Ducati Harvard Case
Ducati is looking to continue to drive growth by taking market share from current competitor Harley Davison. The firm plans to attack the market niche of Harley Davison with the Ducati interpretation of its cruiser. This is a misguided way to drive sustainable growth in the long term.
Harley Davison is a major American motorcycle manufacturer, and dominated the U.S. heavy weight motorcycle market. In 2000m Harley produced 204,500 motorcycles a 15.5% increases over 1999. Relative to other major motorcycles producers, Harley had more modest global presence. Despite its strong focus on the American market, it recently increased its presence in Europe by fine-tuning some bikes to fit European taste. Experts consider Harley-Davison the prototypical example of a “lifestyle” company. The choice to expand the business is wise, but venturing into the cruiser market would not be a good idea.
For starters, the cruiser market has been dominated by Harley Davidson since it began in 1903. Harley has seen 15 consecutive years of record revenues and net income, making it an extremely successful and powerful company. They emphasize their focus on the American market and represent a social and cultural phenomenon that no motorcycle company can compare to. Not only would Ducati have to compete against the strongest brand in the industry, but there are many other competitors in the cruiser category already. BMW, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha all offer products in that category. Entering a market with such domination would be extremely tough and risky. As we can see in the Exhibit 1 the market share from all of the competitors in the Ducati market has maintained virtually the same. There is a slight change of market change over the years. However, most of the spread of the market share has been relatively the same. We can also see on Exhibit 2 that the over market registrations has increase substantially since 1996. Since 1996 to 2001 the number of registrations has increased
Harley Davison is a major American motorcycle manufacturer, and dominated the U.S. heavy weight motorcycle market. In 2000m Harley produced 204,500 motorcycles a 15.5% increases over 1999. Relative to other major motorcycles producers, Harley had more modest global presence. Despite its strong focus on the American market, it recently increased its presence in Europe by fine-tuning some bikes to fit European taste. Experts consider Harley-Davison the prototypical example of a “lifestyle” company. The choice to expand the business is wise, but venturing into the cruiser market would not be a good idea.
For starters, the cruiser market has been dominated by Harley Davidson since it began in 1903. Harley has seen 15 consecutive years of record revenues and net income, making it an extremely successful and powerful company. They emphasize their focus on the American market and represent a social and cultural phenomenon that no motorcycle company can compare to. Not only would Ducati have to compete against the strongest brand in the industry, but there are many other competitors in the cruiser category already. BMW, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha all offer products in that category. Entering a market with such domination would be extremely tough and risky. As we can see in the Exhibit 1 the market share from all of the competitors in the Ducati market has maintained virtually the same. There is a slight change of market change over the years. However, most of the spread of the market share has been relatively the same. We can also see on Exhibit 2 that the over market registrations has increase substantially since 1996. Since 1996 to 2001 the number of registrations has increased