CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

Motorcycles are one of the important parts of our society which makes livelihood beautiful and easy for
mankind. There are many industries that manufacturer motorcycles across the world and the competition
to top the list of best motorcycles is at a higher rate. But the one company that has been topping the list
from the past 110 years is HARLEY DAVIDSON Motorcycle Company.

Harley-Davidson, Inc., H-D, or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1903

in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive
the Great Depression, along with Indian. There are owner clubs and events worldwide, as well as a
company-sponsored, brand-focused museum. Harley-Davidson is noted for a style of customization that
gave rise to the chopper motorcycle style The company traditionally marketed heavyweight, air-
cooled cruiser motorcycles with engine displacements greater than 700 cc, but it has broadened its
offerings to include more contemporary VRSC (2002) and middle-weight Street (2015) platforms. H-D
also produced a full range of motorcycle parts, accessories, clothing, and general merchandise.

Harley Davidson is cult brand with 6500+ employees and is leading the heavy weight motorcycles
segment worldwide due to its rich design and innovative marketing strategies. It’s Heritage with 120
years of experience & Socio-cultural environment is shaping the company’s offering across the different
regions. A little known fact about Harley Davidson is that it is primarily in two segments with company
name as Harley Davidson Motor Company (HDMC) & Harley Davidson Financial services (HDFS).
While HDMC sells its power packed Harley motorcycles all over the world, HDFS provide Retail &
wholesale, and Insurance related services to only United States & Canada.

The company focused on traditional styling, design, simplicity, durability, and quality. Harley Davidson
knows exactly what it is, and how it’s viewed through the public’s eyes, particularly its enthusiasts.

The motorcycle manufacturer has wholly embraced its identity as the vehicular embodiment of
‘freedom’, ‘individualism’, ‘rebellion’, and the ‘American way’. Richard F. Teerlink, Harley's chairman
considers HD motorcycle as not just hardware but it is a lifestyle, an emotional attachment and that's
what they are marketing for. Harley Davidson is the only major motorcycle manufacturer to focus
entirely on motorcycles. The other major players in the industry, Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki, each have
other major product lines including cars, watercraft, and musical equipment.

Harley-Davidson’s Worldwide Mission Is To: Preserve and perpetuate the Harley-Davidson institution
through continuous improvement in the quality of our products and services and achievement of our
financial goals. Provide motorcycles, accessories, and services to motorcyclists in selected niches.
Provide the general public brand identified products/services to enhance Harley-Davidson’s image and
attract new customers. Engage in manufacturing or service ventures that can add value (not only profit) to
the motorcycle business.

The self-awareness of its transcendent had led Harley Davidson to pursue unorthodox marketing tactics
that simultaneously pasteurizes it's outlaw status, while reinforcing it through greater inclusion.

BACKGROUND

Harley-Davidson is the pioneer in motorcycle manufacturing. The company offers a wide variety of
motorcycles ranging from lightweight street motorcycles to heavyweight touring motorcycles. Harley-
Davidson’s marketing strategies are primarily focused on providing a personalized experience to its
customers to allow them to connect with the brand.

The decisions for marketing strategy recommended for Harley combine new communications techniques,
reanalysis of customer needs and wants and more concrete goal setting.

Harley-Davidson is a success story in the motorcycle market. The company remains profitable despite
challenges in the global automotive industry. On the verge of bankruptcy in the early 1980's, Harley-
Davidson found itself facing severe domestic market conditions and heavy foreign competition. In order
to overcome the problems that H-D faced in the early 1980s and help the company regain its market
share, a restructuring plan was implemented. Teerlink developed an innovative system known as Circles
of Management for bringing both workers and dealers together and involving them in taking key
decisions relating to the company. A new marketing philosophy was developed based on the desires of
the customers and H-D made efforts to position motorcycles as a lifestyle product. At the time when H-D
was formed, it offered only grey colored motorcycle to its customers and provided three basic styles.
However, the company realized that in order to survive, it had to offer its customers more choice.H-D
realized that it would not be possible for it to compete with the Japanese manufacturers on the pricing
front. This was because manufacturers like Honda not only manufactured a low-priced high-quality
product. The company's first dealer was CH Lang of Chicago, Illinois (Refer to Exhibit IV for the
number of H-D's full-line dealer outlets in the US). All the dealers were independent individuals with a
business orientation.Over the decades, H-D had adopted several strategies to promote its motorcycle
brand. The products of H-D were sold to retail customers mainly through dealer promotions, customer
events, and advertising through national television, print, radio, direct mailings, and through advertising
on the Internet...

Harley-Davidson’s marketing mix provides insights on how the firm maintains its business resilience.
The marketing mix (4Ps; Product, Place, Promotion, Price) is the set of strategies and tactics used to
execute a marketing plan. In the case of Harley-Davidson’s marketing mix, concerns about promoting
and strengthening the brand are effectively addressed. Even though the company has increased its
advertising efforts, its marketing mix remains practically the same. Harley-Davidson’s marketing mix
(4Ps) indicates how a motorcycle company can focus on personal selling to promote its products, brand,
and business. This factor in the marketing mix supports the company’s efforts for a resilient brand despite
strong and growing competition.

The company’s success is hinged on its ability to address the issues pointed out in this SWOT analysis.
The SWOT analysis indicates the internal strategic factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external
strategic factors (opportunities and threats) most relevant in the business. In Harley-Davidson’s case,
these factors support potential expansion and a stable performance in the global motorcycle market.
However, this SWOT analysis indicates changes in expansion strategies to improve the company’s
standing. Harley-Davidson can benefit from more aggressive expansion to negate the effects of
aggressive competition.

Through the marketing strategies, Harley-Davidson competes well in the domestic and global motorcycle
markets.

CHAPTER-2

RESEACH DESIGN

This chapter covers an overview of the design and methodology used to conduct the study. This study has
information on how the research was conducted and its logical sequence.
The study is designed as a qualitative study. The main focus here is to conduct an interview in a semi
structured format to receive adequate information about the research that is being conducted. Interview is
the primary method that is used and the secondary source of data collection is from the online portal. This
study aims at understanding the different marketing strategies used by the motorcycle company Harley
Davidson. Harley Davidson is one of most popular and reputed motorcycle company across the globe.
The study conducted here gives detailed information about how Harley Davidson works and competes in
the market. It analyses the various strategies that are used in order to have a smooth flow with in market.

The study will be carried out in the Harley Davidson showroom that is located in Bengaluru. As
mentioned above the study is conducted in the form of an interview with semi structured format, a set of
questions will be prepared by the interviewer on how the company has been functioning over the years,
its aims and goals, how it has been profited, what were its strengths and weaknesses and some more
additional question related to the study. Both qualitative and quantitative data is being used in the study,
qualitative data will be collected through interview and quantitative data will be collected through some
online portals of which the references will be mentioned. The period of time of when the study is
conducted is during the weekends on specified dates according to the time schedule provided by the
company.

The data collected will be mentioned the form of descriptive explanations and some statistical evidences
will be provided with regard to its position in the market over the years.