Polaris and Victory: Entering and Growing

the Motorcycle Business

You are a consulting firm and wish to be considered as a strategy consultant for Polaris Industries at the
time the case study was published. Polaris Industries invited several contenders to pitch for this
opportunity and sent out the case study to serve as a brief for the short-listed companies. Now, you
need to prepare a pitch, a slide deck presentation and a report to win this opportunity. You also need to
present to Polaris Industries and possibly to engage in a debate with some of the other short-listed
competing consultants trying to beat you to the job. Your deliverables are divided into 4 parts:

1. Analysis Report
2. Strategic Options Report
3. A slide deck with a Recommended Strategy (based on Analysis and Strategic Options). At this
stage, your team should prepare to PROFESSIONALLY present to Polaris Industries with a pre-
recorded presentation
4. A final report consolidating all your work after amending it to reflect the feedback received and
additional questions which will be posted in Week 14.

Week 11: Analysis

 At the time of publishing the case study, what are three similarities and three differences
between the Victory and Indian motorcycle brands? Describe with five points why Polaris
purchased Indian motorcycle in 2011? The Harley Davidson riders club have over 900,000
members and Honda’s association only has 75,000 members? Why is this and provide three
reasons?

Similarities between victory and Indian motorcycle brands

- Indian motorcycle is an American brand of motorcycles and victory motorcycles was an
American motorcycle manufacturer.
- Both of these companies failed to run after few years the Indian motorcycle went bankrupt
and victory failed to turn a profit three of its last five years.
- Both the Indian motorcycle and victory competitors were the same they were competing
with the same international brands.

Differences between victory and Indian motorcycles brands

- Victory is a brand owned by Polaris it’s a parent company they were designed to compete
with Harley and similar American motorcycle brands.
- Whereas Indian motorcycle is an American brand of motorcycles originally produced in 1901
to 1953
- Indian motorcycles represent the history and has a great brand recognition whereas victory
came into market and announced its bike in 1997.

Polaris acquired Indian motorcycle in 2011 due to these main reasons

 - Polaris had the corporate resources and strategic strengths to contribute to what Indian
needed for success
- Indian motorcycle was the most recognizable American brand next to Harley-Davidson
which is a great advantage for Polaris by acquiring the Indian motorcycle it buying a well
known brand which is trying to succeed but doesn’t have the resources to.
- Indian motorcycle provided the Polaris with the brand recognition in the market which they
need.
- Polaris wanted to bring out full potential of this classic American brand after the troubled
past for the Indian motorcycle.
- The acquisition was a great time for both companies because they both were in need and
both companies can help each other grow together.

The Harley Davidson riders club have over 900,000 members and Honda’s association only has
75,000 members because
- Harley formed a riders club in 1983 Harley owners group (HOG) which made its association
very large
- Honda was the longtime Japanese motorcycle the company was a predominant world
industry player as it was not an American made motorcycle the associates were low
compared to Harley.
- Harley benefited from having one of the worlds most recognized and respected brands.

 Why is the cruiser market expected to grow and when can you predict the decline? What
demographic information is available to understand and why?
 What opportunities and threats faced Polaris Industries when the case was published?
 Starting in the 1980’s, why did motorcycle enthusiasts purchase the Japanese brands? Provide
five reasons.
 Why did the Great Depression and the Financial Crisis impact the motorcycle industry customer
base? How did this happen?

Week 12: Strategic Options

 What are the strategic questions associated with Polaris Industries? Provide three questions for
each Polaris brand.
 With Polaris dealers in 50 US states, provide the strategic options available to Polaris Industries?
Can the confirmed dealers be included in a strategy?
 How would we, Polaris Industries, forecast the market sales expectations and profit potential of
each brand? Can we meet demand for all brand categories? Explain why for either yes or no.

Week 13: Recommended Strategy

 Keep in mind the Polaris Industry core brands, competencies, resources, skills, strengths,
weaknesses, environmental, industry and competitive analysis:
a) Which strategy would you recommend for Polaris Industries? Structure your answer
along different aspects of the strategy and justify your recommendations. Is there
any value of keeping the business strategy the same?
b) What changes are required for Polaris Industries to put this strategy into action?
c) What challenges do you anticipate Polaris Industries will encounter?