Honda (A) Case Study Solution
1. What is the explanation for Honda’s success in U.S market?
Ans: Honda Motor company is basically a Japanese multinational company producer of motorcycles, power equipment and automobile. During the year 1960-1980 is the era of huge success period of the motor company. After gaining huge success in its home area company thought to penetrate in US market in 1959 onwards.
We can carry the concept from Ansoff Matrix that, diversification is the one of the best strategy to develop and stay in a competitive market. Honda motor company also follow the same i.e Diversification i.e new product in a new market. As at that time already Honda was a world’s largest motorcycle producer so they tried to capture the new market i.e US market by establishing U.S subsidiary and offering the customer a light weight motorcycle to its customer.
Also Honda Motor Co. follow one of the important concept called Holistic Marketing which is the key indices for a company. It follows the Integrated Marketing i.e company tried to work simultaneously on product, services and marketing extensively. The company’s product was well established in the market from previously, they followed to advertise their product so that it can reach to the customer and they prefer their product
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From the concept of Porter’s Value Chain we know the primary attributes are inbound logistics i.e nothing but building relationship with suppliers and distributers so that they can push the products to the customers. The second thing is Operation and Outbound Logistics, these are also visible is the case, all the activities are done to transform from input to output and the end products are distributed in the market. Also last one is Marketing and sales that extensively followed in Honda to reach to the new customer. Due to maintain the proper value chain Honda can gain a huge amount of market share in the industry at that
Honda was identified as the partner who would provide and would fit in the political environment. Also, a Japanese firm did not appear threatening to the British competitors. Honda wanted to expand internationally. As benefits Honda was looking at using Rover's design studios, and selling engines to Rover. Also, the fact that no other European company would agree to a partnership with Honda combined with
One of Porter’s main contributions was Porter’s value chain. The value chain is all the activities an organization undertakes to create value for a customer. According to Porter, there are two ways to gain an edge over competitors. A firm must provide comparable but value but perform the activities on the chain at a lower cost, or; Perform services in a unique way
Honda has continued to embrace the changes that happen around its operations to ensure sustainability and profitability. The current global motorcycle manufacturing sector is full of competition. It, therefore, becomes crucial for every manufacturer to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and then identify the opportunities to exploit to gain competitive advantage. Honda is Japanese based automobile company; it has numerous subsidiaries in Asia, Europe, and North America. Due to the advancements in technology, Honda will be required to make use of the latest technological trends to stay competitive. The business level strategy at Honda is in line with its enterprise and corporate strategy. The corporation also conducts Research and
Ducati has developed and managed their value chain very well. This contributes substantially to their strong position. I’ve already discussed Ducati’s effective management of Inbound Logistics and Operations. Ducati’s Outbound Logistics approach is oriented around brand management in each of its markets. This is accomplished through dedicated, single-franchise dealerships instead of multi-franchise dealerships. This decision means that Ducati seeks a high-value customer experience with lower volumes in lieu of a mass-market approach. This is a strategy that is consistent with being a niche player; it makes sense for the Japanese firms to have multi-franchise dealerships since they are close substitutes of each other.
Consumers are not limited to a single market, many of them will be purchasing multiple bikes, but all of them have specific preferences. Successful company will meet customer’s needs and maximize sales by growing the potential market size as well as taking sales from competitors.
The fight amongst the major players in this industry is not over price, but over capturing the market share. Since, there is no one definitive leader in the motorcycle industry on the global level, the companies tend to steal each other’s business, this makes the industry rivalry cut throat. One of the crucial factors that make this industry extremely attractive is the constant drive for innovation. Since different industry participants have different approach towards the same segment of the industry, there is a very high
As for South America, Harley-Davidson Inc. HOG +0.31% opened a permanent Latin America headquarters, joining a growing list of U.S. companies looking to tap into the emerging market. (By Melodie Warner in Market Watch) South America has a growing economy and a huge acceptance for an icon in the motorcycle industry like Harley Davidson. In the same way Japan embraced Harley “Their economy is a fast growing luxury market” p.c11.
Historically Harley-Davidson to be a Niche Marketer, which is they had focused in on one particular aspect of the market. Kotler and Keller identified the following characteristics of niche marketing; customers have a distinct set of needs, they are willing to pay more to the firm that best suits their needs, it is not likely to attract competitors, gains economies through specialized products and it has a size, profit and to grow. Almost all of these hold true for the “heavyweight” segment of motor cycles that Harley-Davidson produced.
Harley-Davidson has managed to dominate the U.S. market by investing in research and development, experimenting with its designs and
Harley Davidson is known as one of the main motorcycle manufacturers and sellers in the United States. The company had good business and great market share in the early 1960s when it commanded a total of about 70% 0f the motorcycle market, before the invasion or the intrusion of a small Japanese firm that manufactured lighter motorcycles, known as the Honda. The case study as identifies that Harley Davidson assumed the invasion by the Japanese firm and instead of tackling the competition, it waited for a long time which resulted in the company losing its command in the motorcycle market in the United States. Lack of action by the management of Harley Davidson resulted in the failure of the company
The late 1950s and early 1960s saw the first influx of low-priced, smaller Japanese motorcycles and scooters into the United States. Honda began U.S. distribution of its products in 1959, with the slogan, "You meet the nicest people on a Honda," to combat the negative image associated with the sport. Yamaha starting selling motorcycles in the United States during 1960; Suzuki followed in 1963; and Kawasakii joined the competition in 1967. BMW opened a U.S. distribution arm in 1975, incorporating in New Jersey. Harley-Davidson ended years of private ownership in 1965 with a public offering of its stock, and eventually merged with industrial giant AMF in 1969.
Since 1986 the MOSS came out, Honda created thousands of job opportunities in US and in turn it gets a lot benefit.
A value chain is nothing but a set of activities that a firm operates to deliver a much valuable and quality product or services in the market. The term comes from Business management and was firstly coined by Mr. Michael Porter in his best seller.
Honda is one of the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturers and of the leaders in the automakers industry. It was founded in 1948 by Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa. It’s headquarter is in Tokyo, Japan and it serves worldwide. Honda has 492 subsidiaries and affiliates accounted under its equity. The company develops, manufactures, and markets a wide range of products such as: automobiles, motorcycles, scooters, ATV’s, electrical generators, water pumps, lawn and garden equipments, robotics, jets, jet engines, and thin-film solar cells. In 2001, Honda became the second-largest Japanese manufacturer and in 2008, it became the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in the United States. Honda’s major products are
motorcycle and automobile maker by the mid-20th century, and today it is an internationally respected