Schwinn Bicycles

Drew Honaker

Professor Turrentine

MBA 553

24 June 2015

Schwinn Bicycles

1.        Schwinn’s major strength is brand recognition.  Although “many under-30 cyclists see Schwinns as the bikes their parents rode,” (507) many people are aware of and have heard of Schwinn.  One of Schwinn’s hottest sellers is the Sunbelt.  This bike is popular among retirees as well as college students which is obviously a wide range of cyclists.  Another advantage Schwinn has is their variety of bikes they sell.  They sell mountain bikes, kid’s bikes, and everything in between.  However, Schwinn also has some disadvantages they need to overcome while they attempt to regain market share they once had.  While brand recognition is a strength, it can also be seen as a weakness since many people identify Schwinn as more of an older, outdated brand of bike.  Schwinn is also having to play catch up in the mountain bike market.  Since they allowed others to enter the market and establish their brand, they missed out on many sales on a market that has seen tremendous growth in the last twenty years.  Another advantage they have is new management that is not stuck using old strategies.  Trimming the staff and the move to Colorado was a good strategy that management implemented.

2.        One opportunity Schwinn has is to continue to take market share in the variety of bike markets they are in.  It seems many of their competitors are primarily in one market, such as mountain biking, or expensive, high technology bikes.  A potential threat that Schwinn faces is from the other established brands that Schwinns have to be compared to in bike shops.  Schwinns are made primarily in Asia while many of the other brands are produced in the U.S.  Since mountain biking is a U.S. sport, being made in the U.S. gives those companies an advantage.  

3.        As mentioned in the previous question, it is important for mountain bikes to be made in the U.S.  It helps establish credibility to the brand since mountain biking is known as a U.S. sport.  Since it is an American sport, U.S. manufacturers may pay more attention to details and be sure to have higher quality products than some manufacturers in Asia who may only be interested in manufacturing at the lowest cost.  A bike that is manufactured in the U.S. may also give the customer an added sense of comfort knowing they may if  any repairs are needed, parts  could be easier to obtain and more readily available than the bikes that are manufactured in Asia and other foreign markets.