Comparison of strategy of Nike and Adidas Essay

1.0 IntroductionJohnson, Scholes and Whittington (2005, p.9) defines system as the way in which an presidency plans to use its elections effectively in read to gain a competitive advan sheete over the prospicient term. In new(prenominal) words the c argonfully planned guidelines that organisations fol modest, which contrastiveiates them from other organisations. Mirow (2005,p.10) suggests that dodging of Amazon.com,Inc., a multinational electronic commerce high society headquartered in Seattle, pore on providing customers with low price, convenience and a large-minded selection of merc openise. They focused on this scheme and started their website in 1995 as an online word of honor retailer. They slowly expanded their products and atomic number 18 before capacious an online shopping website with the largest product supplies online earning r thus farues in billions. Hence we can onlyt against how important strategy is for the success of an organisation. in that locat ion are three aims of strategy, which are corporal aim, problemlevel and useable level strategy.Strickland and Thompson (2003, pp.50, 55 and 56) suggests that the corporate level strategy is the strategy which is determines the boilers suit purpose and prospect of an organisation and reflects on how to add value to different parts of the organisation. The business level strategy provides guidelines on how to excel competitors or survive in a particular grocery and the manipulational strategy is the contri justion made by the resources, people and processes to the business and corporate level strategies. Companies strive with their strategies in order to become the drawing card in their peculiar(prenominal) industry or grocery. Nike and Adidas are the top devil competitors in the footwear, attire and accessories segment of the textile industry. The focus of the latter part of this report is on how these competitors compete with each other using their strategies.2.0 Lite rature reviewIn order to fully understand astir(predicate) strategy, it is mandatory to know about the five generic competitive strategies. The five generic strategies accord to Strickland and Thompson (2003, p.150) are low-cost supplier strategy, in which the organisation provides goods or service at a low cost, broad differentiation strategy, in which the organisation differentiates its products or function devising it assemblage to a vast range of customers, ruff-cost provider strategy, in which the organisation provides goods or services of high quality making it worth the amount they are charging which is spurn than their competitors, a focused strategy based on lower cost, in which the organisations focus on a narrower buyer segment and provides them their goods or services at a lower cost than its competitors and focused strategy based on differentiation, in which the organisation focuses on a narrower buyer segment and bring forths product customized gibe to their needs.3.0 Backgrounds of Nike and AdidasIMAGE uniform resource locator http//digesting foundation.wordpress.com/tag/nike/3.1 smart set overview of Nike fit in to (www.nikebiz.com) NIKE,Inc. was founded in 1972 by Phil Knight and flier Bowerman. It designs, foodstuffs and distributes gymnastic footwear, enclothe, equipment and accessories for a vast range of sports and fitness activities and are currently the foundations leading club in the acrobatic footwear, fit out and accessories segment in the textile industry. It is based in Beaverton,Oregon and has subsidiaries such(prenominal) as Cole Haan, which designs, markets and distributes luxury items such as blank space, handbags and coats. Their subsidiaries similarly include Converse,Inc. and Hurley multinational LLC and Umbro,Ltd. The revenue of Nike,Inc. as at May 2010 is around US$ 19014 trillion according to (www.biz.yahoo.com).IMAGE uniform resource locator http//www.soccercleats101.com/2009/10/07/adidas-predator- x-get-ready/3.2 companion overview of Adidas Group check to (www.adidas-group.com) Adidas, founded in 1949 by Adofl Dassler, is a sports apparel manufacturing company. Starting with athletic footwear such as visitationning property and soccer stead, they currently manufacture a wide range of products such as bags, watches, shirts and accessories. They are the second largest activewear manufacturer, behind Nike,Inc. Adidas Group is made up of three companies, Reebok, TaylorMade Adidas Golf company and Rockport. The revenue of Adidas as at May 2010 is 14878 US$ Million according to (www.biz.yahoo.com).4.0 Critical Incidents that occurred in the aside4.1 Critical incidents that touch on NikeNike, Inc. had gone through with(predicate) assorted incidents which had an impact on their success. According to Dermesropian, Drage, Grigaite and Lopez (2004,p.3) in 1972, Nike persuaded marathon runners at Olympic Tracks to wear their fit outs which was an innovative strategy as it resul ted in strong advertising when some of the runners were the top finishers and favoriteity of Nike continued to grow end-to-end the 70s. In 1979 Nike had 50% of the US running shoe market. In 1988 Nike introduced their noteworthy slogan Just do it and acquired a company c eithered Cole Haan. They sponsored many known athletes such as Michael Jordan, a famous basketball role histrion and tiger Woods, an excellent young golf player. During 1992 Nike acquired Canstar sports which included the hockey equipment shaping machine Bauer and opened its human race-class Niketown store. In early 1995 Nike acquired a license to puke its logotype on NFL uniformswhich resulted in strong marketing.Air Jordan IMAGE uniform resource locator http//www.myair lieu.com/air-jordans/air-jordan-xx3- formalizedly-unveiled.html They launched a vernal set called Jordan, in 1997, which was influenced by the famous basketball player Michael Jordan and one of the most famous shoes of that provoker were called Air Jordan. near incidents harmed Nike during 1998 as they had to cut 1,200 jobs due to the fall of sales in Asia and the petition of athletic shoes fell in 1999. Nike wanted to diversify and in the course of study 2000 they shifted a little towards the technological and electronic sector and introduced athletic electronics, which included MP3 players, heart monitors, and two-way radios.Products of Nike in the BCG matrix IMAGE URL http//www.robmillard.com/ autobiography/BCG%20Matrix%20Big1.html They opened their first Nikegoddess store in California in 2001. They acquired Hurley International, a distributor of action sports apparels and lost their license to put up their logos on NFL uniforms to Reebok in 2002. In 2003 they acquired one of their competitors called Converse but it continued to engage independently in order to sustain the scars popular name.4.2 Critical incidents that affected AdidasAdidas also faced various occurrences in order to attain the appel lation of the second largest athletic footwear sportswear and accessories manufacturer. Adidas Samba IMAGE URLhttp//www. trounceshoesmen.com/adidas.Men.Samba.Classic.Soccer.Shoe/detail.htmlAccording to (www.adidas-group.com) Adidas registered as a company in 1949 with the three stripes logo as their trademark. (www.footballshirt subtlety.com) explains that in the year 1950 they produced the Samba all-round soccer shoes which are even now considered to be the best classic dressing shoe today. One of the biggest successes of Adidas was in 1952 when it was the most common shoe brand worn at the Olympic Gamesheld in Helsinki. They made the first hatch shoes with removable spikes. Emil Zatopek, in Adidas shoes, won three gold medals in one week creating a huge impact on the painting of the brand.German National Team wearing Adidas in the 1954 football world instill IMAGE URL http//soccernet.espn.go.com/world- instill/feature?id=696762&cc=4716&ver= spherical In 1954 Adidas became famo us all over the world as the German national team was victorious in the football world cup for the first time, wearing Adidas shoes with screw-in spikes. In 1955 Adidas came up a shoe with exchangeable spikes which became really popular among the high jumpers. In 1964 Billy Mills won the mens 10,000 meters wearing the cutting Adidas shoe which was considered the lightest shoe weighing 135 grams. In 1969 Adidas produced the worlds first injection molded multi stud soles of polyurethane, which gave a one year guarantee on the soles. Adidas began employment of balls in 1961 and in 1970 their football was the decreed ball of the football world cup. In 1971 the famous Fight of the century where Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought with each other, twain of them wore special boxing shoes designed by Adidas.Products of Adidas in the BCG Matrix IMAGE URL http//www.robmillard.com/archives/BCG%20Matrix%20Big1.htmlAdidas Copa Mundial IMAGE URL http//www.footballbootroom.com/Adidas-Copa-Mu ndial In 1979, Adidas produced Copa Mundial, which even today is still the worlds best selling soccer shoe. In 1986 Adidas introduced Azteca, the first synthetic world cup matchball in the world. However, in 1993 Adidas took over Sports Inc., a US based sports marketing company and Adidas was loosing US$100 one million million a year. Robert Louis Dreyfus had become the new president of Adidas and he downsized the German staff and went subcontracting to China. Adidas once had 70% market share in the US and it fell to 2% in 1993. In 1994 Adidas made a comeback by producing the revolutionary soccer shoe called the Predator during the soccer world cup in the USA. They went public in 1995 and acquired the Salmon Group which consisted of the brands TaylorMade, Mavicand Bonfire in 1997. The new company is named Adidas-Salmon AG. They were the first sporting goods company to chosen as the official sponsor of a soccer world cup in 1998 when they sponsored the 1998 FIFA World cup in France. Adidas Predator mania IMAGE URL http//www.produktenews.ch/newsflashartikel.cfm?key=179710 In March 2002 Adidas launched ClimaCool a footwear with a dissemination system and introduced the new Predator Mania boots and jerseys with the dynamic layering concept in the 2002 FIFA world cup with their own official ball called the Fevernova. They sold over 6 million footballs and more than 1.5 million jerseys and half a million of the Predator Mania that year. In 2006 Adidas became the official partner, supplier and licensee for the FIFA world cup to be held in 2006, 2010 and 2014. They acquired Reebok International in the same year. 5.0 Comparison of the strategies of the companies5.1 Strategies of NikeIn order to become the worlds leading designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel and accessories, Nike followed many strategies. Their corporate level strategy, according to Dermesropian, Drage, Grigaite and Lopez (2004,p.15) is their focus on innovation and emphasis on their research and development department in order to be economic in the long run and they do their best to produce footwear, apparel and athletic equipment that reduce or eliminate injury, help in athletic performance and maximize comfort. They continue to expand their operation in the USA, Asia Pacific, Europe, arrangement East, Africa and the American regions trying to reach as many customers as possible. Their business level strategy is a combination of the best cost provider and broad differentiation strategy, but more emphasis is put on the best cost provider strategy. They rely to a great extent on strategic outsourcing and most of their products are manufactured outside the United States.One of the main(prenominal) reasons behind their success following the cost leadership strategy is their drawn-out network grammatical construction that allows them to cancel their alliance with any company that fails to detect their monetary standards. They work very closely w ith their suppliers which allow them to produce their goods at a very low price and of superiorquality with the newest engineering science which makes them the market leader and the rest put one across to try producing standardized goods close to their standard in order to survive in the market. They work very intemperate in their marketing strategies and which one of the primary reasons behind its success.Fig.1Fig.2Fig.3Players who wear Nike Fig.1) Cristiano Ronaldo IMAGE URL http//s702.photobucket.com/albums/ww24/bleedingblue97/?action=viewt=Cristiano_Ronaldo_Manchester_United.jpg&newest=1 Fig.2) Michael Jordan IMAGE URL http//www.ionlinephilippines.com/2009/12/michael-jordan-look-alike-michael-jordan-imposter-video/ Fig.3) Tiger Woods IMAGE URL http//www.dailyworldbuzz.com/tiger-woods-still-has-support-of-nike-gatorade-and-gillette/4970/ Nike hired famous basketball player Michael Jordan, tennis player Serena Williams and Tiger Woods who signed a seven year contract in order t o be the spokesperson of Nike. In 2003 they spent around US$ 32.4 million on Net TV commercials and some other US$ 39.8 for magazine ads. In order to become the market leader one has to follow a rigid and innovative strategy but to remain as the market leader the strategy has to be sustainable.According to (www.bizjournals.com) on a report published by Nike, suggest that they swallow planned five major programs in order to keep their corporate level strategy sustainable. In order to sustain in the long run Nike is now emphasizing more on the concerns about orbiculate warming. They accommodate decided to focus more on their product design process, eliminating toxics and brags wherever possible, start a GreenXchange web marketplace to share intellectual property which take a shit been designed to act as a gas in green development, establish a lean manufacturing and human resource focus in order to acquire a more honorable supply chain, establish a social program which comb ines education and sports programs for the trio world countries and establish a new group call the telephone circuit for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy.5.2 Strategies of AdidasThe strategies of both these sports giants are very similar but Adidasfocuses more the broad differentiation strategy. According to (www.adidas-group.com) the corporate level strategy of Adidas also focuses on innovation, trying to produce new products, services and processes in order to cope up with the competition. In 2009 the Adidas Group strategically decided to move from a vertically integrated brand structure into a functional multi-rand structure for the Reebok and Adidas brands. This created a global sales function which were responsible for commercial activities and a global brands function which were responsible for the marketing of both brands. The global sales function was also split into two departments, wholesale and retail, which catered to the various needs of both these business models . This was done in order to sustain their corporate level strategy for the long run so that these divisions could emphasize and work hard in their respective departments in order to make the most of their efforts. This led to the elimination of regional supply and moved towards more direct communication between the local markets and the global functions.They implemented a multi-brand strategy by having a diverse brand portfolio which allowed them to cater all segments of the market from players to nigh everyone. This helped them to keep a unique(p) identity and concentrate on their core competencies. Adidas focused their investments in the best marketing and distribution channels in different countries by critically evaluating the consumer buying behaviors and their constant struggle to secure prime shelf space. They have also embraced e-commerce in order to become more efficient and appeal to more customers and make purchasing much more easily brotherly for them. Their supply c hain is closely communicated and thus it helps them to customize their products which appeal to a wide range of customers. The organizational culture of Adidas group obligates employees to be innovative.This culture forces them to produce goods which are highly innovative and with the use of the current technology their products have a very good quality. According to (ar2001.adidas-salomon.com) using latest technologies they produce products which enhances performances of players and they focus on sports such as football, tennis, basketball and even training shoes which are used by anyone with the ability to run. Their new technologies have lead to the production of Climacool, a shoe with a ventilation system and a3 a shoe with an energy management system that guides and drives an athletes footthrough each stride.Fig.4Fig.5Fig.6 notable players who wear Adidas Fig.4) Zinedine Zidane IMAGE URL http//s670.photobucket.com/albums/vv70/tomdavies99/?action=viewt=09_zinedine_zidane_dpa_3 00.jpg&newest=1 Fig.5) Kaka IMAGE URL http//soccerpitch.co.za/tag/real-madrid/ Fig.6) Kobe Bryant IMAGE URL http//family-fitness.mattters.com/2010/7/2/couldnt-waitAdidas Trefoil logo IMAGE URL http//free-extras.com/images/adidas_logo-658.htm Adidas has world class players who wear their products such as Zinedine Zidane of France, Alessandro Del Piero of Italy and Kobe Bryant an NBA champion who is a bolt icon for basketball lovers. They also concentrate on their classic items, acquaint and redesign them under their Trefoil logo.5.3 Comparison of the strategies of Nike and AdidasAccording to (http//comparisonz.com) Nike and Adidas have almost similar strategies but different implementation methods. Both the companies concentrate heavily on technology and strive to produce new and innovative products. Nike focuses on the American markets whereas Adidas focuses on the European market. Nike does not have any production plants as they only design, distribute and market their products a nd hence they outsource to various countries in Asia, mainly Taiwan and Korea, which outsource their production to China, Indonesia and Vietnam. Adidas on the other hand, carry out all their production in Germany and recently has adopted Nikes outsourcing policy by outsourcing to Asian countries.Nike and Adidas both follow a premium pricing strategy which according to Kotler (2003, p.272) is a strategy where companies frivol away a premium price for their products. Their competition is always intense and according to Anderson (2010) during the world cup 2010 Nike launched the popular write the next, three small advertisement featuring world cup stars which was a major hit on Youtube and Adidas replied with their two minute video with celebrities like Snoop Doggand Daft hoodlum into a famous scene from the movie Star Wars. Nike sponsored nine teams whereas Adidas sponsored 12 teams.Worlds Largest LED by Nike IMAGE URL http//johannesburgbc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/nikefootball-del ivers-theEven though Adidas was the official sponsor of the World cup 2010, Nike attached an LED demonstration to a 30 story skyscraper in Johannesburg where soccer fans could write brief messages using popular social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook and Nike put up 100 messages on the side of the walls every night.Adidas adiPURE III Nike Tiempo electIMAGE URL http//soccerlens.com/shirts/nike-vs-adidas-buying-football-shoes-in-2010/6410/ Umair (2010) compares the constant rivalry between Nike and Adidas using their products. During the world cup Nike launched an Elite series for the 2010 world cup called Nike Tiempo Legend Elite which had customized shoes worn by famous football players such as Christiano Ronaldo and Cesc Fabregas. Adidas on the other hand, launched a new collection called Adidas Adipure for the world cup 2010 which also had customized shoes worn by famous players such as Kaka and Lionel Messi. In soccer Adidas shoes are worn by famous players suc h as Zinedine Zidane, Kaka and Lionel Messi, whereas Nike shoes are worn by Christiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and the original Ronaldo. In basketball Nike shoes have been used by Michael Jordan and Adidas shoes have been worn by Kobe Bryant. 6.0 Future Plans of Nike and AdidasIt is easy to become the market leader or the market challenger for organisations but sustainability is the primary concern and hence organisations focus of the sustainability by coming up with strategies that will make their position sustainable in the long run. According to (www.environmentalleader.com) Nikes future plans are to focus on the environment and production of eco friendly products. They mentioned in their 2005 and 2006 merged Responsibility Report that they will become carbon neutral by 2011 by reducing their Caron Dioxide emissions. They have decidedto design all Nike brand footwear in ways through which they can reduce waste production during product design and forwarding. They will eliminate t he use of inconstant organic compounds and use more environmental friendly material in their products and be carbon neutral by 2011. Adidas on the other hand became the official sportswear partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games.The London Organising commissioning for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOGOC) has few regulations which all of its partners are obligated to follow. These obligations are focused towards the environment. Adidas, be a partner of LOGOC has to follow all these regulations as their future plans are to be the official sponsor of almost all major events in the world, and in order to achieve this goal their strategy is to produce environment friendly goods as well. They have to ensure that all their products are produced with environment friendly materials, which would protect the human health and the environment and their packaging should also be produced with materials that can be recycled. Hence we can see that both the future plans of Nike and Adid as are quite similar.7.0 ConclusionThe main fragment that determines an organisations success or failure is the strategy it follows. either industry is vast and the competition is also fierce and in order to survive in the competition organisations must devise innovative strategies. Nike and Adidas have started their journey decades ago and they have struggled but sustained their positions Nike as the market leader and Adidas as the market challenger. Various incidents have occurred in the past to both the companies which were both good and bad, but it was the strategies that helped them survive and sustain their positions. The strategies of both these companies are quite similar and Adidas is not far behind from Nike, but any small mistake by Nike, might make them the market challenger and Adidas the market leader.Nike has to be very certain while implementing their strategies because Adidas is very close to becoming the market leader. Nikes initial strategy of being just the pr oduct designer, distributor and marketer gave them the competitive edge against Adidas, because their investments were low compared to Adidas as they have production plants, but Nike should be very careful to sustain their market position.8.0 List of referencesBooksJohnson,G., Scholes,K. and Whittington,R.(2005) Exploring Corporate Strategy Text and Cases. 7th Edition. Prentice Hall. Thompson,A.A., and Strickland,A,J.(2003) Strategic Management Concept and cases. 13th edition. McGraw Hills. Kotler,P. ( 2003)Marketing Management, Eleventh Edition, Pearson Education.Websites(2010) NIKE, Inc. Company Profile, URLhttp//biz.yahoo.com/ic/14/14254.html (accessed 29 revered 2010) (2009) Adidas Group History, URLhttp//www.adidas-group.com/en/ourgroup/ accounting/history.aspx (accessed 29 opulent 2010) (2010) Nikebiz Company Overview, URLhttp//www.nikebiz.com/company_overview/ (accessed 29 marvellous 2010) (2010) Adidas AG Company Profile, URLhttp//biz.yahoo.com/ic/92/92632.html (accessed 29 August 2010) (2010) The history of Adidas, URLhttp//www.footballshirtculture.com/2006102796/history/adidas-football-shirt-history.html (accessed 29 August 2010) (2010) Strategy, URLhttp//www.adidas-group.com/en/ourgroup/strategy (accessed 29 August 2010)/ Strategy Adidas, URLhttp//ar2001.adidas-salomon.com/adidassalomon2001/strat_adidas/ (accessed 29 August 2010) (2010) Nike vs. Adidas Compare Side by Side, URLhttp//comparisonz.com/comparisons/100305/nike-vs-adidas/ (accessed 29 August 2010) (2009) Adidas 2009 Sustainability review, URLhttp//ser2009.adidas-group.com/suppliers/3_4.html (accessed 29 August 2010)Articles(2010) Nike plans to be Carbon neutral by 2011, URLhttp//www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/31/nike-plans-to-be-carbon-neutral-by-2011 (accessed 29 August 2010) Umair,A.(2010) Nike vs Adidas Buying football shoes in 2010,