Harley Davidson is an American motorcycle manufacturer that manufactures and sell custom, cruiser and touring motorcycles. The heavy-weight and high powered bikes of this company feature leading edge styling, innovative design, distinctive sound and superior quality with ability to personalize. In addition to motorbikes, the company also provides riding events, accessories, riding apparels, casual apparels and motorcycle service part under its name (Harley Davidson, 2018).
The products of Harley-Davidson are distributed by 1500 dealers located at USA, Canada, Europe, Asia Pacific Region and Latin America Region (Harley-Davidson, 2018). The business strategy of Harley Davidson includes exporting and joint venture. Developing production facilities abroad could help the company lower the cost of production, eliminate shipping cost, increase profit and give widespread recognition but it chose to produce in USA and export overseas for longer time period.
The company’s strategy was to promote American dreams overseas through sales of bikes. The company wanted to protect the authenticity of its products with "Made in the U.S.A” label that was not possible by producing overseas (TDI Media, 2010). Similarly, adjusting the operations as per the prevailing laws in foreign country would also have been a big challenge for the company. The overseas production also meant loss of local jobs and shift of capital investments abroad which the company did not want. If we look at the data, more than 50% of the total bikes sold are in America (Statista, 2017). Since America is the largest market, it would be beneficial for the company to limit it production facilities in the country with higher sales.
Relating to the current scenario, the trade war between United States and European Union has created difficult situation for the company. The US government imposed additional tariff on import of steel and aluminum from EU while TU hiked tariffs on products made in America. This has put the company in difficult situation as the tariff has increased from 6% to 31%. To deal with this, the company has decided to start a new production plant in Thailand despite its American reputation. Prior to this, the company established production and assembling plant in India, Brazil and Australia (The New York Times, 2017).
Statista. (2017). Harley-Davidson’s Worldwide Motorcycle Retail Sales in FY 2016 and FY 2017, by Country or Region (in units). Retrieved from The Statistics Portal: statista.com/statistics/252220/wor... 1
TDI Media. (2010, March 1). An Analysis of Harley Davidson’s International Business Strategy. Retrieved from tdimedia.blogspot.com/2010/03/anal... 1
The New York Times. (2017, May 23). Even Harley-Davidson Can’t Resist the Tug of Overseas Factories. Retrieved from nytimes.com/2017/05/23/business/ha...
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Harley Davidson is an American motorcycle manufacturer that manufactures and sell custom, cruiser and touring motorcycles. The heavy-weight and high powered bikes of this company feature leading edge styling, innovative design, distinctive sound and superior quality with ability to personalize. In addition to motorbikes, the company also provides riding events, accessories, riding apparels, casual apparels and motorcycle service part under its name (Harley Davidson, 2018).
The products of Harley-Davidson are distributed by 1500 dealers located at USA, Canada, Europe, Asia Pacific Region and Latin America Region (Harley-Davidson, 2018). The business strategy of Harley Davidson includes exporting and joint venture. Developing production facilities abroad could help the company lower the cost of production, eliminate shipping cost, increase profit and give widespread recognition but it chose to produce in USA and export overseas for longer time period.
The company’s strategy was to promote American dreams overseas through sales of bikes. The company wanted to protect the authenticity of its products with "Made in the U.S.A” label that was not possible by producing overseas (TDI Media, 2010). Similarly, adjusting the operations as per the prevailing laws in foreign country would also have been a big challenge for the company. The overseas production also meant loss of local jobs and shift of capital investments abroad which the company did not want. If we look at the data, more than 50% of the total bikes sold are in America (Statista, 2017). Since America is the largest market, it would be beneficial for the company to limit it production facilities in the country with higher sales.
Relating to the current scenario, the trade war between United States and European Union has created difficult situation for the company. The US government imposed additional tariff on import of steel and aluminum from EU while TU hiked tariffs on products made in America. This has put the company in difficult situation as the tariff has increased from 6% to 31%. To deal with this, the company has decided to start a new production plant in Thailand despite its American reputation. Prior to this, the company established production and assembling plant in India, Brazil and Australia (The New York Times, 2017).
References
Harley Davidson. (2018). Business . Retrieved from About Us: harley-davidson.com/us/en/about-us... 2
Harley-Davidson. (2018). Our Company . Retrieved from Dealer Network: investor.harley-davidson.com/our-c...
Statista. (2017). Harley-Davidson’s Worldwide Motorcycle Retail Sales in FY 2016 and FY 2017, by Country or Region (in units). Retrieved from The Statistics Portal: statista.com/statistics/252220/wor... 1
TDI Media. (2010, March 1). An Analysis of Harley Davidson’s International Business Strategy. Retrieved from tdimedia.blogspot.com/2010/03/anal... 1
The New York Times. (2017, May 23). Even Harley-Davidson Can’t Resist the Tug of Overseas Factories. Retrieved from nytimes.com/2017/05/23/business/ha...