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In July 2007, Mark-Hans Richer became Harley-Davidson's first chief marketing officer. Its riders were aging, which the company saw as an existential threat. Although Harley-Davidson had a record sales year in 2006 and had maintained a commanding share of the heavyweight motorcycle market for the previous decade, it needed to take new action to sustain its growth.

Richer needed to deliver a new generation of riders and a more diverse customer base, all without losing current Harley-Davidson customers. He also knew that he could not relax: the average tenure of a CMO in 2007 was only 27 months and a complete new product development cycle would take a minimum of four years.

After analyzing the case, students should be able to:

• Recommend marketing decisions for a brand with extremely high loyalty in light of various consumer behavior indicators gleaned from market research

• Understand the power of leveraging existing assets as opposed to innovating new products

• Understand the psychological basis of customer loyalty, including drivers and metrics of loyalty

Recommend marketing decisions for a brand with extremely high loyalty in light of various consumer behavior indicators gleaned from market research

Understand the power of leveraging existing assets as opposed to innovating new products

Understand the psychological basis of customer loyalty, including drivers and metrics of loyalty

Harley-Davidson's first-ever chief marketing officer has his work cut out for him as the classic American motorcycle manufacturer seeks to curb slowing sales from aging customers. The dilemma: what to do with its less known and unprofitable Buell brand, which has a younger customer base? Which of five options continue its dual-brand strategy, double down on Buell, operate Buell as an endorsement brand, sell it, or discontinue the brand entirely will best attract younger buyers without alienating current diehard customers?

One of the most powerful and organizing methods in the world today revolves around the activities that individuals participate in and the subsequent interpersonal relationships that give people meaning in life. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Today's society longs to add meaning and identity to their lives in a variety of ways. A sense of belonging, or a sense of community, has proven very impactful on the lives of many and creates certain changes to an individual's mindset that relate to the specific subsets of culture and consumption to which they identify with.

The authors find that Harley Davidson has a strong following in the USA and suggest that it might also have one in China.

In this paper, the authors attempt to define and better categorize a subset of the Harley Davidson following, while studying the habits, relationships, and reasoning behind both the new motorcycle owners, and the veterans of the Harley Davidson way of life. The authors will also attempt to analyze the role relationships (spouse, significant other, and friends or relatives) play in the decision to join this niche subculture. Analyzing these potential and newly converted Harley Davidson customers to gain insight and understanding about the deciding social factors at play in choosing this brand over the others is a primary focus. In studying this unique subculture of consumption, the authors hope to better understand the development and rationale of new Harley Davidson riders and to measure certain personal levels of enjoyment on an individual or group setting, and to analyze the impact on ones social image before and after purchase.

Provides a case study of the Harley Davidson Motor Co. Gives a brief history of the position of the company before outlining the turnaround by the new owners. Cites three practices which led to this improvement – employee innovation, just in time inventory and statistical operator controls. Highlights two‐way communication, management involvement and a culture that is not afraid to fail. Promotes a new relationship with unions and lists nine “musts” for employee involvement.

Harley‐Davidson was keen to maintain its continual expansion, but was aware it needed to invest in its people in order to keep momentum high. The Accenture Human Capital Development Framework enabled the company to take stock of its HR activities and create a comprehensive human capital strategy for the future. Here, representatives from both organizations explain how the Framework was used.

Although many companies have become financially weak in the current economy, Blue Diamond Growers, a worldwide producer and marketer of almonds, and Harley‐Davidson, Inc., are thriving. While other companies are cutting back on production and staffing in order to maintain a financial foothold, Blue Diamond and Harley‐Davidson remain strong in their respective industries: Blue Diamond processes and packages one‐third of the world's almond crop each year, and Harley‐Davidson has cornered 60% of the market for heavyweight motorcycles.

The purpose of this study is to discuss the complexities and challenges involved in retailing luxury motorcycle brands in India.

This study has been developed by carrying out in-depth interviews of company officials of Triumph Motorcycles. The researchers also reached out to various distributors of luxury motorcycles in Tiers I and II cities, and through the interview process, tried to understand the problems/issues faced while selling luxury motorcycles.

There has been a marked increase in the branding and marketing of luxury products in the recent years. Although the two wheelers account for 80 per cent of the domestic demand, the luxury motorbike market in India is still in its introductory stages. This study discusses the challenges faced at Triumph Motorcycles and raises questions on what should be done to increase the market share of Triumph Motorcycles in India. Readers would get insights into the activities carried out to build customer connect and would be able to suggest marketing strategies and customer relationship programmes for luxury motorcycle brands.

This study can be used for the core course on marketing management or for elective courses on customer relationship management, brand management or consumer behaviour course in MBA programme.

In its eighty‐sixth year, Harley‐Davidson, the only U.S.‐based motorcyclemanufacturer, is thriving in a fiercely competitive marketplace. Improved manufacturing techniques, employee involvement, and a key acquisition have helped spur the company's growth.

Behavior has been a potent differentiator for such industry‐leading companies as Ritz‐Carlton, Marshall Field’s, Nordstrom, Southwest Airlines, SAS, Xilinx, Volvo Cars, and Harley‐Davidson. Beyond customer service, however, many companies fail to consider behavior an element of their business strategy. Behavioral differentiation (BD) is particularly important when a company’s competitors offer essentially the same products and services at similar prices. A company’s behaviors can differentiate both positively and negatively, but negative differentiators have about five times the impact of positive differentiators. Consequently, companies should manage their behavior toward customers at every point where customers interact with anyone in the company. Companies can behaviorally differentiate themselves in four ways. (1) Operational BD occurs when they make exceptional customer treatment part of the way they normally do business. Operationalizing the behaviors customers experience as significantly positive enables companies to create systematic and sustained competitive advantage. (2) Interpersonal BD cannot be systematized because it depends on each employee’s emotional intelligence and interpersonal skill. However, companies can hire for high emotional intelligence, can set expectations about how customers are greeted and treated, and can ensure that their most interpersonally adept employees are assigned to important, high‐frequency customer touchpoints. (3) Exceptional BD occurs when companies allow employees to “break the rules” and do exceptional things for customers in need of exceptional treatment. Beyond creating the conditions that permit exceptional BD, companies should make heroes of employees whose exceptional behavior has surprised and delighted customers. Finally, (4) symbolic BD occurs when companies walk the talk, when their behavior reflects their mission, mottos, and other messages. Few companies are as accomplished at this than Harley‐Davidson. You are on stage with your customers all the time, and they are constantly comparing you and your behavior to your competitors and their behaviors, and you are how you behave.

This paper aims to introduce a strategic visioning method called vision by design and to use the example of Harley‐Davidson's corporate regeneration to illustrate how the method works in practice. This approach conceives visioning as a practical tool of management whose power stems from the facilitation of strategic conversations among stakeholders and the reflexive engagement of business leaders in past‐present‐future thinking.

The paper presents a four‐dimensional visioning model that facilitates exploration of both the internal and external contexts of the business. The advantage of the approach lies in breaking down vision into its component parts, lending simplicity and structure to the visioning process. The study employs a case study of the turnaround of Harley‐Davidson to illustrate this method.

The paper finds that, in undertaking corporate regeneration, Harley‐Davidson's senior management recognized the need for a vision that was comprehensive, inclusive and dynamic, but also realistic and grounded in the history and present circumstances of the business. The visioning process at the company was transformational because it ignited a strategic conversation that went beyond the boardroom to include employees, customers, partners and financiers.

The vision by design method adds value by simplifying the visioning process and focusing on a series of transitions, whereby the emerging vision is rooted squarely in business realities. As the picture of a regenerated enterprise is built up, both internal and external contexts are scrutinized, ensuring that the future vision is consistent and complete, attractive externally and deliverable internally.