External & Internal Environmental Analysis

External & Internal Environmental Analysis

Riding a motorcycle is one of passion and history; many who ride a motorcycle associate it with being free and call it the modern day horse which is linked back to the days of the cowboy. The world motorcycle market is very competitive. Some of the largest motorcycle manufactures are Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda and Harley Davidson generally have financial and marketing resources that are substantially greater than the smaller manufactures. There are several factors that make this industry so competitive; price, quality, reliability, styling, product features, customer preference, and warranties.

Harley Davidson started off with the motorcycle and related motorcycle products business and has moved into the clothing, accessories and food products business. At first Harley Davidson was firmly based in the designing, manufacturing, and selling touring and custom motorcycles and offering a broad range of related products that included motorcycle parts and then accessories and riding apparel. The custom products have its focus primarily in the US.

External Environmental Factors

When creating an effective strategy for the Harley-Davidson Company (HD), the external environment was discussed to identifying the numerous opportunities for the company and what threats may have been for the company in the near future. Also at this time, the internal environment was also considered for what threats may lay within the company itself. Harley Davidson was created 1903. AMF Inc acquired Harley Davidson which favored profits instead of investing in research, development, and retooling. Harley Davidson’s primary focus was on sales, while competitors were improving on motorcycle quality. The result was loss of sales, and decreased stock prices. In 1993 Harley Davidson Inc. bought out Buell Motorcycle Company. This gave Harley Davidson a window into the sport and performance motorcycles market (Gardiner, 2012). Every country has different environmental control requirements and this has had an effect on overseas sales. To ensure that HD remains successful, it must maintain a high quality of standards and stay within the requirements of the host country, with this in mind HD has had an increase in costs (Gardiner, 2012). Nowhere was this more apparent as to when HD moved into the China market. HD had discussions, which lasted for several years, with the Chinese government and with a little persuasion from American diplomacy before it was allowed to open the first dealership in that country (Clutch & Crome, 2008).

The economy is having a huge impact on inventory dealerships. Twenty-eight percent of the dealers have noted that is difficult for customers to obtain motorcycle financing. Many dealers have mentioned over time that HD should offer more sales incentives, and that interest rates should