Adidas Internal Analysis

There are many sport apparel companies that exist throughout the world such as but not limited to Nike, Reebok, Under Armour and Puma. Adidas is a prime example of a famous global company that is continuously growing. Athletes endorse in these sporting apparel companies because these companies resemble fitness and a lifestyle of sport. Adidas products can be most department stores such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Academy Sports, and Champs. The target audience is for athletes in high performance. The adidas company is very successful in their financial status and this report will analyze the company’s overall financial and performance status.

In addition, these companies are able to easily compete in the sports apparel market because the barriers to entry are low. On the other hand, many companies should think twice before entering the market. One reason is the large capital costs that are required to meet consumer demand in the market. In addition to large capital costs, some of the largest companies have gained customer loyalty based on their strong marketing skills. For example, Under Armour, Nike, Adidas, Reebok, ASICS, make new entrants into this industry much more difficult to compete with when these companies have a big share in the market already. According to Exhibit 4 in the textbook, it shows the major competitors and brands in 2013. Nonetheless, competition is intense in the sports industry market but, the high levels of product differentiation can also act as a barrier to entry for many companies because company’s need a high level of marketing to market their brand to consumers.

2. Capabilities - can be defined as 1) organizational capabilities – the network of organizational routines and processes that determine how efficiently and effectively the organization transforms its inputs (resources) into outputs (products including physical goods and services) and 2) dynamic capabilities – an organizations ability to build, integrate and reconfigure capabilities to address rapidly changing environments.

Adidas is a sportswear manufacturing company started by Adolf Dassler. Adidas group has incorporated brands including Adidas, Reebok, TaylorMade-Adidas and Rockport. The wings of the company are widespread and have assimiliated other productions including handbags, shirts, spectacles, watches, balls, and sportswear. Adidas is being the largest company that sells footwear in the European market and have achieved a momentous market share at the global platform. Adidas has achieved phenomenal sale and have reached the pinnacle of success on the global scale with other international footwear companies (McDonald & Milne, 1999).

For a business to be successful and have a competitive advantage, it is important to evaluate the company’s resources and capabilities (Pitt & Koufopoulos, 2012). Resources in a company are the productive assets owned (tangible or intangible) whereas capabilities are what the company can do with this (Grant, 2010). “Establishing competitive

The marketplace has been dynamic and competition between companies in the same industry has been increasingly intense (Ranchhod, 2004). Having dynamic capabilities contributes to a company’s “long-term survival or competitive advantage” (Johnson et al., 2008: 84). This is especially essential

The competence of the Under Armour, Nike, and The Adidas Group are energetic and can be maintained continuously. All of three companies focus on the development, marketing and distribution of branded performance apparel, footwear, and accessories for men, women and youth. In one hand, they both have a large powerful brand image and benign reputation, in the other hand,

To remain competitive a company must consider who their biggest competitors are while considering its own size and position in the industry. The company should develop a strategic advantage over their competitors’

To begin with, heterogeneity of capabilities and resources of firms, which is explained as “enduring and systematic performance differences among relatively close rivals”, provides a foundation of the resource-based view (Song, et al.,2006). The implication of this assumption is that core competence conveys the valuable and unique feature of products to customers. The RBV disagrees with the opinion that the resources are homogeneous; if homogeneity is assumed to be essential to develop a proper strategy, the strategy can be easily copied by competitors, which will ultimately result in the dissipation of above-normal rents. Conversely, the unique and fixed resources on hand will lead to outstanding performance and ultimately turn to be a competitive advantage, under the circumstances that sustainable competitive advantage is achieved in an environment where competition does not exist.

Inspired by the heritage, Adidas know that a profound understanding of the consumer and their journey in sport is essential to achieving this goal. To anticipate and respond to their needs, it continuously strives to create a culture of innovation and creativity. By harnessing this culture together with their insights and knowledge of sport, Adidas push the boundaries of products, services and processes to drive a long-term strategic advantage. This, in turn, will drive value creation for their company and

Adidas has a range workforce over 160 countries and has increasing sales of € 14.5 billion in 2014. The vision is to become the first in sporting goods industry. Successful striving toward a strategic vision requires a broader definition of an organization’s goal than pure monetary reward for shareholders and employees (Donald R. Domm, 2001). This essay focuses on Adidas sustainability (Adidas, 2014), and Porter Five Forces of Adidas; organizational strategy, cultural, external environment, workforce and technology (Baron & Kreps, 1999).

Resources are the source of the firm’s capabilities. Resources are bundled to create organisational capabilities. Some of a firm’s resources are tangible and intangible. Tangible resources are assets that can be seen and quantified. Intangible resources include assets that typically are rooted deeply in the firm’s history and have accumulated over time. Intangible resources are relatively difficult for competitors to analyse and imitate. The four types of tangible resources are financial, organisational, physical and technological. And the three types of intangible resources are human, innovation and reputational (Hanson, D., Hitt, M., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E., 2011, pp. 75-78).

1. What is adidas’ position in the athletic shoe market? How does the brand seem to be doing in this market? Position: the position of adidas has transferred from “leading supplier of soccer footwear worldwide” to “leading sport brand”. Adidas was founded in Germany in 1920. In 1995, it became a public company as well as the leading supplier of soccer footwear due to its great performance of footwear sales. In 1998, adidas began to move into the U.S. market. Adidas doubled its U.S. market share within only one year, so it hoped to continue to make big move in following years. In its way to U.S. market, adidas confront with the

Adidas is a major German sports apparel manufacturer, which was founded in 1948. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second biggest sportswear manufacturer in the world, after Nike. The company's clothing and shoe designs typically feature three parallel bars. The company revenue for 2009 was listed at €10.38 billion. The market segmentation; targeting and position play an important role in this company. This essay will use the three factors to analyze this company.

For transforming a short-run competitive advantage into a sustained competitive advantage we require resources that are heterogeneous in nature and not perfectly mobile. This translates into valuable resources that are neither perfectly imitable nor substitutable without great effort. If these conditions are fulfilled then the bundle of resources can sustain the firm's above average returns.