Adidas Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Adidas - Case Study Example The paper will then focus on the SWOT analysis and highlight the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that face the company. In addition, the paper will go further to evaluate the implications of the SWOT analysis on the current marketing position, current business strategy and changes that should be implemented in order for Adidas to attain competitive edge in the global market. The paper will highlight how the company can use its strengths to exploit the market opportunities and turn the threats and weaknesses in to strengths. Finally, the paper will make recommendations on necessary changes to the current business strategy in order to ensure higher profitability.Introduction Adidas Group (Adidas) is a leading player in the global sporting industry and engages in the design, development, and marketing of sporting apparel, accessories and footwear (Blakey, 2011). Adidas mainly targets five sporting fields that are basketball, football, training, running and outdoor. The history of Adidas can be traced back to 1925 when founder, Adolf ‘Adi’ Dassler created Adidas after identifying the need of high performance athletic shoes. The gold medals of 1928 in Amsterdam and subsequent medals in Berlin in 1936 by Jesse Owens were the initial milestones that created the impetus to engage in more production of sporting shoes. Adidas 3-stripes shoe of 1949 attained the company a global recognition while German national football victory against Hungarian in 1954 World Cup finals made Adidas a household name across the world (Blakey, 2011). In 1970, Adidas conquered the football market through its Telstar official ball in FIFA World Cup since the ball enabled a higher visibility on the Black and White televisions. In 1971, Rockport Company was established in order to sell advanced technologies and materials in the casual footwear in the US market. However, the death of Adi Dassler in 1978 did not affect the company since his son, Horst and mother Kath e continued with the vision of the founder in making Adidas a modern sporting apparel and shoes provider. Continued innovation saw the development of the micropacer that provided athletics with performance statistics (Blakey, 2011). Adidas sold it stock to the public in 1995 and continued with its efforts of producing stylish and quality sporting apparel and shoes for the sporting industry. In 1996, Adidas equipped over 6,000 athletics from over 30 countries and experienced more than 50 percent increase in apparel sales. In 1997, the company acquired Salomon Group including TaylorMade, Bonfire and Mavic brands and renamed the company Adidas-Salomon AG. In 2004, the company partnered with Stella McCartney and later initiated plans of selling certain business segments like