The third day in the United States

 Monday:

Monday morning we went to Madison College where we  started and spend the most of the day. The day started off with some general information about the day and our program.  After the information, we got an hour to prepare ourselves to present about Denmark to students from Madison College who were interested in Denmark. After the preparation, the presentations started, and we all did pretty well. The madison students were very interested in our country, some were interested in politics and some were interested in the youth and Denmark´s drinking culture. There are some cultural differences between the US and Denmark, that we especially noticed.

Pictures of Madison College.

One of the differences between Denmark and the US is that many Americans are afraid of the police and are actually kind of working against them. Where we in Denmark sees the police as our friend and someone we always can ask for help. We have also noticed that the American population is much more open minded and very friendly to people like us, who are from a foreign country. People on the street on the colleges and even in the bus is stopping up and asking where we come from and what we are doing in The United States.

                                                                          Picture of Madison College.

After the presentations, we did Q & A, where a lot of interesting question both from the Danish and the American students came up.The American students came up with some really relevant questions and they were not shy to ask.

At noon we all got hungry and there were served mexican food, which we all liked.

Madison College

After lunch, we had a guided tour at Madison College, where we got a lot of exciting information. It was a huge campus and it was funny to see the different kinds of education possibilities and facilities at the school. For us, from Denmark, it was really exciting to experience an American college because we all had some expectations with us from home. When our “school day” ended we went shopping in East Towne Mall and ate dinner  at Doolittles, which we can recommend to everyone it was a really good restaurant.

The second day in the United States

Sunday

Our day started with breakfast at the hotel, we had a lot of time this morning which was very nice after we did not get enough sleep saturday. We went out for some shopping at the forenoon in local shopping centre, called “East towne Mall”.

At noon we walked to Reindahl Park, where we were going to meet with our mentors. We found it awkward in the beginning,  when we all were sitting in the shelter and we did not know who our mentors were. However the atmosphere got better in the shelter and we found our mentors except from Signe, Tanya and Cecilie.

The park where we meet our mentors. 

Mentor experience:

Emilie’s mentor experience:

My mentor was very friendly, I am in a group of three students and one mentor, we got along quite well, she understands our danish humour and was very excited to learn about our danish traditions, mentality and values.

We had a great time talking to each other, we asked a lot of questions and joked with each other. Afterwards the welcome lunch in the shelter, our mentor (Sarah) asked us if wanted to go somewhere. We decides together to go to the farm, sassy cow, which is located on the countryside, 20 minutes from madison. The farm was very exciting to see, and their ice-cream was even better.

We talked with few of their animals they have on the farm. This experience on the farm made the relationship with Sarah great.

"The sassy cow farm"

"Birgit smiling at a sheep"

Signe, Cecilie and Tanyas’ mentor experience:

Signe, Cecilie and Tanya have the same mentor which is why they are writing our mentor experience together.The mentor we were supposed to have did not show up because of some personal things. So in the beginning we did not have a mentor, but after a short time a very sweet teacher from Madison College and her sweet daughter started a conversation with us. We were with these two lovely persons the rest of the afternoon and we had so much fun. They told us so many things about America and their culture and values, and we told them about Denmark and Europe. As an example they told us about the american tradition “Homecoming” which is a huge thing in the american high school. We are exactly going to see a homecoming football game on Friday. They were so open-minded and friendly and we really couldn’t ask for more. We already know that we will see them again when they are coming on a visit in Denmark with some other people from Madison College which we are looking very much forward to.

"From the left to right Cecilie, Brenna, Signe and Tanya"

Maja's mentor experience:

Afternoon/evening

At the evening we went out to eat and some of us girls ate at a good restaurant called Friday’s, where we got real American food. Afterwards we went on a little shopping in the East Towne Mall. And as perfect end of the day we have some relax time in the pool before we went to bed.

"Real American food"



The first day in the United States

Saturday

We arrived very late in the night in Madison due to a delayed flight, so we were very tired on saturday. After breakfast we went to Madison downtown by bus, where we started out with some general information from one of the american teachers. Afterwards we went to The Farmers Market which is a local market where local farmers sell their commodities like pumpkins, radishes, flowers and cheese. The Farmers Market is a tradition in Madison and one of the biggest farmers market in The United States. We all think it was very nice and it was nice to experience a local tradition. In the afternoon we had a guided tour at the capitol of Wisconsin. The capitol was very beautiful and old and at the same time full of history. The capitol's architecture was especially beautiful. The capitol is a public place and there were many people. While we were there we attended multiple wedding photoshoots.

The capitol building seen inside from nearly the top of the building 

It was quite sad to see so many homeless people downtown

Maja in front of the capitol building

The last thing we did in Madison downtown was to get guided tour again, but this time at the University of Wisconsin. It was a student who showed us around and we saw many of buildings which was a part of the campus. During the tour the guide told us about how life is as a student at the university and in Madison.  

Picture of the Wisconsin school of business

Afterwards we took the bus back to our area, which is in the east part of Madison. We went to the mall to eat dinner and do some shopping. We figured out there was plenty of places to eat, but none of the places in the mall did not sell fast food.

In the evening we went back to our hotel and went to sleep. Best Western East Towne Suites which is our hotel is actually a really good standard, there is delicious breakfast, a gym and a pool area.

Conclusion on analysis of Harley Davidson

SWOT-analysis

 

SWOT
Interne forhold
Strengths	Weaknesses
Known and strong brand across the world Strong company structure Employees from many different countries (diversity) Providing opportunities for professional growth and leadership development Partnerships with diverse businesses, both suppliers and dealers   Focus on product development Customization Offer a lot of events for their customers Great service Offer a lot of extra features Loyal customers	Premium pricing strategy The average customer is getting older every year Limited marketing Many partners, which makes it hard to co-operate closely with all of them Weak product mix - prevents the business from getting into new market segments Limited market reach
Eksterne forhold
Opportunities	Threats
Focus on marketing to young adults by producing cheaper city motorcycles. Expanding to new markets New models of motorcycles Try to shift market position The old retro design is a trend again Products diversification Make close co-operations/alliances with suppliers and complementary business	The average customer is getting older every year Four big competitors with a big financial capital Big competition on the market in general Imitation High focus on the environment

Conclusion on our SWOT-analysis

Harley-Davidson’s strengths are primarily the brand, which is known for the design and good service. They focus a lot on product development and they have many years of experience, which makes them kind of experts in the field. Besides that, they have loyal customers, which is a huge advantage. The most noticeable weakness of Harley-Davidson is their weak product mix. They focus a lot on the “chopper”, which makes the market limited. in addition to that, most of their margin comes from Northern America and they do not try to sell more in developing countries or anywhere else. Harley-Davidson has the opportunity to expand to new markets. That could be done by making new models of motorcycles so that they reach more potential customers. In that way, they can improve their product mix. Besides that, they have the opportunity to make close co-operations with their suppliers, dealers and complementary business, which would improve their supply chain and partnerships.

Many things are threatening Harley-Davidson as a company. In general, there is a big competition on the market. Harley-Davidson has some big competitors that make substituting low-cost products. Furthermore, many of the competitors make the same “chopper” motorcycle as Harley-Davidson. Another thing that is trending right now is the focus on the environment. In some way, that is a threat to Harley-Davidson and could have a negative impact on Harley-Davidson. All things considered, Harley-Davidson has more strengths and opportunities than weaknesses and threats. however, they still have some things to work on if they will improve their company. They need to adapt to changing circumstances if they want to survive and still be a big player when we talk about motorcycles. 

Harley Davidson's value chain

Value chain

The company is a partial order-producing company. They have the most common models in stock. The rest is being produced after customized orders.

We have chosen to conduct an analysis of Harley Davidson’s value chain because the model is good at elucidating what the company does that adds value to both customers, suppliers and employees. The model can elucidate what the company does to stand out from the rest. Furthermore, it can create an overview of the company’s structure and working method.

Support processes

Company infrastructure

Harley Davidson is kind of a family-owned company. It was founded by three brothers, the Davidson brothers, and one more person, Bill Harley. The headquarters is located near the shed where it all started in Milwaukee. The companies’ focus is on the motorcycle markets in developed countries, especially the United States.

They have a structure divided into function-based groups. The main groups in Harley Davidson’s organizational structure are:

• CEO’s office
• Communications
• Human Resources
• Harley Davidson Foundation
• Global Demand
• Financial Services
• General Counsel
• Finance
• Motor company product & operations

Harley Davidson uses centralization in its organizational structure. They have a central command system from where they control everything. The main control base for the global business is the headquarters. This type of structure guarantees direct and immediate control. 

Harley Davidson support national organizations, which are dedicated to promoting diversity in the workplace. For example:

-          Catalyst

-          National Society of Black Engineers

-          Society of Women Engineers

-          National Black MBA

-          National Society of Hispanic

Human Resource Management

Harley Davidson has 6400 employees worldwide.  

Harley Davidson compares themselves to steel. Steel is strong because it is made from a combination of elements like iron, carbon and nickel. They think they are strong because their employees come from many different backgrounds and bring ideas, perspectives and experiences that are unbreakable. The culture in the company is providing opportunities for professional growth and leadership development.

“We demonstrate behaviours throughout our organization that exemplify integrity, accountability, diversity, teamwork and creativity. We also recognize that great companies require great leaders to ensure a sustainable future and strive to build leadership at every level of the company”.

They are trying to train their employees to actively cultivate productive relationships with diverse business - so results can happen. Harley Davidson has a business development program that provides scholarships to minority and female executives seeking to enhance their business management expertise. The Scholarship recipients attend intensive educational programs conducted at some of the nation’s most reputable institutions. The programs combine business theory along with practical application and offer opportunities to learn from entrepreneurs and educators.   

Technology Development

Most of the motorcycles and stuff for them are being made in York, Pennsylvania. Otherwise they produce some stuff outside the US in among other things in India. Harley Davidson owns a product development center in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Functions such as new product, development, testing, styling and developmental purchasing for Harley motorcycles takes place here.

 Primary Business Processes

Inbound logistics

Harley Davidson has a big diversity of suppliers. They are looking for partners who can make innovative solutions.

“Supplier Diversity is a key aspect of Harley-Davidson’s business strategy. By engaging diverse suppliers, we are able to create a more competitive supply base as well as stimulate economic development." - Michelle Kumbier, Senior Vice President, Motorcycle Operations.

Operations

The company has 36 different motorcycle models. Furthermore, you have the opportunity to customize your own bike. You can both customize some parts of your bike or you can make a whole new bike, original and unique, for yourself.

Outbound logistics

Harley Davidson has nearly 1,435 dealerships globally. The majority of these dealerships are located in the US, Europe and Canada.

Marketing and sales

Harley Davidson makes a lot of events for both their existing and potential customers. They are a big sponsor within the motorcycle world. 

Service  

Before you buy a Harley Davidson bike, you are allowed to try it. As a special thing, Harley Davidson offers courses where you can learn to ride. They offer two different courses; One for new riders and one for skilled riders. If you don’t want to buy a Harley-Motor cycle but want to try it or you just haven’t enough money for a bike, you can rent a bike. It could be a once in a lifetime experience. If you want to buy a Harley motorcycle anyway, the company offer loans and the opportunity to pay in instalments. Now, that we are already down that ball game, we have to mention the “speed dating”. Here you get the opportunity to get a demo ride on different motorcycles. It is a good way to try several different Harley-Davidson motorcycles and find the perfect match.

When you have found the perfect match, you want to take extra good care of your new motorcycles. Therefore, Harley Davidson has repair shops specialized in accurate your model of motorcycle. In addition to that, it is possible to get an insurance for your bike. As any other company, Harley Davidson offer customer service so if you got any problems, you can always get into contact with them. As extra features, Harley Davidson offer a ride planner app, road trip tips, an overview of motorcycles law divided in states and other things like a special GSP and radio system.

 Conclusion

Harley-Davidson differs from their competitors at especially service and technology development/operations. They have a great service and offer a wide range of extra features, which adds value to their customers. Besides that, they focus a lot on product development. They are also adding value to their company by having a strong structure in the company and a strong human resource management. They try to add value to their employees by giving them opportunities for professional growth and leadership development to keep them motivated. Furthermore, they focus a lot on having partnerships with diverse business. Harley-Davidson is weakest in marketing and sales. They focus a lot on their already existing customers and not as much on new potential customers.

Harley Davidson's strategies

Strategies

Target subject

We use target subjects to figure out company's targets. What do they want to increase and how are they going to do it?
 All companies have some target subjects and of course, Harley-Davidson has some as well. A target is an expression for a required future condition. Normally target subjects are things as increased turnover and increased sale but also profit is very important. For Harley-Davidson is increased knowledge also important when they need to find a new target group because their target group is getting older. Harley-Davidson has a huge market share on the American market, but a higher market share is also a target for a company. The article below informs us about that their sales are going down, so an increased sale might be their most important target.  

Strategy for growth

When analysing a company’s strategy for growth, we analyse which strategy that will give the company most growth.
 Market penetrationHarley-Davidson has different strategies to make the company grow. The primary strategy is market penetration. They are trying to make the company grow by reaching more customers in their current markets. They try to differentiate from their competitors and reach new customers by doing this. They are starting to offering cheaper financing to some buyers.
 Product developmentThe company has also tried to increase their market share by product development, they have tried by making the vehicle sportier and to focus on the younger generations. They are also announcing new products to make it interesting to invest and buy their vehicles. Harley-Davidson announced new products in august 2015, where they also hoped to spur sales by doing so.
 They have come up with customization of the choppers, so more of the customers can be attracted by customizing their vehicle to get a unique experience with Harley-Davidson. Even though many competitors have come up with the same idea, Harley-Davidson differentiate from their competitors with their brand and by their design of their motorcycles.
 Market developmentHarley-Davidson uses market development to entering new markets. They have previously focused on global expansion, Harley-Davidson had begun its market development plans with international markets such as Europe and China. In their global expansion, they focused on direct distribution. Survival modelWe use the survival model to consider how the future situation of a company may look like. The survival model distinguishes between whether the company is good at differentiating themselves and whether they can produce at competitive costs. Harley-Davidson Inc. is one of the most prominent motorcycle manufactures in the world. The company has achieved this market position through its generic strategy or competitive advantage and its intensive strategies for growth. Harley Davidson has focused on differentiation because their generic competitive strategy pushes for product innovation. Harley Davidson uses its innovation processes to ensure competitiveness against other popular motorcycle manufactures. So they are very innovative and try to differentiate from their competitors by being innovative. Also, Harley-Davidson’s intensive growth strategies indicate product innovation along with increased reach in the global motorcycle market. However, the company could benefit from some adjustments in its intensive growth strategies. Harley-Davidson’s generic strategy for competitive advantage and intensive growth strategies are supportive of resilience in the face of market fluctuations. 

Generic competitive strategy

We use Porter’s generic competitive strategy to analyze how the company can get the biggest competitive advantages compared to the competitors.
 Harley Davidson has a huge target group and a unique product and they apply differentiation as its main generic strategy for competitive advantage. Unique product features are the main point in this generic strategy. For example, Harley-Davidson popularized the chopper motorcycle style through unique customization. They produce unique products as customize motorcycles and that how they differentiate from their competitors. However, the company also uses the focus generic strategy in combination with differentiation. The focus generic strategy supports competitive advantage by increasing Harley-Davidson’s customer base in certain market segments. For example, the company focuses on motorcycle enthusiasts, especially those who are interested in the chopper biking culture. A strategic objective linked to the differentiation generic strategy is to build Harley-Davidson’s competitive advantage based on unique product innovation. In relation, the focus differentiation strategy leads to the strategic objective of strengthening the chopper biker culture that enables Harley-Davidson’s competitive advantage in this market segment. 

Red and blue ocean

We have used the red and blue ocean analyse as a conclusion on the company’s competition, their competition strategies and how they differentiate themselves from their competitors.
 Harley-Davidson is on the blue ocean. On the global market, Harley-Davidson has four major competitors; Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki, that is only a few but big competitors. Harley Davidson has differentiated their products to a luxury vehicle, so they have differentiated themselves from these competitors, but manufacturers as Dog motorcycles and American IronHorse, which actually delivers more customized American motorbikes than Harley Davidson, has come along with Harley-Davidson’s success. Harley-Davidson’s focus are on unique products and a high service. They produce unique products as customized motorcycles and that is how they differentiate themselves from their competitors. Harley-Davidson has focused on differentiation because their generic competitive strategy pushes for product innovation. Harley-Davidson uses its innovation processes to ensure competitiveness against other popular motorcycle manufactures. So they are very innovative and try to differentiate from their competitors by being innovative. That is why they are on the blue ocean, because they have big competitors but they are good at differentiating themselves from their competitors and their focus are on unique products.

  

Harley Davidson's competitive position

Competitive position

Porters five forces

We have used Porter five forces as an analysismodel, because it is good to elucidating the company’s competitive position on the market.

Threats of new entrants

The entry barriers are very high on this market, new entrants need a lot of capital to investments and it is very difficult for a new company to position themselves on this market, because of the many big competitors. This is why the threats of new entrants are very low.

Threats of substitutes

There are high numbers of substitutes to Harley-Davidson’s product. Even cars and other means of transportation. The superior substitution to Harley-Davidson’s products are the motorcycle manufacturers. Harley-Davidson’s main competitors are Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki. Harley-Davidson has differentiated their products to a luxury vehicle, so they have themselves from these competitors, but manufacturers as Dog motorcycles and American IronHorse, which actually delivers more customized American motorbikes than Harley-Davidson, has come along with Harley-Davidson’s success. The force from the threats of substitutes is strong, because of the many substitute products on the market.

Bargaining power of buyers

Harley-Davidson’s average customer is now 48 years old, their average customer has been getting 6 months older every year for the past 20 years. The younger generation today would rather have smaller and cheaper Japanese motorbikes, which is a completely different design than what Harley-Davidson can offer to the market. The younger generations need to be attracted by what Harley-Davidson can offer if they want to maintain a long-term strategy. Harley-Davidson is strictly tied to its customer’s loyalty; this is why the bargaining power of buyers is a strong force. The buyers have easy access to substitutes, so they make a real threat because the customers are enable to move from Harley-Davidson and use substitutes instead.

Bargaining power of suppliers

The suppliers of parts to the motorcycle could be hard to find, and the suppliers of special parts has a potential to influence the market, as more of the suppliers are customizing the parts in collaboration with Harley-Davidson. However, Harley-Davidson is a huge company, which makes it a minor threat, because Harley-Davidson has such a great influence on the market that it would be a huge loss not to cooperate with Harley-Davidson.

Industry rivalry

There are four major competitors; Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki. Harley-Davidson has differentiated themselves to a more luxury vehicle and even though Harley-Davidson has tried to keep up with the competitors, more of these major competitors are increasing their market share worldwide. Some of these competitors have larger financial and marketing resources, which makes it difficult to keep up with the competitor’s developments. Harley-Davidson must maintain its brand and quality to protect its segments from other firms. Harley-Davidson has an opportunity to increase their product development and invest in technological innovation to keep up with the major competitors in the industry.