Harley-Davidson Inc.’s Marketing Strategy

Alvin Toffler the futurologist is said to have observed that the only constant is change - i.e. Nothing is constant, change is always present! Nevertheless, it could be said that many organisations had over time become used to relatively ‘calm waters’ and ‘smooth sailing’ in their marketing strategy and general operations.
Lecture 2 in the module introduced the ‘Responses to Environmental Change’ framework – the barriers to change (ignorance, delay) and the possible responses/outcomes (gradual strategic repositioning, radical strategic repositioning, or retrenchment).
This assignment requires you to examine a company of your own choice to see how it has responded in its Marketing Strategy to the recent ‘perfect storm’ of external events – a perfect storm can be described as an unusual combination of events that produce an unusually powerful result.
Company - Harley-Davidson, Inc.
(Choose a multinational company that has offerings that combine both physical and intangible elements – i.e., it includes some service aspects since these may give you the greatest insight to the challenges of achieving change.
There are several reasons for avoiding the analysis of a small company: --
• Small organisations often operate in what is termed resource poverty – they do not have sufficient finances, human resources, information, time.
• There is likely to be a scarcity of information available for you to analyse.
• The organisation may not be familiar to the examiner.
1. Firstly, very concisely introduce the company, its products, and the competitors it faces (as necessary, make use of an Appendix to present detailed information). Place ONEOFFERING from the company on the physical goods-services spectrum (do this on a diagram with a brief discussion) and assess the company’s ‘core and supplementary ’elements against those of competitors for that one offering.
(500 words)
2. Then research the elements of the Perfect Storm of events – including, but not limited to, Covid 19 pandemic, global supply chain disruptions, political and economic sanctions, shortages and increasing prices of commodity materials and energy, employee shortages, and rising inflation and interest rates). Briefly introduce the events, and classify them in a table using the PESTER framework as the vertical axis (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Ecological, Regulatory) – include an accompanying discussion, and
indicate whether in your opinion the company you have chosen was able to Control these factors.
(600 words)
3. To avoid the ‘barrier of ignorance of change’ evaluate an appropriate Marketing Information System (MkIS) that would be useful to allow your selected company to make different types of marketing decisions - indicate the types of information/data (internal/external, ad-hoc/continuous).
(700 words)
4. Then use the Extended Marketing Mix framework (8Ps) in tabular format (with discussion) to research adjustments that the organisation has made in the last 3 years, critically reflecting on whether these could be considered gradual or radical adjustments, and how they relate to the customer’s view of their needs as depicted in Maslow’s Hierarchy and the ‘sacrifices/benefits’ concept. Conclude with a short statement that summarizes your own opinion on how the company responded to the Perfect Storm.
(1200 words)
Use the main body of 3,000 words max to evaluate, discuss, and assess the company’s operations. Your work will be considered as an integrated report.
Make effective use of diagrams, tables, and appendices. These are excluded from the wordcount
The indicated number of words are guidelines, but you must avoid using too many words introduction the company. Detailed information about the company should be presented in Data Appendices.
As a minimum, include 10 sources (academic journals, and reputable news/trade publications).
Tables and discussion are both required to achieve effective communication of information. Submissions that have only tables and no discussion, or only discussion and no tables will not meet the requirements of this assessment and will therefore not gain maximal marks.