The document discusses Adidas' managerial style and systems approach. It summarizes several articles about changes Adidas has made to better manage its brands and adapt to different markets. Specifically, it discusses Adidas bringing its Adidas and Reebok brands under one management team, implementing a new retail software system to improve the customer experience, and efforts to boost sales in the US market by signing sponsorship deals and appealing more to American consumers. The document analyzes how these changes help Adidas adapt to its large, global scale while continuously evolving its business model.

1. Adidas Managerial Style/
Systems Approach
By: Paige Hamburger

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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?

7. • 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

8. • 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.

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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.”

13. 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.

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

15. 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

16. • 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

17. • 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.

18. • 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.

19. • 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

20. 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

21. 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