Adidas: Will Restructuring Its Business Lineup Allow It to Catch Nike?
Adidas: Will Restructuring Its Business Lineup Allow It to Catch Nike?
I. CASE OVERVIEW For almost two decades throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Adidas became the best-selling brand of sporting goods in the world. Founded in 1920 in Herzogenaurach, North Bavarian, Germany by Adolph (Adi) Dassler, Adidas then well known for pioneering athletic footwear with kind of revolutionary invention in athletic footwear and equipment in which Adi Dassler alone accumulating 700 patents and property rights worldwide by the time of his death in 1978. The company has long history in footwear business since founded in 1920. By 1924, Adolph Dassler’s brother Rudolph Dassler join to the business where two brothers then formed new shoe factory named Dassler Brother Shoe Factory that specialized in innovative sports shoes. Instead of focused in product innovation, the Dasslesr Factory were also innovators in the field of marketing, which sponsoring sport events such as in Amsterdam’s Olympic games in 1928 and Berlin’s Olympic games in 1936, where most of athlete wearing Dassler’s sport shoes during the competition. The name of Adidas adopted from the nick name and the first three letter of Adolph Dassler for himself new shoes factory, after the separation of the Dassler’s company in 1949 caused by bitter feud between two brothers. In 1998, the Adidas company diversify its business through acquiring Salomon, SA, which has several business unit consist of Salomon ski division was the leading producer of ski equipment, TaylorMade Golf was the second largest seller of golf equipment, Mavic was the leading producer of high-performance bicycle wheels and rims, Bonfire snowboard apparel and Cliché skateboard equipment. In the early assessment before acquisition, all of the Salomon line business looks so tempted and prospected by the didas management for strengthening the business in order to catch Nike, the emerging competitors in foot wear business. But, the broad ranging of
I. CASE OVERVIEW For almost two decades throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Adidas became the best-selling brand of sporting goods in the world. Founded in 1920 in Herzogenaurach, North Bavarian, Germany by Adolph (Adi) Dassler, Adidas then well known for pioneering athletic footwear with kind of revolutionary invention in athletic footwear and equipment in which Adi Dassler alone accumulating 700 patents and property rights worldwide by the time of his death in 1978. The company has long history in footwear business since founded in 1920. By 1924, Adolph Dassler’s brother Rudolph Dassler join to the business where two brothers then formed new shoe factory named Dassler Brother Shoe Factory that specialized in innovative sports shoes. Instead of focused in product innovation, the Dasslesr Factory were also innovators in the field of marketing, which sponsoring sport events such as in Amsterdam’s Olympic games in 1928 and Berlin’s Olympic games in 1936, where most of athlete wearing Dassler’s sport shoes during the competition. The name of Adidas adopted from the nick name and the first three letter of Adolph Dassler for himself new shoes factory, after the separation of the Dassler’s company in 1949 caused by bitter feud between two brothers. In 1998, the Adidas company diversify its business through acquiring Salomon, SA, which has several business unit consist of Salomon ski division was the leading producer of ski equipment, TaylorMade Golf was the second largest seller of golf equipment, Mavic was the leading producer of high-performance bicycle wheels and rims, Bonfire snowboard apparel and Cliché skateboard equipment. In the early assessment before acquisition, all of the Salomon line business looks so tempted and prospected by the didas management for strengthening the business in order to catch Nike, the emerging competitors in foot wear business. But, the broad ranging of