On Harley-Davidson Diversification

The following sample essay on Harley-Davidson, Inc. is a company over 105 years old that designs, manufactures, and markets heavy weight motorcycles, motorcycle parts, and accessories, as well as collectibles and riding apparel. The world wide area of Harley-Davidson incorporate is a large area with a worldwide network of more than 2,000 dealers. The company has a low to moderate level of diversification where seventy-five to ninety percent of the revenue comes from a single business. The company has firm control over the market, and has many competitors in the United States as well as other parts of the world.

The competitive strategy used by Harley-Davidson is a highly differentiated range of products combined with a build-to order manufacturing capability. Harley-Davidson also attributes their success to their loyal company base, and a long-term strategy of building the perfect workforce in their company. By obtaining a diversified work force, Harley-Davidson will bring fresh ideas and perspectives to the table in hopes of uncovering techniques to charm and interest future clientele.

Harley-Davidson’s strategy is trying to recruit diverse group of people into ts workforce. One way Harley is accomplishing this goal is by increasing the diversity of its job applicant pool, requiring the company to recruit from business schools in predominately black colleges and universities. A competitive strategy used by Harley-Davidson is a highly differentiated range of products combined with a build-to order manufacturing capability. This capability enables them to survive intense Japanese competition and define a new product concept in a highly mature market.

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To attract new customers, Harley created the Rider’s Edge Program in 2000, offering training for inexperienced riders though more than 160 dealers in 42 states. International Operations Harley-Davidson added dealer in thirteen international markets in 2010, these include India, Russia, Mexico, Turkey, Jordan, China and Ecuador (Annual Report, 2010). Never before has the number of full-service Harley-Davidson dealerships outside the United States exceeded the number in the United States until now.

Harley-Davidson also has opened regional headquarters offices in Singapore and Miami, and also joining the longstanding EMEA headquarters in Oxford, England. In Europe, Harley-Davidson claimed the number two spot in the heavyweight market in 2010; this is no small feat in such a highly competitive motorcycling culture. Acquisitions or Mergers Harley-Davidson Inc acquired Castalloy Ltd, a motorcycles manufacturer and wholesaler, from Ion Ltd, on September 30, 2006. Harley-Davidson, Inc. purchased the majority of the assets of Castalloy, its Australian supplier of cast motorcycle wheels and hubs.

The renowned U. S. motorcycle manufacturer has had a long business relationship with the supplier, which has been in voluntary administration since late 2004 as part of the insolvency of Ion Automotive Ltd. Under terms of the arrangement, Harley-Davidson has established an entity called New Castalloy as a wholly-owned manufacturing operation. The transaction secured jobs for over 300 of the Castalloy employees at the North Plympton, Adelaide site. The deal involved a unique combination of support from the ION Administrator, McGrath Nicol, and the South Australian Government.

The South Australian Government acquired the land assets and offered protection to the purchaser against environmental risks. The transaction involved vast breadth of advice on areas of law including commercial terms, employment issues, workers compensation, property, environmental, mergers and acquisitions and superannuation. In July of 2008 Harley-Davidson set out to buy the Italian motorcycle maker MV Agusta Group to increase its presence in Europe (Korzeniewski, 2008). MV Agusta makes a line of premium sport motorcycles under its name brand and a line of lightweight motorcycles under the Cagiva brand.

Harley-Davidson sold the MV Agusta brand to Claudio Castiglioni and his wholly owned holding company, MV Agusta Motor Holding, S. r. l. Alliance or Joint Venture Harley-Davidson anticipating the eventual decline in Baby-Boomer sales has developed a marketing strategy to seek female, black, and Hispanic riders. To reach women, Harley has formed alliances with women magazines like Jane, Allure, and Glamour magazine and Diva’s for a cure for breast cancer. Harley-Davidson Motor Company participated in the third annual Divas for a Cure (DFAC) Annual Cross-Country Breast Cancer Motorcycle Run.

Divas for a Cure is dedicated to promoting early detection, education, screenings and supporting research organizations to continue the quest to one day find a cure and eradicating cancers of all kinds. Harley-Davidson is also heavily advertising during the NCAA Basketball Tournament as well as sponsoring the Roundup, an African American gathering of riders in Sturgis, South Dakota. Then, to capture the attention of Hispanics, Harley is publicizing the name in two Hispanic magazines; Hombre and Fuego.

Finally, Harley-Davidson is joining low-rider shows to show the company interest in the Hispanic market. In conclusion, Harley-Davidson has been a name on the minds of every motorcycle enthuses for year and will be for years to come. The company has a very diverse organizational structure, with the company and employees. The company name, products and merchandise is known and sold world wide by dealership under the corporation and others that the company have formed alliances or joint ventures with. No matter who or what you are doing when you think of motorcycle you think Harley-Davidson.