Adidas Managerial Style/ Systems Approach

By: Paige Hamburger

Article Summary • The first article i picked was from the Yahoo

Finance section dated to 2013. Although this article is three years old, I found that I could to a then vs. now and see if the company was successful in implementing these new managerial style. Adidas Group is a worldwide company so being successful in all of the different markets is important. Adidas group isn't only the adidas brand, in 2005 the group bought Reebok.

Summary Continued• Prior to this article coming out

Adidas brand and Reebok brand were managed under two different teams even though the adidas Group owns both. Both brands have different demographics but generally are out to do the same thing, give the consumers great quality products easily.

Concepts• Hierarchically Ordered: adidas

Group is a huge organization so obviously this system component is there. With many moving parts to the company, there has got to be some form of hierarchal structure with superiors and smaller subgroups because of the companies size this is absolutely necessary. Unlike Zappos, there are more moving parts in adidas Group from the Apparel Designers/Larger scale managers all the way down to the retail store side of Adidas/Reebok

Concepts• Permeability: The CEO,

Herbert Hainer spoke on behalf of the new managerial changes that the Adidas Group will be making. I related this to permeability because this was a decision made by the higher up people in the company. The flow of decision making obviously runs like the classical approach, vertical. One thing I found hard when determining this was I had to consider the retail stores.

concepts • Permeability continued: My article didn’t specifically

mention anything about the managerial style at the lower level. It only talked about bigger picture positions not touching on some of the everyday retail store postitions. I thought this was interesting and one question I had was how did the retail stores adjust to the higher up managerial style changes or were they not affected at all by it?

• Adidas in this article is taking some pretty big concepts and putting them to work.

• The company has recognized which brands thrived based on different elements and are now implementing what was successful into the other brands

• This is important because the company is constantly changing and evolving

• We spoke in class about if companies don't constantly change then they will eventually die out. I believe adidas is a company that continuously has change going on. Whether that be the demographic, the workplace, or the product…adidas is always switching things up.

• Bringing the two brands (adidas and reebok) under one managerial roof has proven to be successful. Making this change was a good call since reebok had been successful, implementing those techniques to Adidas will help them become even more successful than they already are.

Citation

Reuter, T. (2013, October 22). Adidas AG : Adidas Group announces management changes in Western Europe and North America. Retrieved October 15, 2016, from http://finance.yahoo.com/news/adidas-ag-adidas-group-announces-070201957.html

Summary• The next article I picked pertaining to this slide-

share is from a company called LS Retail.

• LS Retail is a software program, a Retail Point of Sales system. This software helps adidas helping businesses worldwide expand their company while increasing consumer satisfaction.

• The specific article talks about how Adidas has begun to thrive even more after using the LS Retail program

Summary Continued

• We live in a day and age that centers around technology. Adidas is a huge company with over 3000 retail stores worldwide. It only is fitting that adidas is trying out new methods and programs to achieve their goal of great quality products and even better consumer satisfaction.

https://youtu.be/6zaoclUDdjU

from the video this quote that was posted on the website

really stuck out to me,

“In retail there are constantly new trends to study and

watch out for, including omni-channel strategy. Having the

customer at the center of your retail business is vital for success. LS Retail can

support easily your growth strategy, help meet demands

and deliver results.”

Connecting to Class• Systems: this is a very literal way to look at system

within the company. The adidas group has veered away from solely relying on people to give their customers the satisfaction they need. Being such a large company and learning about constant change goes hand in hand. Adidas is showing that integrating technology into their business model and keeping up with buyer trends is the reason the company is so successful.

citation

• N. (n.d.). Adidas. Retrieved October 15, 2016, from http://www.lsretail.com/customers/adidas/

Summary • The last article i picked was from the

Wall Street Journal dated March 2015.

• At this point and time the brand believed it was in a slump, but not worldwide…in America.

• To me this was shocking. As of today in October of 2016 I see more adidas apparel, shoes, and sportswear than I have ever seen before.

• At the point in time the article was released, the US held 40% of the worlds sneaker market. This is a large number and for America not being the number one seller is kind of a big deal

• The article mentioned that the company lost some business back in 2014 due to issues going on mainly in Russia. I think this pertains to class because we talked about how external environmental issues can affect a company. The article also stated that eh US sales have fallen and the company needs to make changes if they want to reach their fullest potential.

• Adidas, which is a German based company, has had an epiphany that the way the German’s and other Europeans think is very different than the way Americans think. Now that the company has realized that, they can start to implement campaigns and products that will appeal to the correct marketplace here in America

• Branding in America is a major issue for the company to focus on since there are other large competitors…aka Nike.

• Taking matters into their own hands, Adidas began to sign contracts with Universities, and sponsoring NFL and MLB players.

• The adidas company started in Germany in 1949 which honestly wasn't that long ago compared to other companies. The fact that Adidas has been able to make such a statement name for themselves in such a short period of time is incredible.

• From a personal standpoint: I am pro adidas over nike. I think their quality is better and I enjoy their products more.

• A huge reason why I also prefer adidas is because of its availability. This has been mentioned over and over again in this project as Adidas main goal; make it easier for the consumer to get their hands on their products

• I have been visiting online websites to buy clothes for years now. With the websites I've continuously have used within those passed years 3 out of the 7 of them have added the adidas brand to their marketplace.

• Regarding the previous slide, it was exciting for me to see all of my favorite websites add adidas to their collection. Obviously what adidas wanted to do back in 2013 was get the product into the hands of their customers faster and this is a prime example of this working.

• Everywhere I go I notice more and more people wearing adidas clothing and shoes and also sports-gear. The company has truly expanded into the American marketplace and just based on personal experience I see more people wearing adidas than Nike when 4 years ago that was not the case whatsoever

Questions

• What is Adidas going to do next to keep changing their business and staying on top?

• I also want to know more about the retail level positions and how in-store employees feel about the changes that have been made within the last couple years

Emmerentze Jervell, E., & Germano, S. (2015, March 22). How Adidas Aims to Get Its Cool Back`. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-adidas-aims-to-get-its-cool-back-1427072066