Innovations at Harley Davidson

In the mid 1980s, the management realized that its traditional command-and-control culture did not foster healthy relationships among employees at all levels. Identifying this as a factor that could hamper productivity and innovativeness, the company decided to make the culture more open and participatory. H-D now began interacting more with the employees at the shop floor and this, in turn, aided the management in implementing new practices. The management shared the importance of the company's values with its employees. This way, it was able to instill high moral values in them and emphasize its commitment towards its employees. As a result of the above, H-D was able to develop a harmonious relationship with its worker unions based on trust, respect and communication...

H-D's formal approach towards NPD through CPPDM methodology enabled it to introduce successful and innovative products consistently. As a result, the company was able to post impressive growth in earnings and revenue between 1986 -2001 (Refer Exhibit VI). In the early 2000s, 80% of H-D sales came from new products (models less than five years old). According to industry observers, the positive results of H-D's innovation philosophy was attributable to the fact that it used technology and engineering to support the processes that aimed at enhancing the overall customer experience. The company worked on the premise that the customer's experience transcended the product. Products were no doubt the core, but H-D sold its customers a total 'H-D riding experience...'