strong an American image as the Harley Davidson
Motorcycle. The bikes, with the spread eagle logo and the black and orange branding has survived a very chequered history. The current success of the company which has a turnover
of $5,673.8 million. There have been times when the company looked as if it would not survive, but to appreciate the turnaround and success as well as the potential future
of the company it is important to look at the history ands background and then examine the company with an analysis model. In this paper we will use a SWOT
analysis to look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. 2. Background Founded in 1903 the company dates its origins to the early days of motorcycles. Founded by William S
Harley and Arthur Davidson the first bike was based on a design by Harley that he had completed in 1901, was made available in 1903. This was a racing bike,
built in a wooden 10 foot by 15 foot shed, identified as a Harley Davidson company with the name simply scrawled on the door (Harley Davidson, 2007). These humble beginning
with the bike that had a 3-1/8 inch bore and a 3-1/2 inch stroke had performance as a key to their success and as such from the early days were
following a strategy of differentiation (Harley Davidson, 2007). In 1903 Walter Davidson, Arthurs brother also joins the company (Harley Davidson, 2007). In 1904 the first dealership opens, this is
C H Lang in Chicago, selling one of the first three Harley Davidson production bikes ever to be sold. In 1905 there is a boost to the brand when a