Under Armour, Inc.

Under Armour’s rapid rise in the sports apparel industry under its founder and CEO Kevin Plank has surprised many. Plank has turned a company that he started in his grandmother’s basement into a powerful opposing force to Nike. The company’s competitive advantage comes through its focus on performance, and its products have been well received by athletes. The company currently enjoys a strong position as professional athletes and movie and video game creators clamor for its products.

Companies like Under Armour, Nike and Adidas/Reebok have high threats of substitute´s products. These companies share the sport apparel industry and are vulnerable to competitive pressure from the actions of buyers whenever they view that their products can be substituted for others. The availability of substitutes invites the costumer to compare performance, features, and ease of use as well as price. Under Armour’s major competitors are Nike and Adidas/Reebok because they have a similar or competing product offerings. The top sport apparel brands offer similar products and that is why each one of them needs to keep a high standard and produce good quality products in order for customers to keep buying their product.

a. Under Armour’s approach towards innovation is very unique, they think and plan out their projects thoroughly in order to create a one of a kind product that could be appealing to their consumers. The company has been extremely progressive throughout the years in order to stay ahead of the other competitive companies in their targeted industry. By constantly updating and coming up with different product lines, such as compression shirts and cleats, Under Armour is able to compete with other top athletic wear company’s in their market. If

Under Armour’s business strategy towards market segmentation is broken down into three different basis; Age, Gender, Uses. The first major market segmentation is by age, different age groups demand different products and Under Armour has produced certain merchandise to appeal to each generation. The second is Gender, both male and female respectively make up roughly 50% of the market equally.To appeal to females UA produces apparel in brighter colo, as a fashion forward athletic wear. While for males they they cater toward masculine vibe of tight fitting and resistant to wear and tear. Lastly, UA segments by the range of uses for their products.

According to Under Armour’s website, their mission is “To make all athletes better through passion, design and the relentless pursuit of innovation”. This mission statement reflects Under Armour’s values and belief in growth through innovation. Through their detailed brand image and focus on brand loyalty, they have been able to support strong growth in a highly competitive industry. Under Armour conveys a desire to prove themselves as a long lasting competitor and leader in the performance apparel industry.

Under Armour is in the Textile- Apparel Clothing industry, in the consumer goods sector. The market has been driven by economic recovery, new product offerings and a

As per the instructions, I believe that while I may not have the answers to what innovations are needed, I’m confident that the employees of Under Armour do, and it’s a matter of inspiring them to propose innovative ideas. Currently, their brand statement states “To make all athletes better through passion, science and the relentless pursuit of innovation.” Under Armour has shown substantial year on year growth in revenues, exceeding the growth in the global apparel market.

Consistency tends to be the best assets that Under Armour has to their advantage. According to Plank, he states that the success of a business, "starts with a good product," and he continued to say that after you have a good product, "use front-end hustle with back-end muscle." Due to this consistent product that Under Armour produces, it has obtained a heavy customer loyalty. Sales and revenue speak for themselves. In 1996, Under Armour had revenues of fifty thousand dollars compared to 200 million in 2004.

1. We chose to study Under Armour because of their explosive growth over the last five years in a very competitive industry. From a marketing standpoint, it is quite apparent that the company is doing well and one could assume that because the firm appears to have had great success in aggressively expanding their market share, they are by extension creating value for investors. By studying the financial information, we aimed to confirm or deny whether Under Armour is indeed creating value.

Since the evolution of the company, Under Armour rapidly expands their business while some internal problems still exist. For example, unprotected intellectual property right issue and supplier relationship management. Also, the current business strategy was focusing on marketing, international expansion, product differentiation, and other expenses while they have weak financial management. These will certainly pose future problems to the company.

Identifying influencing factors of a company’s macro-environment helps in the strategic development and management within a company. The macro-environment outlines an industry and the competitive environment as seen in figure 3.1, (Gamble, Peteraf, Thompson, 39). Within the macro-environment there are the political factors, economic conditions, sociocultural forces, technological factors, environment forces, and legal/regulatory factors. All of these factors blanket the habitat an industry and its competition thrive in. Inside the industry and competitive environment there are five factors that influence an individual company. The five factors are suppliers, rival firms, new entrants, buyers, and substitute products. The biggest impact on a company are these five factors. For example, Under Armour focuses on their industry and competitive environment to survive and grow. Their strategy to win over the market share from Nike and Adidas consists of expanding a stable and original brand within record time, taking an innovative approach to their product line-up and brand-name appeal where the market seemed to be barren, and lastly, the company enters in the foreign market early on to establish its brand and influence markets outside of the US.

Under Armour, founded in 1996 by CEO Kevin Plank, is a non-financial company that is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Under Armour supplies an array of sports equipment, clothing, and sports accessories, but mainly focuses on hi-tech innovative products for athletes. Plank, a former University of Maryland football player created the idea of Under Armour in his grandmother’s basement. Plank noticed during a football practice that his compression shorts would stay dry, however, he had to continuously change his t-shirts due to excessive sweat stains. This finding led Plank to create a t-shirt prototype that would incorporate the same sweat combating microfibers that his compression shorts contained. This prototype led to the now well-known Under Armour dry fit sports shirt.

The rapid success of Under Armour is not a mistake. The company dominates the performance apparel category. According to Founder Kevin Plank, “The mission of Under Armour is to make technically advanced products that are engineered with superior fabric construction, to provide proven innovation available to the masses-aimed at making athletes perform better” (UnderArmour.com). Under Armour uses many marketing initiatives including athlete endorsement, product placement, and popular culture which illustrates the success of Under Armour.

Under Armour is currently one of the leading companies in the sports apparel industry whose mission is to “Make all athletes better through passion, science, and the relentless pursuit of innovation”.1 When Under Armour first broke into the sports apparel industry it was a disruptive pioneer that initially made the two giants, Nike and Adidas, a little weary. Under Armour revolutionized the sports apparel industry by creating apparel that used synthetic materials as an alternative to natural fibers, such as cotton, or other materials, such as polyester. This all-important switch to these materials resulted in a 2“shirt that provided compression and wicked perspiration off your skin rather than absorb it. A

Under Armour, Inc. is an American sports clothing and Accessories Company. The company is a supplier of sportswear and casual apparel. Under Armour began offering footwear in 2006.