Corporate Strategy of Adidas

Environmental, sustainability and social responsibility reports are always created for vast amounts of companies around the world. Adidas and Nike are huge competitors in the sports manufacturing industry. Adidas is the second largest manufacturer of sporting equipment and clothing in the world behind the American company known as Nike. Adidas’ global headquarters is located in Herzogenaurach, Germany while Nike’s headquarters is located in Beaverton, Oregon. Adidas was first founded in the year 1948 and Nike was first founded in 1964. These two

“The adidas Group strives to be the global leader in the sporting goods industry with brands built on a passion for sports and a sporting lifestyle” (Adidas Group, 2013). Adidas is a world-wide known corporation that is headquartered out of Herzogenaurach, Germany. Adidas specializes in manufacturing a wide range of products such as clothing, shoes and various accessories for consumers. Adidas is the second biggest sportswear apparel company in the world and the largest in Europe (Adidas Group AG, 2016). The company was founded by Adolf Dassler in the mid 1950s when he started designing shoes. The world is a competitive workplace and Adidas has many close competitors such as Nike and Under Armour. In the future, Adidas strives to keep their standards up to par and remain at the top of the industry around the world.

Adidas is a well-known sports company that manufactures shoes, sportswear and accessories. Adolf Dassler in Germany established the company in 1949. Adidas was started in a washroom and over the years triumphed the world. Recently Adidas has been going through a lot of turbulence. In the year 2014 the company stocks went down staggeringly. Adidas recently closed down close to 200 stores in Russia due to deteriorating economy. Nike has been giving Adidas a stiff competition. Adidas definitely need better planning and better leadership to give its competitors a healthy competition.

Adidas’s headquarters is located in Herzogenaurach, Germany but controls over 1,000 stores worldwide. One of Adidas’s distribution centers is based in Brantford, Ontario but due to capacity the company decided to expand and open a new distribution center in Ontario, Canada (Naiop). Adidas produces more than 660 million products for which they make up 9% of the total shoe market and 2.6% of the basketball shoe market (Highsnobiety). Adidas’ web sales reach almost a half of a billion dollars in 2014, accounting for three percent of their total revenue. The bright spot of the e-commerce was the global sales. To keep up these online sales, Adidas says they will continue to invest in the e-commerce industry by creating a faster website for users and new international markets (Internetretailer).

At Adidas “impossible is nothing”. Their mission to be the best sports company in the world along with their ability to embrace breakthrough technologies and deliver superior innovative products is a testament to that fact. This paper will focus on how Adidas is leading the disruption in the field of sports apparel and will continue doing so in the years to come. “Creating the new” is the motto of their new strategic business plan until 2020. Adidas believes that through sports they have the power to change and impact lives. To achieve this Adidas has successfully orchestrated the process of automating shoe manufacturing by establishing Speedfactories. Innovation is the essence of the company which has been demonstrated by the creation of concept sneakers like the Futurecraft 4D. Their phenomenal study and understanding of the current market and strategic technology trends can be substantiated from their collaboration with Silicon Valley based 3D printing startup, Carbon. Adidas is so deeply committed to innovation to provide their customers a fulfilling experience that they are light years ahead of their competitors. They have been successful in leveraging AI, data analytics, big data and machine learning to add value to their products. This establishes the fact as to why Adidas features in the smartest 50 companies list of 2017. Their proclivity towards innovation and consumer centric products directly aligns with Vijay Govindarajan’s 3 box principle thus

Adidas is one of the most famous manufacturers of top-quality sporting goods. It is the market leader in sporting good alongside with its competitive rival Nike. It also consists of Reebok Sportswear Company.They produce different types and variety of products to all age categories such as bags, shoes, shirts and more. The Adidas group, headquartered in Herzogenaurach (Germany) started in 18th August 1920 by Adolf Dassler. Adidas witnessed its first international success in 1954 and that is when the German have won the soccer world championship. Adidas has 169 branches worldwide and total revenue of 11.9 M Euros. Adidas is well known of sponsoring many sports events such as world cup or Olympics in addition to the use of its products

The vertical integration is arrangement that tends to keep the supply chain of a company owned by the same company

Vertical integration is a system where an organization grows its business operations into various steps on a similar creation way, such as when a manufacturer owns its supplier or distributor. Vertical integration can help organizations lessen costs and enhance efficiencies by diminishing transportation costs and decreasing turnaround time, among different favorable circumstances (Clara, 2016). Notwithstanding, in some cases it is more viable for an organization to depend on the set up mastery and economies of scale of different sellers as opposed to attempting to wind up vertically integrated. It can be a forward integration or backward integration or a combination (Berkowitz, 2011). For example, acquiring a supplier or distributor in the

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).

Currently, Nike stand as a leading figure in producing high quality sports and fitness equipment and apparels. Bearing just a simple start of selling Japanese imported shoes from a station wagon has transformed

Adidas is a manufacturing sportswear in B2C, with many points of sale or online sales. Adidas wants to be close to customers, and created innovating concept stores, as explained further in our file.

It seems Adidas works to be transparent with the global community, they are striving towards meeting all customers’ needs, in all walks of life, while giving back to communities. They follow a corporate mission that reflects human resources, social and environmental affairs, and community affairs; thus, good corporate social responsibility

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 Group, as one of the world’s retail leaders in sportswear, has as primary target the sports participants, including high performance athletes, as well as non-athletes who are inspired by those at the highest level of their sport, and those that really love sports as part of their lives.

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.