Sustainability Strategy Of Adidas

Nike has a very sophisticated sustainability strategy. The strategy is based on company’s prospects for future, to ensure that the company remains profitable and reputable, taking into consideration the social responsibility of the company (NIKE 2013). For instance, the strategy is supposed to ensure that the company gains a stable supply for the raw materials for the product manufacturing that will ensure stable supply of the products in the market at favorable prices. The strategy also targets make the company responsive to environmental concerns, aiming at reducing environmental pollution through emissions to the atmosphere (Charter, 2001). The strategy outlines the company

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.

In the article “Nike Quietly Goes Green” by Reena Jana, Nike realizes that they should keep pursuing their “go green” efforts while making sure their customers are still content with the quality and performance of the shoe. Last year, Nike debuted the Air Jordan XX3 which was made through eco-friendly manufacturing and the company experienced high customer satisfaction and growth in the market. This aligns with the approach that the company creates positive stakeholder externalities while maximizing their profit. In this article, Nike was able to maximize their profit while consumers still benefited by getting high performance shoes. In addition, there were no stakeholders that were negatively harmed such as environmentalists who were against Nike’s

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).

Nike expresses The Heroic by making the world better through sustainability. They are using a new water-free dyeing process, turning recycled bottles into performance gear, reusing old shoes and shoeboxes and are using new technology that minimizes waste. Nike states: “To help achieve our own goals and priorities, NIKE, Inc. uses a robust corporate responsibility reporting process. Reporting pushes us to share information about our sustainability commitments and then measure and make public our progress toward meeting those commitments. Through reporting, we’ve come to better understand and address our environmental footprint, especially our use of water, our creation and reuse of waste and the toxicity of materials and processes used to make our products.”

The culture of Nike is continuing to evolve with the times. The most recent change, is the “go green” movement. Not only is Nike taking care of the feet of millions, they are also taking care of our environment. Being trend savvy, Nike has used 2 billion recycled water bottles in production of their products, and 88% of their brand apparel contains organic cotton. Nike has proven continually that they are the athletic brand to be

It provides a conceptual framework that enables Adidas stakeholders — from its 50,000 employees on through to suppliers, customers and communities — to better and more easily understand, assess and realize the multinational footwear and sportswear company’s sustainability goals.

I had no clue that Nike was so into social responsibility and it is extremely impressive what they have done already. From using plastic bottles in their clothing to turning their old shoes into rubber mats at playgrounds, they have a huge impact on the world around us.

Today, according to Nike’s official website, they define their “Nike Responsibility” as: “Explore. Innovate. Scale. Collaborate. These themes define our sustainability journey, one that considers impacts across our value chain including labor, environment and communities. We 've been on this journey long enough to know that real change – long-term, lasting change – will only be possible by taking new paths and making breakthroughs.” (“Sustainable Business Report,” n.d.) Indeed, since the 1990’s Nike has made several strides toward improving their social impact.

Nike is a company that is continually evolving with the people and society. Nike engages in public policy advocacy on a range of issues affecting their business, the industry and other areas of concern. They use their voice to advocate, promote and protect our business objectives with stakeholders around the world. Nike has developed its focus on six key public policy issues which are as follows: trade, tax and intellectual property, employment, supply chain, sustainability and sport. This is an international focus as their main goal is to be consistent across the board and across the market. Although this may seem simple, it can be quite complicated in some areas such as between trade and labor, or environmental standards, trade and poverty alleviation. It has taken numerous discussions, debates and rigorous education to try and establish consistency globally and to create a balance between different interests taking into account local, regional, global interests, and cultural and political dynamics. It requires that a strong stance is taken through internal and external consultation. (public policy and advocacy , 2015)

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

A major weakness of the adidas brand is that they are currently third in the American market for athletic footwear sales. Another weakness is adidas’ recent fall in the soccer shoe market. Nike took over first place in the European soccer shoe market with its success of the Air Zoom Total 90. adidas’ final weakness that must be mentioned is their use of sweatshops. There were allegations of inhumane conditions in adidas’ Asian factories in 2000. However, adidas-Salomon

Adidas, being a multi-national enterprise contributes decently towards the global economy and society. They are aware of the laws, rules and regulations (formal institution) in addition to putting efforts to become a globally socially responsible firm. A group named Social and Environmental Affairs (SEA) is part of their sustainability efforts. Adidas has built a risk management framework and the SEA group which enhances their environment to conduct business. The group is a team consisting of persons from various functions like, engineers, environmental reviewers, human resource managers, and few former members of non-governmental groups. The team is organized into three groups spanning Asia, America and Europe and Middle East and Africa. (Adidas3, 2015). The team members are spread out across the world, which is a much needed mix from across the world for diversity. The group discusses and take resolution for issues or initiates from across various parts of the world. They are familiar with their culture and are trained how to work in a diverse culture work environment. The group provides upper management with up to date information on all the activities and social and environmental related issues from across all their business functions worldwide. The major

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 the second largest sportswear and apparels manufacturer (Dogiamis & Vijayashanker, 2009). By far, Adidas holds a market share of 22% (Dogiamis & Vijayashanker, 2009). Adidas had also registered the infamous ‘3 stripes’ as its trademark (Berntson, Jarnemo & Philipson, 2006). The founders of Adidas, Adolf and Rudolf Dassler had the vision of providing athletes with the best suited pair of shoes for their respective sports (Dogiamis & Vijayashanker, 2009). In efforts of achieving that, Adidas is had used the strategy of collaborating with important athletes to gain their insights on the products offered (Berntson, Jarnemo & Philipson, 2006). This contributes to the fact that Adidas had earned