Harley Swot Analysis

Harley-Davidson has become a household name in the United States and is a brand that has acquired an almost mystical power (Austin, Sole, Cotteleer, 2). The Harley-Davidson motorcycle business has been around for 95 years and to this day, people will still wait up to two years for their turn at receiving their own Harley. The demographic of Harley-Davidson customers ranges from “riders in their forties with grown child no longer at home to young, reckless and ‘born to be wild’ (Austin, Sole, Cotteleer, 2).” The Harley-Davidson Motor Company was formed in 1903 by William Harley and Arthur Davidson when they began experimenting on “taking the work out of bicycling (Austin, Sole, Cotteleer, 1).” In 1920, the company became the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world.

Harley-Davidson is looking to purchase a software that their customers can easily use whenever they would like to purchase something from the company. This case study shows how the company went about finding different companies, researching them to fit their needs and interviewing and finalizing the company that will be creating their software. Different members of the staff at Harley-Davidson took their time out of their jobs to start on this expedition to ensure everything works out well for the company. Garry Berryman came to Harley-Davidson in 1995 and turned the purchasing organization around. Purchased parts of the company was 55 to 60%. His motto was “if the purchasing organization could initially influence cost, everything else would follow in terms of the internal support needed to change the way the company interacted with its supplier community (Austin, Sole, Cotteleer, 3 & 4).”

With Berryman at the top, the Supply Management Strategy (SMS) was created. The goal of this, stated on page 4, was “to ensure that Harley-Davidson is provided with the right product, at the right time, with the best quality, for the lowest possible cost.” This strategy was used to determine which...