Company Strategy Analysis: Adidas - Research Paper Example

Strategy refers to a unifying theme that gives coherence and direction to the actions and decisions of an individual or an organization.It is the direction and scope of an organization over a defined period and achieves organizational advantage through configuration of resources within challenging environments in order to meet the needs of the general market and fulfill the stakeholder’s expectations. It is a collective theme usually undertaken by the entire organization in relation to the daily activities undertaken within the organization, with respect to the fulfillment of the aspired present and future goals.

Strategic analysis defines the techniques, frameworks, and the concepts that are used to effectively formulate and implement effective performance strategies within any given organization. Strategy analysis comprises of two fundamental components which are the analysis of the external environment (primary industry analysis), and the internal environment analysis (analysis of the firm’s resources and capabilities) (Grant, 2005, p.4) Adidas is a global sporting goods and marketing company that designs and produces a wide variety of sports footwear and apparel.

The company was founded in 1948 by Adolf (Adi) Dassler. The company has been part of the world of sports, delivering state of-the-art sports footwear and accessories into the global markets. The company has officially formed partnership with many of the world’s biggest sports organizations such as the 2006 federation of international football association. In 1997, the company acquired the Salomon group, which was composed of the Salomon, TaylorMade, Mavic, and Bonfire brands and later changed its name to Adidas-Salomon AG (Wong, 2008, p.223). Adidas Company has had a variety of competitors within the sports markets including Nike, Reebok among other sports companies.

Company strategy Adidas Company has been strategic in terms of its entire operations worldwide. In terms of advertisements, the company adopted the use of famous sportsmen in various sporting fields to advertise its sports products and apparels, billboards, wall paintings, street furniture, magazines, web pop-ups, using the Adidas logo on sporting uniforms has greatly enabled the company penetrate the global market. The company is involved in the sourcing of numerous goods and services to other countries in terms of sporting uniforms and equipments at discount prices with a major focus on sporting activities including track and ball games.

Due to an increased demand for the company’s products, it has resulted in the acquiring of other companies such as Reebok, and TaylorMade. Company structure and processes Adidas comprises of various structures with several strategies occurring at different levels within the organization in terms of corporate (concerned with overall business purpose), business (successful competition of business in a particular market), operational (focuses on resources, processes, people, among others). The adoption of the replenishment initiative by the company is essential in providing support to the growth of the company’s retail segment and the group controlled retail space through implementation of the right processes and systems to cater for the unique retail demands.

The use of supply chain systems has improved capacity and material planning processes, which allowed large quantities of products to be produced and delivered within shorter period. The merger between Adidas and Reebok company has promoted an increased market penetration with reduced competition and has strengthened the company’s corporate strategy and accounted for 23% of sales in 2007. The sale of Salomon from Adidas in 2005 resulted in increased income to the company due to the accumulated assets and resources that had increased the return on investment of the company (Anon,