Assignment 2 LASA 1 Business Unit Analysis Directions Cr.docx

Assignment 2: LASA 1
Business Unit Analysis
Directions: Create a Feasibility Study for Harley Davidson
using the following outline:
Part I: Differentiation Strategies
The analysis of current strategy and competitor analysis you
conducted last module impressed the senior vice president. She
now needs you to delve into the brands and analyze them by
conducting a business unit analysis and presenting your findings
in a three-part PowerPoint presentation.
Research the Harley-Davidson (H-D) Web site for each brand,
and review the annual report for relevant details of the size,
scope, target market, services and amenities, and other salient
points of differentiation. Include these details in Part I of your
PowerPoint presentation.
From the research and analysis of the business units, identify:
· A description of each brand or business unit that provides a
clear picture of the brand and its place in the overall portfolio
of Harley-Davidson.
· The target market of each brand.
· How the brands are alike and how they differ.
· A preliminary analysis of any gaps that exist in the portfolio
that might lead to opportunities to add to the brands.

· Your analysis of possible merger / acquisition / joint venture
possibilities and what would be achieved or accomplished
through the merger / acquisition / joint venture.
Part II: SWOT Analysis
Perform a SWOT analysis for Harley-Davidson and include this
information in Part II of your PowerPoint presentation.
· Based on the internal analyses of the SWOT analysis; assess
the functional areas, resources, capabilities, and strengths H-D
possesses. Please be sure to cover the following functional areas
in your assessment:
· Marketing: New product development, integrated marketing
planning, marketing communications, and building customer
loyalty.
· Operations: Quality, service, and consistent execution.
· Human Resources: Hiring, training, developing talent, and
performance planning. Avoided law suits and bad PR due to its
hiring practices. Is ethical in its HR practices.
· Executive Leadership: Industry knowledge and experience,
vision about where the industry is heading, and strategy
execution.
· Supply Chain Optimization: Strategic sourcing of input,
vendor management, integrated IS, and joint forecasting with
suppliers.
· Corporate Responsibility and Ethics: Concern for corporate
citizenship and the environment. Present any potential ethical
concerns as well.

· Safety and Quality: How the motorcycle industry is dealing
with safety and quality issues.
Part III: Growth and Profitability Strategies
In addition, the executive board is interested in your ideas about
bold strategies for the future. The strategies you recommend
will have to contribute to growth and profitability, as outlined
in the Annual Report.
You will want to pay special attention to exploring vertical
integration, strategic alliances, and the internal growth of new
brands entering new geographic markets, and/or additional
acquisitions.
Consider the following:
· Is Harley-Davidson, Inc., (H-D) competing in the right
businesses, given the opportunities and threats present in the
external environment? If not, how can H-D realign its
diversification strategy to achieve a competitive advantage?
This may include additional diversification to take advantage of
opportunities such as further vertical integration.
· Is the corporation managing its portfolio in a way that creates
synergy among its businesses? If so, what additional businesses
should it consider adding to its portfolio?
After you have reviewed the growth and profitability strategies,
create a list of possible strategies to present a full range of
ideas.
Part III of your presentation should include your complete list—
all potential ideas—for the senior vice president. This is your

chance to be creative.
Next, rank your ideas from best to worst. To do this, keep in
mind several things such as fit with current strategy, resources
and capabilities, and difficulty of execution.
For each of your top five ideas, add the following:
· Briefly describe the strategy.
· Why you picked it as one of the top five.
Think about such things as:
· Does the strategy build on current competencies and foster
horizontal relationships among brands? In other words, what
can be leveraged or shared? What are the pros and cons of this
strategy?
Your PowerPoint Feasibility Study presentation will also
include slides pertaining to the following assessments:
· Part I: Identification of size, scope, target market, services,
amenities, and points of differentiation.
· Part II: SWOT analysis that includes marketing, operations,
human resources, executive leadership, supply chain
optimization, corporate responsibility, ethics, safety, and
quality.
· Part III: Growth and profitability strategies, including your
top five strategic ideas and support.
Submit the PowerPoint Feasibility Study presentation to the

senior vice president so that she can review the alternatives and
provide you with feedback about your ideas.
Submit your presentation to the M3: Assignment 2 Dropbox by
Wednesday, December 11, 2013.
Assignment 2 Grading Criteria
Maximum Points
Differentiation Strategies: Description of each unit and its place
in the portfolio, target market, brand likeness, gap analysis,
merger/acquisition/joint venture possibilities.
36
SWOT analysis: Marketing, operations, HR, executive
leadership, supply chain optimization, corporate responsibility
and ethics, safety and quality.
60
Growth and Profitability Strategies and top five strategic ideas
and support.

60
Organization: Introduction, Transitions, Conclusion
12
Style: Tone, Audience, Word Choice
4
Usage and Mechanics: Grammar, Spelling, Sentence Structure
12
APA Elements: Attribution, Paraphrasing, Quotations (when
appropriate or assigned)
16
Total:
200
12/8/13 7:38 PMLesson 14 Activity
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3https://cms.psu.edu/Section/Content/Dropbox.aspx?EntryId=98
0FBF7…2Easp&PG=$QUERY:PG$&WCI=pgDisplay%5FObject
&WCU=CRSCNT&Preview=0
Review: Full, Anonymous: No
Complete the following assignment in your Word processing
program and copy and paste your answer into the
box below for submission, or save the file to your computer and
send it as an attachment for grading. If you
attempt to complete the assignment directly in ANGEL, you
may lose your work if ANGEL experiences an outage.
PRESCRIPTION FOR DISASTER
The focus of the assignments to date has been the refinement of

your understanding of the law and further development of
your written communications skills. The issues presented by the
fact patterns have been fairly obvious, and the structure
of your responses has been dictated by the instructions. As a
senior human resource professional, you will be expected to
spot difficult legal issues and to recommend business solutions
to minimize legal risk (in practice, you cannot always
eliminate legal risk) with little if any analysis. While lawyers
play a vital role in the avoidance of legal claims, for this
assignment, consultation with legal counsel is not an option.
In 750 words or less, identify 15-20 potential legal issues
presented by the following fact pattern and provide a
short (50 words or less) analysis for each.
You are the Vice President of Human Resources for Beaver
Stadium Fertilizer Co. (BSF), the largest manufacturer and
distributer of fertilizer for athletic fields in the country with
over 40% of the market share. The CEO of BSF is Amy Dietz.
Ms. Dietz is a dynamic woman with a youthful appearance and
more energy than a new puppy.Ms. Dietz moonlights as a
professor in Penn State's HRER program.
In recent years, BSF hired a number of graduates from the
HRER program. These recent hires have excelled at BSF,
receiving a disproportionate amount of recognition and
extremely high performance reviews. This has become a source
of
tension for some of the long-term employees at BSF, who
believe that there is no substitute for experience in the athletic
field fertilizer business and that Ms. Dietz has a bias in favor of
younger employees.
The athletic field fertilizer industry has been ravaged by the
widespread conversion of grass athletic fields to prescription
turf. Fortunately for BSF, over a year ago, several hires from

the HRER program predicted a shift from grass to
prescription turf. Ms. Dietz invested significant resources of
BSF to fund the Beaver Stadium Fake Grass Co. (BSFGC), a
start-up company that manufactures synthetic grass. Synthetic
grass has a significantly higher profit margin than athletic
field fertilizer. Although BSFGC is run by Doug Allen,
everyone in the "business" knows that Ms. Dietz is calling the
shots.
BSFGC is a non-union company that currently employs 50
people.
Based on a suggestion by another recent hire with a JD/Master
of Science in Human Resources and Employment
Relations, and out of an abundance of caution that the
industrious graduates of the HRER program do not take what
they
learned at BSF and go out on their own to compete against the
company, as a condition of their continued employment
with BSF, Ms. Dietz required all non-union employees to
execute an agreement prohibiting solicitation of BSF clients
during employment with BSF and for a period of 3 years
thereafter.
Roughly one month ago, BSF employed 130 people, including
40 (30 full-time and 10 part-time) employees at its
administrative offices in in State College, Pennsylvania and 90
(80 full-time and 10 part-time) at its manufacturing plant in
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. General laborers at the Bellefonte
facility are represented by the Teamsters Local 8. Paul
Whitehead is the President of the Teamsters Local 8.
As a result of declining business conditions, BSF has been
forced to make reductions. In an effort to control labor costs,
30 days ago, Ms. Dietz directed you to eliminate all part-time
positions, including the part-time laborers at the Bellefonte
facility. One of the reductions from the sales and administrative

office was Paul Clark, age 50, a sales consultant and
recent graduate of the HRER program with extensive knowledge
regarding Internet sales.
Pursuant to BSF's severance policy, employees are eligible for
one week of severance pay for all years worked for BSF in
exchange for their execution of a release and waiver of all
claims against BSF. At a recent SHRM conference, you picked
up a short-form sample severance agreement which reportedly
complies with the ADEA as amended by the OWBPA.
Pursuant to the agreement:
Employees over the age of 40 are given 45 days within which to
consider the agreement and 7 days within which to
revoke the agreement after it is executed;
Page 2 of
employees acknowledge, in writing, that they were given the
opportunity to consult with an attorney;
employees release BSF from any and all claims of whatever
kind and whatever nature from the beginning of time
until the date the agreement is executed;
employees waive any right to file a lawsuit or administrative
charge against BFS; and
the separation agreement supersedes all prior agreements and
understandings between the parties.
Out of respect for the employees who will be losing their

positions as a result of this workplace reduction, Ms. Dietz
cautioned you not to release the names of the individuals
impacted by the reductions or to provide anyone with any
information that could potentially be used to identify the
individuals selected for reduction.
Within three days of this initial reduction, the National Football
League announced that all franchises would be required to
install prescription turf by 2014. The next day, Ms. Dietz
directed you to lay off five full-time employees at BSF's sales
and
administrative office and 41 full-time employees at its
manufacturing facility. Ms. Dietz directed you to lay off the
non-union
employees with the lowest scores on last year's performance
evaluation. And, Ms. Dietz directed you to follow the
collective bargaining agreement in selecting unionized
employees for layoff.
Following notice of these reductions, Mr. Whitehead asked you
for documents demonstrating the financial condition of the
company and the composition of BSF's client base, including
the percentage of sales attributable to each client. Pursuant
to Ms. Dietz' instruction, you denied Mr. Whitehead's request,
claiming that the information sought by the Union was
confidential and proprietary.
Yesterday, Coach Bill O'Brien announced that Penn State was
considering a conversion from grass to prescription turf and
that a final decision would be made within 14 days. Penn State
is BSF's largest client, comprising roughly half of BSF's
remaining orders. If Penn State converts to prescription turf,
BSFGC will double its workforce in anticipation of increased
orders. On the other hand, if Penn State converts to prescription
turf, BSF will be forced to close its doors. If this were to
occur, BSF would liquidate its assets and lay off its 64

remaining employees, including its Vice President of Human
Resources
Ms. Dietz directed you not to discuss the potential closure with
anyone, as mention of potential closure would result in loss
of orders from BSF's remaining clients.
Shortly after the announcement, Mr. Clark accepted a job with
Dr. Turf, the leading manufacturer of artificial turf. Mr. Clark
quickly becomes Dr. Turf's leading salesperson, and reportedly
is in talks with Penn State to supply all of the school's
artificial turf needs. Ms. Dietz directs you to enforce the non-
solicitation agreement against Mr. Clark.
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Assignment 2 LASA 1 Business Unit Analysis Directions Cr.docx

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