Saturday, April 08, 2006

Harley Dealership Opens in China

With the opening of their first store in China, Harley Davidson is set to begin competing in the world’s largest market. Unfortunately they will have to deal with a number of problems if the hop to make any profit. The first set of inconveniences are possibly the most problematic, those being that in a number of large cities in China motorcycles are banned. This will certainly cut down on sales, though they still might make purchases to people who plan to drive the vehicles around in the countryside. Another problem that matches the first is that the price for a Harley meets or exceeds the average annual income of most people.

To counter these problems, Harley Davidson states that it is planning for the long run. This most likely means that even though they won’t be able to meet their fixed costs for operating a dealership in China, and all the other costs that come with selling units there for a significant period of time, they do hope to meet their variable costs. If they can do that then the dealership will stay open even if they are not making any economic profit at the moment, and even if they are operating at a loss.

3 comments:

Hang Li said...

In this post, Stanley mentioned two possible problems that Harley is going to face in Chinese market. As a Chinese, I think the possible biggest problem is another one rather than these two problems referred: culture. To most of the Chinese, although the motorbike is not a new thing, but a ride like Harley is still looks strange, especially the one in the picture on web. So the main problem I think that Harley is going to face is whether the Chinese can accept this new culture. If the Chinese cannot accept this style of ride, it will take Harley forever to bring its income above zero in China. In my opinion, Harley should design some new ride as “transition” so that for one thing, it could enhance its share in the market; and for another thing, Harley could make a way of bringing its culture to the Chinese.

Hang Li said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Hang Li said...

In this post, Stanley mentioned two possible problems that Harley is going to face in Chinese market. As a Chinese, I think the possible biggest problem is another one rather than these two problems referred: culture. To most of the Chinese, although the motorbike is not a new thing, but a ride like Harley is still looks strange, especially the one in the picture on web. So the main problem I think that Harley is going to face is whether the Chinese can accept this new culture. If the Chinese cannot accept this style of ride, it will take Harley forever to bring its income above zero in China. In my opinion, Harley should design some new ride as “transition” so that for one thing, it could enhance its share in the market; and for another thing, Harley could make a way of bringing its culture to the Chinese.