Building Brand Community on the Harley-Davidson Posse Ride
1) Should Harley-Davidson continue to sponsor the Posse Ride? Why or why not? What role should the Posse Ride play in the HOG events mix?
2) How should the Posse Ride be designed to maximize its effectiveness and profit-making potential, should you decide to keep it?
3) What is HOG’s role in developing community for the Harley-Davidson brand?
4) Evaluate Harley’s strategy and performance in “getting close to its customers.:
5) How can HOG itself be maximized?
Case Solution Directions
Case solution write-ups should be action-oriented, rather than general, proscriptive, or textbook-
like discussions. To enhance this focus, cases should be written in memo form:
TO: (Character in the case)
FROM: (You)
RE: (Short statement of the problem)
It is important that in the early part of this memo you list your recommendations. Typical items
in a viable defense include market/consumer analysis, economic analysis, and assessment of
competition that refute alternatives and support your choice. You have to specifically explain
why you have selected a particular alternative, as well as why you have not chosen other actions.
Importantly, in explaining your recommendations, you need to center not only on the question of
‘what to do,’ but also on ‘how to do it.’ The case-specific questions listed in the syllabus signal
the main issues to be addressed in your analysis. It is important that you address these issues and
that you support your arguments with relevant data from the case. However, do not use these
questions as the structure of your memo.
An important challenge for marketers and managers is to succinctly present comprehensive
recommendation regarding a specific problem. To this end, your write-up should be typed,
double-spaced, and no longer than two (2) pages (double spaced, 12pt font, Times New Roman
or Calibri), exclusive of special exhibits and appendices. Note that the appendix is not merely a
reservoir for supplemental text material. Exhibits should be clearly labeled and understandable.
As the skeleton of your memo, exhibits need to broach the future as well as the past and present.
Finally, do not waste time summarizing the case text. Include only facts from the case that are
necessary for your arguments and analysis. Also, indicate what information you would like and
what you would use it for.
Questions to consider for each case are below. Do not answer each question individually but
instead consider all of the questions, or others you developed while reading the case, and form
your response based on your insights.
IKEA Invades America
1) What factors account for the success of IKEA
2) What do you think of the company’s product strategy and product range?
3) Despite its success, there are many downsides to shopping at IKEA. What are some of
these downsides? IKEA’s Vision Statement (Figure C) describes how the company seeks
to build a “partnership” with its customers. What do you think of this vision statement.
4) The fact that IKEA hoes to have fifty stores in operation in the United States by 2013 is
an indication of how optimistic the company is about the viability of its value proposition
in this country. Do you think IKEA is being overly optimistic in its growth plans? How
would you improve IKEA’s value proposition to make it even more attractive to
American consumers?
5) Some industry observers have suggested that IKEA should open a number of smaller,
satellite stores across the US. By offering a limited range of IKEA products, these
