Category Archives: Strategy Updates

TaylorMade-adidas Golf Drives Hole-In-One Careers

Steve FogartyNovember 7, 2012 3:57 pmStrategy Updates

An interview with TaylorMade’s Head of HR – Joe Walsh

If you are familiar with the adidas Group mission you probably know that the adidas Group’s indelible mark in this world is to be the global leader in the sporting goods industry with brands built around a passion for sports and a sporting lifestyle. You will also find over forty thousand people with a passion for making the world a better place through sport. This gives adidas Group employees a sense of purpose. Our leaders know we also must create the best workplace and working culture so adidas Group employees can thrive and have the energy and motivation to achieve our mission. Therefore we have a goal to be a top employer in every market we operate in.

Reviewing the first year after adidas’ Five Ten acquisition

Frank Thomas (Moderator)November 5, 2012 5:11 pmBusiness Operations, Strategy Updates

368 days ago the adidas Group announced the acquisition of outdoor specialist Five Ten. It was a well-planned move to expand adidas Outdoor’s activities into a complementary segment of the outdoor market. The acquisition was much acclaimed by the Outdoor community. When I was interviewing Rolf Reinschmidt (Senior Vice President adidas Outdoor) a year ago he pointed out that the real work was still to come. He was referring to the process of integrating the formerly privately owned brand Five Ten into the adidas Group – a globally operating, leading company in the sporting goods industry that is constantly moving at high speed. In the following interview, Rolf looks back at the last 12 months. He identifies three key-areas he and his team are addressing to make the most out of the new alliance between adidas and Five Ten: ‘people’, ‘culture’ as well as ‘systems and processes’.

adidas NEO gets the “Bieber Fever”

Kimberly WallengrenOctober 16, 2012 4:20 pmStrategy Updates

The worldwide success of Justin Bieber appears to show no limitations. As he continues to wow the world as one of its most powerful entertainment figures while attracting the spirit and passion of one of the largest and most dedicated fan bases on earth, he has now also become the global style icon of adidas NEO Label. Let me give you some insights how the partnership developed and what it means for NEO.

“adidas drops into snowboarding” (Click-Tip)

Frank Thomas (Moderator)October 12, 2012 4:25 pmStrategy Updates

Today, adidas announced that it will extend its reach in Snowboarding with the addition of five new professional snowboarders to the adidas athlete family. Kazu Kokubo, Eric Jackson, Helen Schettini, Forest Bailey and Keegan Valaika are joining Jake Blauvelt who signed earlier in the year and whose signature après shred boot was launching this month. I am personally very excited about this development as I am a passionate snowboarder myself. I am actually still in summer-mode but when I saw Jake’s “Naturally” video episodes for the first time, I suddenly felt the strong desire to grab by board, call some friends and hit the road to go snowboarding. “Transworld Business” interviewed Jess Weinstein, Global Communication Manager Marketing, and Chris Hotell, adidas Snowboarding Team Manager, in connection with the launch. Hotell explains that the whole idea with the team is collaboration and using the rider’s voice to share what adidas Snowboarding is all about. Very interesting read! Check it out here!

What makes a great plan reality (and what we can learn from adidas Group’s Route 2015)

Frank Thomas (Moderator)September 25, 2012 4:55 pmBusiness Operations, Strategy Updates

John Lennon once said: „Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.“ Does this imply that we are all, more or less, just reacting and that it makes no sense to plan the future at all? Well, it’s certainly debatable. Personally, I prefer to have at least one focus to follow and believe in (maybe that’s because I am German). There is proof for the fact that having a plan can work out very well. It’s almost two years since the adidas Group announced its five-year strategic business plan Route 2015. It is a very detailed and comprehensive piece of work. Last Friday, at an investor event at the TaylorMade-adidas Golf headquarters in Carlsbad, California, Herbert Hainer confirmed and reinforced the adidas Group’s long-term financial targets, as outlined in this plan. During this event, Herbert Hainer said: “Everything I have seen over the past 20 months has only reinforced my confidence that Route 2015 will be an overwhelming success.” The upside the adidas Group envisions from Route 2015 and beyond is tremendous.
I don’t want to go into the details of the update here (you can get more detailed information on the key findings here and here). But the announcement made me wonder what it takes to succeed with a plan and which key attributes drive success. I’ll start by sharing my thoughts with you on what you can potentially learn from the adidas Group’s journey ‘Route 2015’, but I hope to get your insights afterwards, too.