Harley Divadson Strategic

Current Situation A. Current Performance In 2007, GDP ended at 3.1% in America and 2.1% in Eurozone; and is expected to d rop further during 2008. According to Jim Ziemer, Chief Executive Officer of Ha rley-Davidson, Inc., these are challenging times in the U.S., our international d ealer network delivered double digit retail sales growth in the fourth quarter a nd for the full year of 2007. Our customers around the world have a lot to look forward to this year with the new motorcycles we are bringing to market, the op ening of the Harley-Davidson Museum, and hundreds of rides and events leading up to our 105th Anniversary Celebration in Milwaukee this summer. (PR NewsWire, 20 08). With these additions to Harley-Davidson s current situation, Jim Ziemer is p lanning to increase sales to make up for lost revenue last year. Harley-Davidson s sales decreased from $5.8 billion in 2006 to $5.73 billion in 20 07. When measured in sales units, Harley-Davidson s sales decreased by 34,981 in 2007, bringing overall sales to 337,774 units. In the first quarter of 2008, H arley-Davidson is expecting to ship between 68,000 to 72,000 motorcycles, approx imately four thousands units less than the first quarter in 2007. On the other hand, according to the 2007 annual report obtained at Harley-Davidson s web site, the company has 48% of the North America market share compare to its competitors : Honda 14.3%, Suzuki 14.7%, Yamaha 9.2%, Kawasaki 7.5%, 8.3% for the other moto rcycles companies which make up the rest of the market share. The significant a mount of market shares Harley-Davidson owns in the North American market helped the company generate the highest net revenues of $4,208 million in 2007. Beginning 2000, the company has successfully maintained a ROI above 20 every yea r. In 2007, Harley-Davidson s return on investment (ROI) resulted in 31.85 percen t; which has slightly decreased in the first quarter of 2008 which resulted in 2 4.29 percent. Although these figures are quite well when compared to the indust rial average of 17.31 percent, there is always room for improvement when one con siders the progress of Harley-Davidson throughout history. B. Strategic Posture 1. Mission & Objectives Harley-Davidson s mission statement is to fulfill dreams through the experience of motorcycling, by providing to motorcyclists and to the general public an expandi ng line of motorcycles and branded products and services in selected market segm ents. (Harley-Davidson web site, 2008) Their objective is to have happy and sati sfied stakeholders, which includes their customers, employees, suppliers, invest ors, government, and the society. Then in return, these stakeholders will conti nue purchasing their products throughout their life time due to their unforgetta ble experience they have doing business with Harley-Davidson. Harley-Davidson b elieves the backbone in their business is their strong brand name and their loya lty with customers. 2. Strategies The first