entury. Harley-Davidson, founded in 1903, went public in 1965. Four years later, in 1969, Harley-Davidson was merged with AMF through an acquisition action by AMF. The marriage lasted but 12 years, a period during which the fortunes of Harley-Davidson's fortunes waned and AMF moved further and further away from its metal foundry roots. By the late-1970s, AMF want to shed Harley-Davidson and Harley-Davidson was ready to leave.
Through a fortuitous set of circumstances, 13 executives of Harley-Davidson were able to buy Harley-Davidson from AMF in 1981 and restore the company to an independent status. In 1986, Harley-Davidson again went public.
Soon after the acquisition of Harley-Davidson by American Machine and Foundry, the acquiring company changed its own name to AMF to reflect the fact that its business no longer involved foundry operations. This name change occurred in 1971, and AMF went on to diversify into various lines of business. Eventually, AMF became a holding company for its chief operating company, AMF Bowling, which is an international bowling equipment producer and bowling facility operator.
Several oddities have been written about in discussion the AMF/Harley-Davidson merger, such as the differences in lines of business and corporate cultures. If one looks at contemporary mergers, however, these factors may remain odd, but the y certainly are not unusual.
The primary focus of the investigation that will be performed as a part of the proposed study will be on the AMF firm. Questions such as (1) why AMF acquired Harley-Davidson, (2) why the merger failed, (3) how it happened that Harley-Davidson executives were able to repurchase Harley-Davidson, and (4) how AMF evolved post-divestiture of Harley-Davidson will be pursued in the proposed study.
The purpose of the proposed study is to develop additional insights into the merger and acquisition process and the pointers to probable success or failure o...