early 1980s, the com-pany increased its sales force by 50%, but this was mainly to give the sales force more time to train the dealers, who often were inadequate at selling. In 1986, a store renovation program for dealers was instituted [G1, p. 12]. Still, dealers do not have all the bikes they have demanded, and Harley dealers are far from ubiquitous. Conse-quently, the "place" factor remains a Harley weakness; one simply cannot buy a Harley-Davidson any-where. However, in the U.S. as a whole, there are over 4 million registered motor-cy-cles, as of 1988 [U1, p. 611, Table 1041].Promotion. Unlike other (and much larger) manufacturers of motor vehicles, Harley does not advertise extensively, relying more on image and word-of-mouth. But a firm with a legend of this type can do well without frequent use of the typical advertising vehicles. As previously dis-cussed, motorcyclists are a homoge-neous market, with much camaraderie. Enthusiasts often at-tend races, exhibits, and similar events, and in such situations, almost every person reached by a promotional effort targeted at such a group will be a likely customer. These are the promotional activities Harley emphasizes. The Harley Owners' Group (HOG)* was founded by the firm in 1983, and remains the only factory-sponsored motorcycle club in the world. "I think it's one of the most important things we do," claims Willie Davidson. "The customers appreciate our being there with them, sitting in the saddle and enjoying the sport [W1, p. 27]." One of the goals was to get senior executives socially involved with customers. Suggestions and recommendations from custom-ers are actively solicited and promptly forwarded to the appro-priate departments for consideration. Mr. Davidson, somewhat of a celebrity among bikers, fre-quently attends meetings and ral-lies, and the hope of meeting and speak-ing with him undoubtedly attracts many enthusiasts. When Sales & Marketing Management m...
