著者

出水 力

出版者

大阪産業大学

雑誌

大阪産業大学経営論集 (ISSN:13451456)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.11, no.3, pp.337-375, 2010-06

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Japanese manufacturers started exporting the motorcycles to American market in the early 1960's and won the market from small motorcycles of Europe in the middle of 1960's. Then Japanese manufacturers developed the large-scale motorcycles and dominated the market in the beginning of the 1970's. Motorcycle production became the strongest industry of which Japan boasted. In this paper the processes of technological development of the large-scale motorcycles produced by Honda and Kawasaki are discussed. Technical domination of Japan at the motorcycle market had been steady for twenty years, but Harley, the USA manufacturer regained lost market in the after 1990's, and has been dominating the large-scale market motorcycle not only in the United States but also in Japan. The success of Harley depends on the lifestyle marketing. They sell motorcycles matched well with lifestyle and culture. However, Japanese manufacturers such as HONDA hold a dominant position in the world for their high-quality mass production system and high technology.