Harley-Davidson Case Study Notes

BUS 475: Week 4

Tuesday's class analyzed the case study of Harley-Davidson.  This is a company with over 100 years of history, but the case concerned itself more with Harley's past three decade. In 1981, 13 executives in the Harley-Davidson division of AMF bought out the failing division with $1 million of their own money and $80 million of high-interest leverage from Citigroup Bank.

Thursday's class was a lecture on the four key aspects of functional-level strategies:  efficiency, quality, innovation and customer responsiveness.  It's important to point out that even though these are the "four key aspects", a company should not spread itself too thin and try to perfect itself in each aspect... one or two of these aspects, inline with a firms core competencies, will yield the best results for a company.

* I will try to post my notes on the Harley-Davidson case study.  

BUS 475: Week 3

On Tuesday we went over the Wynn Resorts case study.  We analyzed what makes Wynn Resorts so successful.  They're strategy of differentiating their hotels from the competition, in Las Vegas and Macau, is a key in the company being so profitable.  They target the "whales" by establishing a luxury brand through their upscale design/architecture and their product layering, providing luxury rooms, top notch spas, Ferrari and Lambo dealerships, and tour-quality golf courses at their locations.  A couple of the main threats that face Wynn Resorts are: 1)  What do they do when Steve Wynn steps down?  What is their succession plan for when the most important person in the company steps out?  2)  The future growth and profitability of their Macau location looks promising, but high political risk may impede upon that growth or even worse, force them to leave the location. Mr. Wynn has very important chess pieces throughout his BOD, and those members are arguably the companies greatest resources (outside of Steve Wynn) as the company looks to continue its expansion and growth.

On Thursday we covered a lecture going over "internal analysis"... covering the factors/concepts that can contribute to either a company's strength or a company's weakness; and how a company can create and sustain a competitive advantage.