We are less than one week away from Super Bowl XLIV, and with a little help from Saints Defensive Coordinator Greg Williams, things are beginning to heat up.
Sundays highly anticipated Quarterback match-up has gained an enormous amount of hype due to some recent comments by the Saints Defensive Coordinator and his players. The Saints have targeted Colts Quarterback Peyton Manning in their recent remarks to the media. In my opinion, come Sunday, the Saints will pay for these ill-fated remarks.
Coming off last Sundays NFC Championship game victory against Brett Favre and the Vikings, the Saints are apparently feeling a little too good about themselves. Stemming from their recent remarks about the great Peyton Manning, expect the Indianapolis Colts Quarterback to play with somewhat of a chip on his shoulder this week in Miami. This time, Greg Williams has gone too far.
On Monday afternoon, Williams stated they plan to get to Manning early and often on Sunday night. Williams claimed that when they do get to Manning, they are going to introduce themselves with some “remember me” hits. The optimistic Defensive Coordinator also stated that he expects to hit Manning with these “remember me” shots consistently throughout the night.
Unfortunately for Williams and his defense, they clearly did not do their research. What they failed to notice is that Peyton Manning has a tremendous offensive line. Manning has been sacked just ten times this year, an NFL low.
The most astonishing statement came from Williams during a radio show he was interviewed on. In the midst of this radio interview, Williams exclaimed that if Manning went down with an injury, “he would just hope that he does not get back up and play again”.
Ironically, shortly after this radio interview, New Orleans Saints defensive captain Darren Sharper defended his defensive coordinator. Sharper insisted that Williams never instructed him or any of his fellow teammates to attempt to injure any Colts players. How reassuring!
Seemingly, confidence is contagious in New Orleans. It now seems that the Saints players have bought into William’s shenanigans. Saints Defensive End Will Smith was quoted as saying “Even the great Quarterbacks can be rattled, and then they begin to think about getting hit rather than the timing of their routes”.
Soon after, it was Darren Sharper’s turn. After coming to William’s rescue following that infamous radio interview, Sharper stated that “we are going to play a very physical game and maximize the chance to hit the Quarterback because late in the game, it will change how he plays”.
It is absolutely baffling to me that the usually humble Saints have decided to verbally attack the best Quarterback in the game. Come kick off, I can not think of a single advantage New Orleans will have due to their pre-game antics.
The Saints have been playing great football. They deserve to be confident. They deserve to feel good about themselves. However, you don’t get Peyton Manning mad. That is rule number one. If you don’t believe me, just go ask the Jets how that worked out for them last Sunday.
Unfortunately for New Orleans, they have yet to play a team as talented as Indianapolis this season. These Colts are not the Arizona Cardinals or the Minnesota Vikings. Peyton Manning is not Brett Favre. Manning will not gift wrap a victory for these Saints as Favre did last Sunday with his late game interception. That’s the difference between Manning and the rest of the league. Peyton Manning refuses to beat himself; he forces the opponent to beat him. And by the way, when Manning has played all four quarters this season, the Colts are 16-0. The Colts are undefeated with Manning at the helm.
Here is the scary part for New Orleans. Peyton Manning’s response to the Saints verbal attack: silence. Peyton Manning responded with nothing. Unfortunately for the New Orleans Saints, what this means is his response is coming this Sunday, in Miami, on the field. Peyton Manning will respond the best way he knows how, with his throwing arm.
This Sunday in Miami, the Saints are in a heap of trouble. The Saints made Manning mad and that is the worst thing they could have done. Who or what prompted these pre-game antics is a mystery. What’s not a mystery is who will be hoisting the Lombardi trophy this Sunday and that will be Manning and the Colts.
Sadly, New Orleans has no one to blame but themselves. And maybe Greg Williams.
About the Author
What happen to wwe sunday night heat! and saurday night velocity!?
What happen to them!
they went off tv after raw started airing on USA network, heat is on wwe.com and velocicity was replaced by the ECW tapings
Wonder Woman comics have always carried the theme of strong, independent women. This may be attributed to Elizabeth Holloway Marston, wife of the character's creator William Moulton Marston (who also created the polygraph). It was her idea to create a female superhero when her husband was contacted by what would become DC Comics to write something for them after reading an interview he had done on the potential educational value of comic books.
A member of the fabled Amazons, Diana Prince, AKA, Wonder Woman was imbued with super strength and other powers of the gods, and armed with her silver bracelets and lasso of truth. She stood tall, was beautiful and sexy, and she was heroic. She was grounded in morality and fought for the good of her people and of innocents everywhere. She was feminine and powerful at the same time.
After Crisis on Infinite Earths, many aspects about Wonder Woman were altered. For example, before the Crisis she had powers of the mind that came from training with the Amazons that allowed her to channel strength into her muscles, which gave her the super strength. However, post-Crisis she was gifted those powers from the gods, among others. Now she can also fly, for instance.
Whatever powers the Greek gods have Wonder Woman theoretically possesses. She has access to flight, super strength, super speed, and many other abilities, all of which haven't been fully realized. She is quite possibly the most powerful character in the DC Universe, maybe even more powerful than Superman. She is certainly his equal in terms of strength at the least.
Most recently in Wonder Woman comics the character has taken a darker turn. After the death of Justice League of America member Blue Beetle, Wonder Woman tracked down and killed Max Lord, the man responsible for Blue Beetle’s murder. Because of this act, which was incidentally filmed and broadcast to the entire world, no one looks at Wonder Woman the same anymore. It should also be noted, though, that at the time Max Lord had control over Superman, who was being used to attack innocent people and other heroes. Had she not killed Lord Superman would have been the world's most deadliest weapon. But Superman and Batman didn't see it that way.
In the aftermath of this occurrence, Diana went into hiding, but has since reemerged and reclaimed her role as the true Wonder Woman.
What the future holds for Wonder Woman comics is anybody's guess. Sales haven't always been great, but the character has always been pretty popular. Now that Superman and Batman have seemingly gotten past Max Lord's murder at Wonder Woman's hands, the three have reinstituted the Justice League of America and are facing new troubles and adventures.
About the Author
Follow the exploits of rockers DEMON TWEAK and the racing clan HARD DRIVING HEROES, as they battle the evil trickster Loki at http://www.classic-comic-books.com . Also read articles on your favorite classic Comic Book heroes written by our resident historian VIRGIL THE STORYTELLER.
Is this the final season of "Smallville"?
I find the show (on the CW network Thursdays) to be a bit esoteric but believe I've figured out that there will be some sort of ultimate forces of evil and forces of good "showdown" [Superman - Green Arrow - other Justice League] versus this season's Kryptonian (son of General Zod who as a wraith also possessed Lex Luthor a few seasons ago) who is "Doomsday" an evolving threat to life in the universe as he destroys populations on planets he victimizes - - the comic book villain who actually killed the Comic Book Superman . . . are episodes meant to be understood by only those who have been long, long time fans of the recent Comic Book SUPERMAN developments? 10 points for most helpful answers - Nov. 8, 5 p.m. eastern time zone
it could be. the show has been going on for a while now and its already getting close for clark to actually becoming superman. so i think this could be. if its not then the next one is definitely the last.
Footwear is no longer viewed as a commodity that just offers protection for feet. What was hitherto considered a ‘Want' is today a basic ‘Need'. Today, the footwear trade is a vast and dynamic operation involving huge economies of scale. The low-cost countries are gaining foothold in international markets leading developed countries to import and outsource so as to meet their requirements. The athletic shoe segment is highly competitive in nature with the major players such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok and New Balance striving to retain their market share and the smaller players such as Puma trying to gain market share. Important features of this competitive segment are heavy advertising, celebrity endorsements, brand awareness programs etc. Until the 1970s, Adidas, the German sports company, was the market leader in the US due to its product innovation. In the 1970s and 1980s, Nike & Reebok grabbed their share by redefining the product offering and aggressive marketing. Adidas failed to retaliate. Their market was undergoing several crises due to changes in leadership. In the 1990s, though Adidas was revived by a turn-around specialist, it was not a challenge to Nike. Adidas expected its takeover of Reebok to give increased clout with dealers' leverage of endorsement deals and sponsorships and access to wider consumer base. The Adidas-Reebok merger vaulted the combined entity into the second place in the American athletics shoe market behind Nike. The takeover of Reebok doubled the German group's North America sales. The Adidas Group's purchase of Reebok North America showed an obvious attitude to ensuring that the Corporation's overall objectives will be achieved. With the acquisition, a focus on increasing the band's apparel offerings and sharpening the brand's image has been set. This will allow for an expansion of global position and gaining a broader presence in key markets. To emphasize this fact, Adidas has now replaced Reebok as the official apparel supplier to the American National Basketball Association for the next 10 years. With the two company's combined strengths, an aim to widen the organisation's overall profile and global dominance is now more than ever possible
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The three leading sportswear companies in the world are Nike, Adidas and Reebok. In August 2005, Nike was the leader in global market share with 32.9% compared to the recently constituted Adidas-Reebok organisation that had 26.3% market share. In the largest market in the world, the United States (US), Nike had 36.3% market share in August 2005. Following the acquisition of Reebok in August 2005, the market share of Adidas-Reebok in the US jumped to 21.1% from 8.9%.
The purpose of this study is to provide an analysis of the newest merger in the footwear and apparel industry between Adidas and Reebok. It is also to identify and further examine the ways in which the Adidas Group will achieve a sustainable competitive advantage relative to market leader (Nike). We inform the reader about the nature of current market standings in the industry and identify specific synergies developed through the acquisition in order to evaluate the impact of Adidas- Reebok merger on the sporting goods industry.
INTRODUCTION
On August 3, 2005, Adidas-Salomon AG announced its plans to buy all outstanding shares of Reebok International Ltd.'s stock at $59.00 per share, for a total of $3.8 billion. Upon announcement, Reebok stock rose 30% while Adidas climbed 7%. As stated by Herbert Hainer, CEO of Adidas, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to combine two of the most respected and well-known companies in the worldwide sporting goods industry. Together, we will expand our geographic reach, particularly in North America, and create a footwear, apparel and hardware offering that addresses a broader spectrum of consumers and demographics" (Adidas.com). A primary goal of the acquisition has been to challenge industry leader Nike for a higher share of the United States sporting goods market as well as the global sporting goods market. The acquisition has prompted much discussion as to what the future holds for the sporting goods industry and its major players.
Athletic Wear Market Share
I- CORE COMPETENCIES & COMPETITVE ADVANTAGE
Competitive advantage is a special edge that allows an organisation to deal with market and environmental forces better than its competitors. Whereas, sustainable competitive advantage is one that is difficult for competitors to imitate. This distinction is essential when evaluating the acquisition and its effects.
A merger of this scale is inherently complex, dealing with issues such as global positioning of companies, corporate cultures, and the allocation of resources. To better understand the advantages gained from the Adidas-Reebok merger, we have examined the following: Through these various analyses, we have discovered that the importance of branding is paramount for success in this industry. Our research also identifies the specific danger of competition between Adidas and Reebok.
Our analysis of the Adidas-Reebok merger shows how it will gain a sustainable competitive advantage that may one day dominate the footwear industry both domestically and internationally. The fact that Adidas and Reebok control such different aspects of the shoe industry will help to ensure their success.
To fully understand how Adidas-Reebok will gain a sustainable competitive advantage over Nike, the situation must be looked at from several different points. These include industrial, customer and competitor analyses, as well as a look at the different marketing strategies and changing marketing trends.
Adidas Core Competencies
– Technology
– Customer focus
– Brand recognition
– Supply chain
– Collaboratively competitive
Reebok Core Competencies
– Trend Identification
– Ability to market to a niche segment
– Women's shoe design
– Design expertise
– Celebrity relationships
Combining Core Competencies
Combine
– Adidas technology with Reebok design
– Adidas sports with Reebok women's market
– Adidas shoes with Reebok apparel
– Adidas global strength & Reebok US strength
Implementation
Blending the two cultures successfully (learning to work together)
Protect the strengths of acquired company (keeping development of both organisations separate)
Maintaining both brands (keeping established market share)
Capitalising on supply chain economies of scale (suppliers, manufacturing, distribution, channels)
Nurturing the partnership between technology and design (growing market share by combining leadership areas)
Sustainable competitive advantage
The athletic apparel and footwear industry emphasises branding more than any other competitive advantage. Through the use of advertisements, endorsements, promotions, and licensing agreements, the top companies in this industry have devoted much of their resources to brand recognition and loyalty. Adidas' acquisition of Reebok will develop increased opportunities to achieve competitive advantage through branding. Furthermore, extended licensing agreements and contracts will allow the Adidas Group to sustain this advantage.
Sustainable competitive advantage cannot be reached without the successful merging of Adidas and Reebok. The key to this success is how well they identify themselves. There is a very real danger of cannibalisation to occur between the two separate brands, where one brand takes away the others consumer base. However, Adidas Chairman and CEO Herbert Hainer made clear that "it is important that each of these brands must retain their own identity."
Hainer points out that Reebok's focused strategy is on the engagement of youth through sports, music, and technology. Reebok, he points out, is a lifestyle brand. On the other hand, Adidas' focus is on superior technology and performance, coupled with a large international presence. As Hainer points out, "Adidas has positioned part of its product range in the lifestyle segment, but the company relies on the performance market. Lifestyle success to an authentic company is a bonus."
Adidas will benefit from increased distribution in North America, where Reebok already has a significant presence. The addition of Reebok will enhance not only its position among the top US distributors like Foot Locker and Dick's, but will also give Adidas-Reebok more power over promotions and in-store displays. Increasing its presence is the key to achieving sustainable competitive advantage, because the increased presence further engrains the most important advantage in this industry, brand name.
The acceleration of both brands is brought about through increased operating cash flows. Along with the increased operating capital, other synergies such as operating savings are realised. Catching up to Nike's huge marketing budget is a challenge, but the increased operating costs coupled with the synergies will help promote further brand recognition through marketing.
Reebok has an extensive line of men and women's apparel. The new company can combine Reebok's apparel with Adidas' new addition of fashion designer Stella McCartney, who has created an apparel line that integrates both sport and style. This innovative move shows that Adidas continues to look for new opportunities and markets in order to gain a competitive advantage.
In the past, Adidas has not been able to expand because it had problems shipping goods to the United States. It takes them about 14 days to ship from their factories in the Far East while Reebok can ship overnight. In the future, Adidas will be able to take advantage of Reebok's existing distribution infrastructure in the U.S., while Reebok will be able to benefit from Adidas' existing distribution infrastructure in Europe.
The Reebok brand will also gain sustainable competitive advantage through increased brand recognition. Globally, Reebok will benefit greatly from Adidas' distribution around the world. Coupled with the cost savings and increased cash flow, Reebok's marketing resources could increase.
Combined R&D is helping speed development of cutting edge technologies, an important feature of the increasingly fast paced industry. Expedited research will develop higher consumer demand for innovation across all brands, putting pressure on Nike's R&D capabilities.
II- FROM CORPORATE TO MARKETING STRATEGY
Porter's Five Forces
Barriers to Entry - Low
Adidas and Reebok combined are able to control their costs effectively, giving them an advantage over emerging competitors in the industry. Their web sites are well- prepared and updated promotions attract online shoppers. There are many exclusive product differences in this industry that gives brand identity an immediate competitive advantage. The Adidas and Reebok brand is well-known globally and plays a major role in consumer decision making. Selling footwear is highly competitive; however, barriers to enter into this industry are quite low. Therefore, the footwear industry is broad with hundreds of retailers. Switching cost is low for the consumer, and may occur frequently depending on consumer preference and other factors affecting consumer buying decision.
Bargaining Power of Buyers - High
There are a large number of buyers relative to the number of firms in this industry. Therefore, companies like Adidas, and Reebok must continuously market their product and differentiate their brands against competitors, in order to increase sales and market share. The use of online tools has helped to enhance the accessibility among users. Brand identity plays a critical role in the buying behaviour; strong identity will offer consumers trust and loyalty.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers – Low
There are many suppliers in this industry. In essence, there is very little differentiation among the suppliers which makes suppliers' bargaining power non-existent. Leather, rubber, and cotton are commodity items and are available abundantly in the market place. Conglomerates such as Adidas, and Reebok have a definite advantage and power over their suppliers. These suppliers become dependent on these firms as their means to survival. Additionally, Adidas, and Reebok have standardised their input procedures pertaining to the materials used, their labour force, supplies, services, and logistics. Firms are able to switch between suppliers quickly and cheaply, due to the globalise networks of cheap labour on various continents.
Threats of Substitutes - Low
Buyers' propensity to substitute is low. Consumer substitutes for athletic footwear products are low because there are little alternatives to switch, some substitutes for athlete footwear could be boots, sandals, dress shoes or bear feet. Consumers are not likely to substitute due to the performance specification of the product. For instance, a basketball player would not wear boots to play basketball. Therefore, there are no real substitutes for athletic footwear.
Rivalry among Existing Competitors - High
The rivalry among existing competitors in the footwear industry is quite high. Large firms such as Nike, Adidas and Reebok have grown immensely over the last two decades. Their global reach has expanded through all continents; this is evident using the Internet and e-commerce. Online selling has enlarged the reach for these firms allowing them to increase sales while minimising operating costs. Almost every large firm has a web site, and most of these web sites contain virtual stores which provide convenience to consumers. Most individuals in North America have access to high speed Internet and online purchasing has become the new trend for the twenty first century.
Threat of Substitute Products or Services
(low)
↓
Supplier Power
(low)
→
Rivalry Among Existing Competitors
(high)
←
Buyer Power
(high)
↑
(low)
Threat of New Entrants
Reebok is located in the upper-left portion of the chart, identifying it as employing a cost leadership strategy. It is concerned with offering affordable shoes to a very broad market.
Adidas is located in the upper-right portion of the chart, identifying it as employing a differentiation strategy. This company is constantly developing new technology and innovation in the industry. Examples of this include the new microchips Adidas has developed to mechanically adjust the shoe's cushioning.
SWOT Analysis
Adidas-Salomon SWOT Analysis (before the merger)
Adidas-Salomon was a leading player in the sports good manufacturing industry. The company had posted a very steady growth in its sales revenues in recent years, essentially as a result of its strong brand image. The company had market leading products and strong brand names including Adidas, Salomon, TaylorMade and others which were further strengthened by its strong commitment to product innovations. Furthermore, on the supply-chain side the company's commitment to reduce lead time for manufacturing footwear had enabled the company to avoid the warehousing of products.
Strengths
Leading player in the sporting goods industry
The company was amongst the top players in the sporting goods industry due to its strong brands, market-leading products and commitment to sports for meeting consumer expectations. The global sportswear market (Euro 45 billion) was dominated by Adidas-Salomon and Nike and, at a certain distance, Reebok, PUMA and New Balance. Adidas-Salomon's brands include Adidas, Salomon, TaylorMade and others, which had very strong brand name recognition in markets served. The company's products served many markets and include footwear, hardware, apparel, snowboard, golf-related and other products.
Steady increase in sales revenues
Adidas-Salomon's revenues from sales have been steadily increasing as reflected in the last five years' sales performance ending 2002. From E5.1 billion of sales in 1998 to E6.5 billion in 2002, the performance has improved by a CAGR of 7%. Though sales declined by 3.9% in 2003 over 2002, it was mainly due to currency translations. The company has been able to achieve this steady growth in revenues due to its strong brand image, continuous commitment to product innovation that is consumer focused. Such a steady growth in the company's revenue performance helped in maintaining a very good image for the company and improved investor confidence. Additionally, the company reported an outstanding operational and financial performance in the first half of fiscal 2004. This underlined the company's momentum, with quarter on quarter sales improvements for all brands, and a record gross margin and earnings growth of almost 40%, marking the strongest first half year performance in the company's history.
Successful new product innovations
The company had consistently launched new products and this has enabled it to widen its portfolio and also enhanced its competitive position. Each company brand targeted a specific market and new products were introduced based on their requirements. This has helped the company achieve a greater degree of success. During 2002-2003, the company launched ClimaCool and a3 in its running shoes category, which were big successes. The company sold over 500,000 pairs in a3 and over one million in ClimaCool. Furthermore, in the basketball shoes division, the T-MAC and T-MAC were the bestselling in the US market in 2002 which has led to the release of T-MAC 4 lace less footwear for 2004. The company's continuous commitment towards new product innovations not only improved revenues but also helped in strengthening its relationship with its customers and attracts new customers. In May 2004 the company introduced what the company described as the first Intelligent Shoe - called "1", the shoe provided intelligent cushioning by automatically and continuously adjusting itself.
Lead time improvements
The company had considerably improved the lead-time required for footwear manufacturing through lean manufacturing principles. Earlier in 2000, the company used to take 120 days for producing footwear; by 2003, this had been reduced to around 60 days. Such a reduction was made possible as a result of the company's efficient implementation of lean manufacturing principles which helped in removing non-value-adding procedures and activities, improved labelling, special handling and other such activities to reduce time taken. These process improvements have helped the company in avoiding warehousing of its footwear products.
Marketing strength
The company had planned and implemented major advertising campaigns during 2004. The company's immense size and strong position have afforded it the opportunity to undertake global advertising campaigns with focus on TV, print media and outdoor advertising as well as point of sale and PR activities. The campaign "Impossible is Nothing", included top athletes from different disciplines such as Muhammad Ali and his daughter (brand image, boxing and lifestyle), Haile Gebrselassi (brand image, running), David Beckham (brand image, football) and Tracy McGrady (brand image, basketball).
Weaknesses
Unfocused strategy
The strategy of Adidas-Salomon was lacking focus. This is because it has a very broad product portfolio, including sport performance products for athletic sports, basketball, golf, tennis, Nordic disciplines, cycling and fashion oriented products. Rival Puma has demonstrated that focus can translate into a high profitability.
Over-dependence on Adidas brand segment
While the purchase of Salomon, the French maker of ski and golf gear, steered the company into the equipment arena, the company generated 79% ($4.9 billion) of its total revenues of E6.3 billion from the Adidas brand segment in 2003, while the other two contributed to the balance. Despite a strong image for the TaylorMade and Salomon brands, they generated only about 21% of the total revenues. The company's over-dependence on the Adidas brand segment, which mainly serves the athletes' requirements, makes the company's overall revenues susceptible to the market conditions in this segment.
High level of long-term borrowings
Though the company reduced its borrowings by E181 million against 2002, the level of borrowings was still very high. At the fiscal year end 2003 the company's long-term borrowings as a percentage of equity were very high at around 146%, which amounted to E1, 574 million. Such high debt level affected investor confidence in the company and makes low-cost funding of growth plans difficult. By half year fiscal 2004 strong cash flow had enabled more progress in debt reduction has been (net borrowings at June 30, 2004 were E967 million, down 39% or E616 million versus E1, 583 billion in the prior year) made but debt remained high.
Order cancellations
2003 revenue growth was substantially below the company's first impression from year-end 2002 order backlogs, which were up a strong 14%. As 2003 revenues growth was only 5%, significant order cancellations in the course of the first half of 2003 are evident. The company achieved revenues that totalled E6, 267 million ($7,570.4 million), a decrease of 3.9% against the previous years revenues that totalled E6, 523 million.
Opportunities
Strategic acquisitions and agreements
The company made a few strategic acquisitions during 2004. In September Adidas and Stella McCartney announced a long-term partnership in New York, presenting the Adidas by Stella McCartney sport performance collection. For the first time ever a high-end fashion designer had created a functional sport performance range for women. The first collection was available in stores across the US, Japan and Europe in spring/summer 2005. It offered products for running, gym/workout and swimming as well as cover-ups. The Adidas by Stella McCartney range shows the company's willingness to innovate in the women's sportswear market. Adidas-Salomon acquired Valley Apparel Company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa in June 2004, a producer and distributor of collegiate and professional league apparel and accessories. It served small- to mid-size retailers, such as sporting goods stores, department stores, fan shops and college bookstores. It has a reputation of producing and delivering large quantities of apparel and branded accessories within hours of a team's victory. In early 2003, the company acquired the Maxfli brand of accessories and other golf related products from Dunlop Slazenger Group through its TaylorMade-Adidas division. This acquisition has helped the company in offering market leading products in all the golf categories and has improved its global market share to 16% from less than 1% prior to the acquisition. The company also entered into a strategic agreement in June 2003 with the INTERSPORT International Corporation (IIC), a multi-sport retailer, in order to strengthen its sales and distribution network. Specifically, the four year agreement will - in time - strengthen the company's sport performance, casual, Salomon and other products' sales.
Supply-chain and manufacturing initiatives
The company's success in reducing footwear manufacturing time was likely to continue in the future also. The company planned to reduce its production time further, which has helped the company achieve faster delivery of its products to the retailers, thereby reducing inventory costs. On the supply-chain side, the industry faces a problem due to longer time to market. The total time taken is about 15 to 18 months of which 12 months are spent in creation of the product, while the balance of the time in arranging for the raw materials, production and delivery to the retail stores. The company also planned to implement a new model for its supply chain, which will considerably reduce the time taken and improve cost efficiency, etc. This initiative helped the company in serving its customers faster, thereby gaining a competitive edge over its peers.
Sponsoring sporting events
The company's sponsorship of major sports events brought great recognition to its products. Adidas supplied more than 1.4 million products to federations, volunteers, officials and others during the 2004 Olympics. Following a successful marketing campaign at the Euro 2004 Soccer Tournament in Portugal, the company once again expected to achieve new record sales in football during 2004. During 2002, the company sponsored FIFA World Cup Championship in Korea and Japan and was acclaimed as the most visible among the brands advertised during the event and was viewed by 44 billion cumulative spectators during the course of the event. Furthermore, in the Winter Olympics of 2002, the company sponsored over 50% of the participating athletes who won about 200 medals. Adidas has a life-time agreement with Kevin Garnett (most valuable player of the NBA 2003/2004). It also signed a six-year cooperative agreement with Chinese Football in June 2003. The company sponsored the World Cup in 2006 held in Germany. Sponsorship of these events helps the company in building its Sport Heritage, Sport Style and other such divisions. For instance, the Sport Heritage division grew into an Euro 900 million businesses and doubled its sales from 2001 to 2003.
Own retail stores
In 2003 Adidas generated 9% of group revenues in own retail outlets. A significant number of new shops did not positively contribute to earnings because the cost for new shops (of hiring of sales people and training costs etc.) exceeded early revenues. This will begin to level out going forward and the company will continue to open own retail shops. Management recently explained that own retail sell-through was positive in the US in 2003 in contrast to external customers. The company is therefore planning to open 15 new US shops in the coming two years and 40 worldwide. Management expects Sport Heritage to grow again from 2004 driven by more own retail stores and no more cutting of external points of sales.
Threats
Competition
Adidas operated within a highly competitive market which in many cases overlaps into other markets as sportswear retailers increasingly compete with fashion retailers. The company's traditional competitors like Reebok, Nike and Puma made competitive levels intense, but the addition of casual footwear and apparel manufacturers such as Tommy Hilfiger, adding a designer edge to the market, had increased competitive levels. Companies had come under increasing pressure recently from products designed for the value conscious consumer. Adidas have long been one of the premium brands in sportswear and have charged accordingly, though this strategy is coming under more pressure as cheaper substitute products are bought by consumers adding to problems in terms of customer retention.
Foreign exchange fluctuations
The company's manufacturing activities were mostly concentrated in China and other Southeast Asian countries. Since most of these countries transact in US Dollars, the company incurred about 70% to 80% of its outsourcing expenditure in US Dollars, whereas, the company's revenue generation in US dollar and other non-Euro currencies is comparatively lower. Hence, adverse changes in the exchange rate between US dollar and Euro had a negative impact on its overall revenues.
Weak global economy
The GDP of European countries have grown at a negligible rate and are unlikely to improve in the near future. Similarly, the Latin American markets such as Argentina and Brazil continue to witness weak economic conditions, while the Southeast and Middle-East regions continue to reel from political unrest. Thus, the company's revenues were significantly affected due to these adverse economic conditions.
Impact of scandals in the US and Germany
Accounting scandals across industries in Germany and the US have impacted upon the company's stock performance. The weak performance of many companies in the sports goods industry adversely affected the investor confidence in the industry. Thus, external factors can have an adverse impact on the company's stock price performance and might in turn affect its brand's value.
Reebok SWOT Analysis (before the merger)
Reebok International was a major player in the sports and fitness products market, with a particular emphasis on footwear. Its main strengths lied in its size and strong brand awareness. While footwear is clearly its core product, concerns were being raised over its comparative disinterest in the associated athletic apparel market, which is over twice the size of the footwear market.
Strengths
Growing sales revenue
As part of a strategy to grow quality market share, the company continued to invest in three key product and marketing platforms: Performance, RBK and Classic. Reebok International was the second largest manufacturer of athletic shoes in the US, behind Nike. The Reebok brand continued to drive sales pushing it closer to major competitors, Nike and Adidas. Reebok had become the number two or number three brand in most of its overseas markets. It held around 10% of the global market, compared to Nike's 34% and Adidas' 15%. The company has been able to increase revenues and improve operating margins despite some challenging retail conditions in many key markets around the world in 2004.
Excellent marketing strategy
The company employed a strategy of reinventing its brands in order to gain market share. In order to enhance its Reebok brand, the company introduced a new street inspired product collection, RBK, in 2002, followed by an effective marketing strategy which carried into 2003 and 2004. During 2003/2004, the Reebok product offerings generated healthy sell-through performance at retail. Alongside reinventing brands, the company introduced new marketing campaigns to promote them. To support the RBK product Reebok created a marketing campaign entitled Reebok's "Sounds and Rhythm of Sport," which fuses music and entertainment with sports and performance. The combination of relevant products and a new marketing campaign improved the performance of the Reebok Brand in the athletic specialty channel of distribution. Reebok has achieved positive market share comparisons in the critical athletic specialty and sporting goods channels of distribution (as of October 2004).
Celebrity associated sponsorships
The company expanded its product offerings into more lifestyle and performance categories, introducing new product segments for both the NBA and NFL, including NBA and NFL footwear, classic lifestyle apparel and performance gear for off-the-field activities. Reebok sponsored many top athletes in tennis; Andy Roddick and Venus Williams; as well as music stars Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams and 50 Cent. Yao Zing's impact in the Asian market is hugely important to Reebok. Affiliating itself to such globally renowned celebrities enhanced the company name among many different customer groups.
Strong women's sector
Another one of Reebok's strengths was its success in the women's sector. The market for women's athletic shoes is larger than that for men, accounting for around 46% and 40% of the sector's value respectively. In volume terms, the women's sector was even more important, 46% compared to 35%. Reebok's market share of women's athletic shoe sales was around 35%, and has been boosted by its 'It's A Woman's World' marketing campaign.
Weaknesses
'Classics' under fire
The company had come under fire from its rivals in the classics department. In the past Reebok has controlled this shoe category without much competition, however companies such as Nike and Adidas were coming up with their own 'classic shoes'. Reebok were still the market leaders in that area but the gap kept narrowing.
Low market share in apparels
Reebok controlled only about 1.4% of the apparel market. This posed a problem when squaring up with its fierce competitor, Nike. The footwear market's growth was slowing. Athletic apparel gives scope for a larger and more diverse range of products, keeping the market fast moving. The apparel market was 2.4 times larger than the footwear market. Nike took charge there, with its innovative designs, and contracts with sports teams and organisations throughout the world.
Danger of stockpiling products by retailers
Futures, or ordered in advance sales, represented around 60-70% of Reebok's business. This has been valuable to Reebok in the past; however five of the company's brands that represent around 60% global market share could cause problems in the future. Futures growth for these five brands was around 9.5% on a dollar-weighted basis. This growth was alarmingly fast. Reebok had to be careful as retailers may be ordering more than they can sell. This could result in a sudden cut off in orders, leaving the company with large inventories and a decrease in sales.
Opportunities
Increase average shoe price
Reebok's average price per shoe in athletic footwear stores, which account for around 15% of the market, was considerably lower than average. Its average price per shoe is $45, compared with an outlet average closer to $60. The company's lower than average shoe price is partly due to the high percentage of basic products sold, which is itself partly attributable to its traditional position in the women's sector. This left plenty of space for the company to muscle in on higher priced sales, as its products and promotional efforts improve. As well as raising brand awareness, Reebok's sponsorship deals helped the company increase its average sales price.
Draw attention toward new technological developments
Reebok had started developing its product to make it more modern and has invested heavily in added technology to enhance its shoes. Reebok had a lot to gain from a continued investment in more technologically advanced, premium products. In 2003, the company introduced new fashionable and technologically advanced products tied to new integrated marketing programs. These displayed an enhanced and prominent vector logo which ties back to the Professional athletes wearing the products on the field. This branding created a real point-of-difference for its performance products and should help to generate consumer interest at point-of-purchase. These products are supported at retail with a new performance marketing campaign, which utilises the athletes and the vector logo in new and creative ways. This campaign included television, print and in-store marketing packages.
Encourage a strong brand push in Europe
The company planned to enhance its European market, recruiting new management talent and initiating an aggressive program to regionalise this business utilising a consistent brand image throughout Europe. Reebok executed unified product, marketing, and sales strategies across all borders in Europe, thereby presenting the Reebok Brand in a more relevant and consistent manner.
Exploit Nike's lack of high profile sponsorship
Nike, the world's most successful sportswear brand and footwear producer struggled to fill the void vacated by Michael Jordan. This was the first time in a long time that Nike did not have an eminent sports star to spearhead their marketing drive. This has left an opening for the likes of Reebok to exploit, particularly in the basketball arena. The company took the Chinese sensation from Nike, Yao Ming, hoping to increase market share by 10% to 30% by 2006.
Threats
Over reliance on footwear sales
Footwear is Reebok's largest division and the company relies fairly heavily on the footwear market. That was a competitive field experiencing much slower growth than in previous years and, like most other producers, Reebok felt that it must do more to increase sales. Reebok had also to be aware that the market for more expensive footwear was slowing. This could ultimately force prices down, should this trend continue for a significant period of time. With the company so reliant on footwear, it risked losses, whereas other competitors such as Nike can fall back on their apparel division.
Diverted from historical markets
Reebok's original success stemmed from the women's aerobics market in the 1980s. It has since become apparent that the company has shied away from its roots. Reebok's women's products represent only 25% of its athletic apparel volume. The women's apparel sector actually accounts for around 40% of industry sales, which suggests that Reebok risked losing out in the key market that transformed them into a global company.
Potentially expensive new product marketing
Until recently Reebok had not focused on either the men's or the women's apparel market for several years. Before it can build up sales significantly in this area, it had to instil confidence back into consumers that it is good at producing more than just 'classic shoes'. This process could've proven to be both time consuming and costly.
Adidas-Reebok SWOT Analysis (After the merger)
Strengths
More products for different customers
Increase in product line
Acclivity in market share
Now both upper and middle priced markets are covered.
Shared R&D, Patents, technology & innovations
Weaknesses
Differing values among management
Complexity of joining two corporate cultures
Both companies belong to different countries
Opportunities
Reduction in costs
Decreased competition
Cross-over promotion by sponsored athletes
Enter to new market/Segments
Threats
Nike.
Nike's possible acquisition of Puma.
Danger of cannibalisation between the two separate brands.
Post merger performance
7th March, 2007 -Adidas Group's motto is "Impossible Is Nothing." But since the No. 2 sporting-goods maker announced in August, 2005, that it would snap up rival Reebok for $3.8 billion to gain a firmer footing in the U.S. and challenge market leader Nike (NKE), the company has yet to prove that the combo will work.
True to its mantra, however, Adidas says it's racing flat-out to make its tie-up with Reebok a winner. The company has closed factories in Indonesia and is repositioning the Reebok brand to widen its appeal. "Our focus this year will be on getting Reebok back onto a growth track," Adidas Chief Executive Herbert Hainer said in a statement. "It's going to take time, but we're moving in the right direction."
As part of that move, the company is ramping up its sales and marketing efforts. It's reducing reliance on low-traffic, shopping-mall-based outlets and placing Reebok apparel and footwear in higher-end department stores and larger sporting-goods ventures. Adidas has also enlisted star NFL quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning, actress Scarlett Johansson, and other famous faces to help launch a series of new products planned in the second quarter.
The company says it expects these efforts to increase sales of the Reebok brand this year in the "low-single-digit" range. Adidas expects its gross margin in 2007 to be between 45% and 47%, thanks to "improvements in all three brand segments." For the group, the company expects sales in 2007 to grow in the "mid-single-digit" range.
III. CREATING CUSTOMER VALUE, SATISFACTION
An annual report produced by Interbrand (2006), in cooperation with BusinessWeek, ranking the top 100 global brands shows that Adidas was ranked 71st and Nike 31st. The ranking is based on brand value, which is defined as "the dollar value of a brand, calculated as net present value, or today's value of the earnings the brand is expected to generate in the future". Given that this puts both brands ahead of corporations such as Shell, Porsche, and fashion brands such as Armani, Burberry and Levis, it signifies the strength of the two brands. Indeed, Adidas and Nike are the only sportswear companies in the top 100 global brands. The positions of the two companies during the previous five years had been relatively stable, with Adidas ranked at 70th, 68th, 67th, 69th, and 71st between 2001 and 2005 respectively, and Nike ranked at 34th, 35th, 33rd, 31st and 30th over the same period.
Customer loyalty has been a major focus of strategic marketing planning and offers an important basis for developing a sustainable competitive advantage – an advantage that can be realised through marketing efforts. It is reported that academic research on loyalty has largely focused on measurement issues and correlations of loyalty with consumer property in a segmentation context.
Many studies have been conducted on brand loyalty. However, in these entire studies brand loyalty (e.g. repeat purchase) has been measured from the behavioural aspect without considering the cognitive aspects. However, brand loyalty is not a simple uni-dimensional concept, but a very complex multi-dimensional concept. However, it does not clarify the intensity of brand loyalty, because it excludes the possibility that a consumer's attitude may be unfavourable, even if he/she is making repeat purchases. In such a case, the consumer's brand loyalty would be superficial and shallow – rooted.
After careful examination consumer non-durables report (based on the ASQ Analysis of Quality & Customer Satisfaction With Manufacturing Non-Durable Goods), we anticipate that the acquisition of Reebok by Adidas and the challenge for Adidas/Reebok—a combination of very different business cultures—would be to maintain quality as it attempts to go toe-to-toe with sales leader Nike. The acquisition was completed at the end of January 2006 without a hitch as far as Reebok's perceived quality. The 2.4% gain by Reebok that quarter, coupled with a similar drop by Nike, puts Adidas-Reebok perceived quality firmly ahead of Nike.
Nike also stumbles in comparison to Adidas-Reebok in terms of value. Consumers are much more likely to believe they get value for the money spent on Adidas-Reebok compared to Nike. And although Adidas-Reebok captures a significantly higher customer loyalty score than Nike, both companies are vulnerable on this score — with Nike posting the lowest and Adidas-Reebok the second lowest customer loyalty marks of any of the manufacturing non-durables companies.
Unlike the food processing segment, where manufacturing skills represent core competencies of the business, the athletic shoes segment's core competencies are creating, marketing and distributing global brands. Manufacturing is almost entirely done by subcontractors operating primarily in countries where labour costs are low.
In this business environment, in addition to the usual challenges of supply chain management (at which Adidas and Reebok both excel), there is the added complication of addressing social responsibility issues such as fair labour practices and safe working conditions in cultures very different from the United States. A company's performance in the area of social responsibility may also affect how consumers perceive the quality of the company's products, since these issues are of growing concern to many consumers. While both companies have made strides in this area, they have been consistent targets of critics, and the high visibility of these issues may contribute to the fact that the athletic shoes category has the lowest perceived quality score among all manufacturing non-durables.
Nike, the market leader, on the other hand, has programs in place to provide oversight of working conditions and human rights issues in addition to managing supplier production quality at its contract manufacturers. Originally using third-party monitors, Nike now handles these functions internally. The company measures its overall performance with a balanced scorecard that includes compliance measures in addition to cost, delivery, and quality measures. The company has become an advocate for bringing into better alignment the codes of conduct of various compliance and monitoring organisations.
For companies the size of Adidas and Reebok, monitoring can be a major undertaking. Adidas-Reebok new company contracts with 41 footwear manufacturing plants and another 543 apparel manufacturing plants. Adidas-Reebok was the first footwear program to be accredited by the Fair Labour Association.
The athletic shoes industry falls 1 percent to 76, dragged down mostly by the performance of Nike. Reebok and Nike were tied in last year's measurement, but they have moved in opposite directions by equal amounts this year. Reebok climbs 4 percent to 78, while Nike slipped to 72. The six point advantage Reebok enjoys over its nearest competitor is unusually large in any industry, surpassed only by Google in search engines, eBay in Internet auctions, and Wachovia in banks.
Reebok's acquisition by Adidas may have contributed to Reebok's increase in satisfaction. The combined brands led to a near doubling of U.S. sales, rivalling Nike in market share. Price increases eroded satisfaction across the industry last year, but this year Reebok has a large advantage in value for the money as perceived by its customers.
Adidas-Reebok new company is driving future success by engaging consumers with unique interactive product approaches and rewarding point-of-sale experiences. Adidas and Reebok brands must be competitive in this environment where consumers make their final purchase decisions based on availability, convenience and breadth of product offering.
There are examples what Adidas-Reebok has done:
Product performance excellence
Adidas Group website gives their potential customer possibility to zoom in on the product and also to see full information even its technology. Consumer also can choose colour and size easily, the website also offer product preferences by consumer behaviour.
Price performance excellence
Adidas-Reebok has offered discount for specific product or promotional in their website.
Transactional excellence
Process of buying is quite easy and easy to understand by customer. Adidas-Reebok also provide their websites with product tracking and account managing, so that customer cans easily tracking their order and or review their cart.
Relationship excellence
In managing their relationship with consumer, Adidas-Reebok gives them services to subscribe their newsletter. Customer can contact Adidas-Reebok through easy steps and if they aren't satisfied with the product, they can refund it and the procedure of refund is explained in their website.
To manage their relation with small retailer, Adidas-Reebok offer "Affiliate Program" by giving them procedure to get commission in sales.
The Adidas Group, with its wide assortment of product lines, is challenged by an increasing individualisation of demand. There is a tendency towards an experience economy, a design orientation, and, most importantly, a new awareness of quality and functionality that demands durable and reliable products corresponding exactly to the needs of the buyer. Consumers with increasing purchasing power are increasingly attempting to express their personality by means of individual product choice. As a result, Adidas was forced to create product programmes with an increasing number of variants. This development makes forecasting and planning for Adidas more difficult than ever. The result? High overstocks, an increasing fashion risk, an enormous supply chain complexity, and the necessity to provide often large discounts to get rid of unwanted products. Adidas realised that implementing made-to-order manufacturing, instead of made-to-stock variant production, could become a promising option to manage the costs of variant explosion and broad product assortments. Adidas' management board decided to head towards mass customisation (MC). The programme development started in the mid- 1990s, resulting in the mass customisation product range mi Adidas. It was launched in test markets in 2001, and introduced, on a wider scale, in 2002. The programme provides consumers with the opportunity to create unique footwear to their exact personal specifications in terms of fit, function and design in specialised retail stores or at selected events. The shoes are offered in selected markets MC can be seen from the Adidas perspective as an approach to improve both its operational performance and its competitive position by providing higher customer value. From market research studies and customer surveys we know that consumers love the system, and even make appointments to buy shoes. Other benefits to Adidas are outlined in the box below. However, these benefits come at a cost, as MC also brings a number of challenges. This process is called the elicitation of a mass customisation system. The supplier has to interact with the customer to obtain specific information to define and translate the customers' needs and desires into a concrete product specification. However, instead of just listening to the customer, in many cases customers are performing this design (configuration) activity by themselves on a tool supplied by the manufacturer. The selling process turns into a co-design process.
IV. ANALYSING BUYING BEHAVIOUR
The sportswear market can be split into two separate markets: sports clothing and sports footwear. The mass-market for sportswear initially developed in the 1980's with the growth of the training shoe market. This was initially passed off as a fad. However, during the late 1980's and in the 1990's, the sportswear market grew rapidly. In the early 1990's, the sports clothing market overtook sports footwear, and since the early 2000's, there has been a steady sales ratio of 70% clothing to 30% footwear in the overall sportswear market. Between 2000 and 2004, the overall sportswear market grew by 16.2%. However, during this period, sales of sports clothing grew 18.9% in contrast to sports footwear, which grew by 10.4%. One of the reasons for this is that price deflation of 13% occurred between 2000 and 2004, which encouraged consumers to increase the number of garments and pairs of footwear they buy each year.
Consumers of sports apparel in the US and their socio-demographic profiles
The Keynote Report on the Clothing and Footwear Industry (2006) revealed that an important characteristic of sportswear consumers is the bias towards men, in contrast to most clothing and footwear markets where women spend more and buy more frequently. A survey undertaken by NEMS Market Research survey on behalf of Keynote (2006: 93) found that the most widely used outlet for buying sports, leisure or casual clothing or footwear was a sports shop, with 55% of consumers stating this. The survey also found that sports shops were used by 72% of 16-19 years olds, 49% of 20-24 year olds, and 72% of 25-34 year olds.
Further information about the socio-demographic profiles of buyers is presented in the following table:
Nike
Adidas
Reebok
All
39
36
31
By sex
Male
39
36
31
Female
39
36
32
By age
16-24
59
49
46
25-34
53
48
40
35-44
44
45
38
45-54
44
37
35
55-64
23
22
21
65+
14
13
10
By social grade
AB
38
35
27
C1
40
36
31
C2
48
43
40
D
33
32
35
E
32
29
25
Buying behaviour
A survey of consumer attitudes towards sportswear was undertaken by BMRB Access, for Keynote, in June 2007. Based upon a representative sample of 1,016 adults, the key findings were:
• 36% of respondents believed that sports brands like Nike or Adidas offer better quality than most other clothing or footwear;
• 58% of respondents in the 25 – 34 age group believed that sports brands like Nike or Adidas offer better quality than most other clothing or footwear;
• In 2006, when asked which brands consumers had bought in the last year, 36% had bought Adidas, 39% had bought Nike, and 31% had bought Reebok;
• In 2004, when asked which brands consumers had bought in the last year, 40% had bought Adidas, 44% had bought Nike, and 36% had bought Reebok;
• In 1998, when asked which brands consumers had bought in the last year, 48% had bought Adidas, 37% had bought Nike, and 35% had bought Reebok.
There is also a new trend in consumer behaviour and women are getting a bigger influence in all buying decisions and more and more companies realise this and redirect their advertising towards women. This, as well as their increased interest for sports, should make women an obvious target for Adidas-Reebok and their advertising. Women are responsible for about 80% of individual consumer spending and they can therefore no longer be ignored by a brand of Adidas-Reebok size. If Adidas wants to attract women to buy their products they have to make sure that their brand is appealing to women as well.
An already existing brand can be harder to gender since the consumer might have preconceived notions. Therefore the customer needs to be convinced and learn to connect certain values with the brand and even change already set values. Communication and advertising have the power to create associations with a brand and make the brand more interesting to the consumer. Women are more susceptible to advertising than men are and this makes advertising an excellent tool when trying to change the values of a brand. What women want and find attractive have changed enormously during the last decades. To reach out to women and to achieve success, Adidas-Reebok has to understand these changes and follow the market development so that their communication can be adapted to the "modern" woman.
Brands and the values they bring to the consumer have become more and more important to both companies and consumers. We think that Adidas mainly created the Stella McCartney line not to sell clothes, but to build their brand. The values from this line will spill over not only to the other Women collections but to the brand as a whole.
By choosing Stella McCartney as a collaborator, Adidas are taking a short-cut into the consciousness of women. They are able to adopt the brand associations that are connected with Stella McCartney and merge them with their own brand associations. This is not unusual for companies to do and we think it will prove to be very effective. Both Adidas and Stella McCartney are brands that include very strong values.
Adidas is known for their high tech functional clothes and the perceived quality is high. Stella McCartney is a trendsetter and famous for her designs, the combination of the two brands and their brand associations is very interesting and sure to get attention. Adidas call their new positioning "perfect fusion of performance and style". The customers that feel loyalty towards Stella McCartney are likely to transfer that loyalty to the new line and this will increase the tolerance for and the positivism towards Adidas.
In order to further analyse whether or not Adidas' acquisition of Reebok resulted in a sustainable competitive advantage over rival and current industry leader, Nike, a customer analysis must be formulated. One way in which the merger is supposed to lead to a sustainable competitive advantage is by increasing the amount of exposure of the two brands globally. This increase in exposure occurred through a larger distribution chain created from combined resources of the two companies.
Adidas-Reebok strategy towards consumer buying behaviour
In an effort to distinguish itself from the competition, each company has developed exclusive relationships with highly recognisable organisations and individuals. Reebok had the exclusive rights to market its products for the NBA, NHL, NFL, and the WNBA. Similarly, Adidas had obtained contracts with professional European soccer clubs such as Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and AC Milan. On the other hand, without an established superstar, Nike's current endorsements lack the influence they once held with the likes of Michael Jordan. "At the moment, virtually none of the current NBA stars wear Nike. In my eyes, this is the reason Nike was prepared to spend an outrageous amount of money for an 18-year-old," claims Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer.
While there are many possible avenues to exploit in terms of sales opportunities for these companies, the market is highly segmented in such a way that it is important for the three to engage in target marketing. For example, in this market of athletic shoes, a firm can either offer an all-purpose cross-trainer shoe or a running shoe and a basketball shoe. While the cross-trainer shoe has broad appeal for all consumers it does not satisfy any consumer's needs in particular. In contrast, the running shoe and basketball shoe combination will each satisfy a particular market segment but will have modest appeal to the other segment. This is the point where the particular companies must decide whether they will individually follow a niche market or a full-line strategy. In order to make this decision, the firms must weigh the cost of offering an additional product and the revenue generated by doing so.
By utilising Porter's generic strategies framework (previously discussed), the methods employed by Adidas-Reebok to compete for customers in the industry become easily apparent. While both Nike and Adidas make use of a differentiation strategy to attract its customers, Reebok concentrates its efforts on a broad cost strategy approach. The differentiation strategy of the two companies, Nike and Adidas, can be seen in action by examining the various productions of both these companies.
Nike currently incorporates its Shox technology in many of the athletic shoes it produces. All of Nike's past Shox shoes have had the same basic platform: a four-column Shox unit in the heel for cushioning and a mesh/synthetic upper. In addition to the Shox technology, Nike has innovated online purchasing by allowing customers to customise their own shoes through NIKEiD.com. These methods can be seen as an attempt by Nike to differentiate itself from the competi
About the Author
how many years does tracy mcgrady have left with the houston rockets?
how many years does tracy mcgrady have left with the houston rockets ? i need to know if not this season then if the rockets have a chance next year at a championship!
Tracy Lamar McGrady, Jr. (born May 24, 1979 in Bartow, Florida), nicknamed T-Mac, is an American professional basketball player currently playing for the Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association. A seven-time All-Star, McGrady was ranked #75 on SLAM magazine's Top 75 NBA Players Of All Time in 2003. He spent the first seven years of his career with the Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic before being traded to the Rockets in 2004.
Contents [hide]
1 High school career
2 NBA career
2.1 Toronto Raptors (1997-2000)
2.2 Orlando Magic (2000-2004)
2.3 Houston Rockets (2004-current)
3 NBA Live 07
4 Adidas
5 Personal
6 Player profile
7 NBA career achievements
7.1 Orlando Magic franchise records
7.2 Career records
8 See also
9 Notes
10 External links
High school career
McGrady played all 5 positions in high school at Mt. Zion Christian Academy, and entered the NBA without attending college. He created national buzz after his performance in the Reebok ABCD Camp, to which the best high school players in the nation are invited annually. He was named high school Player of the Year by USA Today.
NBA career
Toronto Raptors (1997-2000)
Due in part to his strong showing at the ABCD camp, Tracy McGrady was selected ninth overall in the 1997 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors. Chicago Bulls GM Jerry Krause had arranged a draft-day trade to send Scottie Pippen to Toronto for the 9th overall pick, which he would have used to take McGrady. Krause decided not to make the deal when Michael Jordan threatened to retire if it was made.[citation needed]
McGrady often found himself in teammate and second cousin Vince Carter's shadow. While Carter was responsible for scoring, it was McGrady's job to be the team's defensive stopper and ball distributor. The duo of Carter and McGrady led the Raptors to their first playoff berth in the 2000 NBA Playoffs, but they were swept by the New York Knicks in 3 games. The two also participated in the 2000NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
Orlando Magic (2000-2004)
The Toronto Raptors made a sign-and-trade deal which sent McGrady to the Orlando Magic in exchange for a first round draft pick in 2000. In the 2000–01 season, he won the NBA Most Improved Player Award and was selected as a starter in the All-Star Game. In the 2002–03 season, McGrady averaged 32.1 points per game and captured the NBA scoring title, becoming the youngest player to do so since the NBA/ABA merger. In the 2003–04 season, he once again captured the NBA scoring title, averaging 28 points per game, and set a career high with 62 points against the Washington Wizards on March 10, 2004. With this performance, he became the fourth player in the past 12 years to score over 60 points in a game. Despite McGrady's personal accolades, the Magic had failed to reach the second round in the playoffs, and in his fourth season as a Magic, problems with team chemistry, coaching, and management forced Orlando into a downward spiral. The season ended with Orlando failing to reach the playoffs and an impatient McGrady seeking a possible trade.
Houston Rockets (2004-current)
On June 29, 2004, McGrady, Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue, and Reece Gaines were traded to the Houston Rockets in a seven-player deal that sent Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley, and Kelvin Cato to the Magic. In his first year in Houston, McGrady teamed with 7'6" center Yao Ming, to end the season ranked 5th in the Western Conference. On December 9, 2004, he scored 13 points in the last 35 seconds of a game against the San Antonio Spurs, with four consecutive 3 pointers (one of which was part of a four point play), including the game winning 3 pointer with 1.7 seconds left in the game. This helped the Rockets win 81-80.
Despite McGrady's play in the 1st round of the 2005 NBA Playoffs, Houston was eliminated in game seven by 40 points.
In the early 2005–06 season, McGrady missed eight games because of multiple back spasms. His back problems resurfaced on January 8, 2006 when he had to be taken out at halftime in a game against the Denver Nuggets on a stretcher to hospital because of severe back spasms. He had been out for five games. Since his return, the spasms have still been a problem for McGrady. In the 2005–06 season the Rockets were 2–15 in games he did not play in and 2–16 in games McGrady did not finish. While McGrady was injured for five games with his back injury, the Rockets did not win a single game. Other injuries include him falling on his tailbone in a game against the Indiana Pacers.
In the 2006-2007 NBA season, McGrady started out slowly, and after missing 7 games with back spasms he visited a doctor. In a recent interview with TNT, McGrady said that he thought that his body was slowing down. He believed that he could no longer be as explosive as he was in the past due to his back injury. Since Yao Ming was having another breakout season, he was deferring to Yao as the number one option.[1] However, since Yao went down with a leg injury, McGrady has stepped up his overall play, re-establishing himself as one of the game's premier players and by doing so has led Houston to the 5th best record in the league. Despite his recent shooting slump, he continues to find his teammates for the assist. He is currently averaging a career high in assists per game.
NBA Live 07
NBA Live 07 (2007)Tracy Mcgrady was on the NBA Live 07 cover. McGrady, a nine-year veteran, is a 2X scoring champion and a six time All Star. This year's game will feature a number of gameplay advancements including Total Freestyle control, a feature which allows more control over players than ever imagined. Also included will be a ground-breaking next-gen Ai system which is both intuitive and intelligent. Visit www.nbalive07.com for the latest news and features. The game will be available for both the Xbox and Xbox 360.
“I’ve always looked upon the EA SPORTS athletes as fan favorites so I’m honored to be named this year’s NBA LIVE 07 cover athlete and join the EA SPORTS family,” said McGrady. “Each year there is tremendous anticipation around the league as players wait to see themselves in NBA LIVE and I feel like this year my virtual self plays more like me than ever before. This is as close to playing in the NBA as you get.” (Tracy McGrady)
Adidas
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McGrady signed a lifetime partnership with Adidas in April 30, 2002. [[1]] McGrady has had 6 signature produced by Adidas including the latest T-Mac 6 which was released on October 20, 2006. [2]
Personal
Vince to the left and Tracy to the rightMcGrady has two children, daughter Layla Clarice and son Laymen Lamar, with his wife CleRenda Harris who he had dated for 10 years. Their son was born December 27, 2005 during a 82-74 loss against the Utah Jazz in which McGrady left during halftime to see his girlfriend going into labor. The couple were married on September 12, 2006 in Mexico.[2] Tracy has stated that he and his teammate Yao Ming are close friends.[3] T-Mac and NBA superstar Vince Carter are second cousins. They played together in Toronto for two years, where McGrady often found himself playing in Carter's shadow.
Player profile
McGrady is a seven time all star and has made the All NBA Team five times. McGrady is considered one of the most successful prep-to-pros players ever, following in the footsteps of Moses Malone, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal. Like several other popular basketball players, he has followed the footsteps of Michael Jordan with his own signature shoe line with Adidas. However, a common criticism of McGrady is the fact that none of his teams have ever advanced past the first round of the playoffs in his NBA career.
While McGrady has often been compared to Kobe Bryant due in part to their similar statistics, McGrady's skill set and style of play sets him apart from other players. He is well known for his head fakes and his ability to create plays off of a screen. During the 2002-03 season, the NBA tried to promote many NBA all-stars and compare them with past greats; they compared McGrady to the silky play of the finger-roll master, George Gervin.[4]
McGrady visited Seoul (South Korea), Guangzhou (China), Manila (Philippines), and Hong Kong in Summer 2006, to promote his exclusive Asia T-Mac 1 shoe. Despite this international trip, he refused to play in the Olympics of 2004 due to security concerns. He also has recently expressed that the NBA should not stage its All-Star game in New Orleans, because he feels he will not be safe there.
NBA career achievements
2-time NBA scoring champion: 2003 (32.1), 2004 (28.0)
7-time NBA All-Star: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
5-time All-NBA:
First Team: 2002, 2003
Second Team: 2001, 2004
Third Team: 2005
NBA Most Improved Player Award: 2001
Orlando Magic franchise records
Most points in one game with 62 (March 10, 2004 vs. Washington Wizards)
Most points in one half with 37 in the first half (March 9, 2003 vs. Denver Nuggets)
Most points in one quarter with 25 in the second quarter (March 9, 2003 vs. Denver Nuggets)
Most free throws made in one game with 18 (December 25, 2002 vs. Detroit Pistons)
Most points in a playoff game with 46 (in Game 2 of the 2003 Eastern Conference playoffs, First Round vs. Detroit Pistons)
Most three-point field goals made, one half - 8 - Tracy McGrady, Orlando at Cleveland, January 26, 2004
Career records
Career 40+ point games (regular season): 41
Career 50+ point games (regular season): 4
Career 60+ point games (regular season): 1
Career triple-doubles (regular season): 2
Career 45+ point games (Playoffs): 3
Most three-point field goals made, one half - 8 - Tracy McGrady, Orlando at Cleveland, January 26, 2004
Inground Pools Oakville: Offering Durability Along with Great Shapes and Designs
A swimming pool offers great recreation and exercising opportunities. It is a place where you can indulge in water sports, swimming activities, and also have some leisurely time. Moreover it has the ability to beautify your landscape beyond your expectations. Swimming pools can be of types – inground and aboveground. Both these types of pools have their own share of features that work to the advantages of each type. Inground swimming pools are especially suitable for big budget and grand swimming pools.
For people residing in Oakville, they are open to many options of swimming pools installation and construction services. Construction of inground pools Oakville is handled by several pool contractors who have been in the trade for years. They also offer a wide range of choices and options with regard to the pool design, shape, layers etc. The service cost is also competitive.
Inground pools Oakville offer many advantageous features. First, they last longer than aboveground pools since they are cemented on all sides and along the bottom. Though they are relatively expensive to construct or install, they offer greater durability and last several years. Some of the oldest surviving pools are inground pools. Hence your investment will prove worthwhile in the longer run.
Again, inground pools Oakville can take customized shapes, sizes, and designs. Unlike an aboveground pool which offers limited shapes, sizes, and designs, inground pools are constructed to suit your landscape and can take any shape or size which goes well with your landscape or available land area. Again, you can decide on the dept of the pool as per your requirements. Variation in dept is also possible with swallow swimming areas for children and learners. With inground pools, you are also open to different options of material for the liner which includes vinyl, concrete, and fiberglass.
About the Author
The article is contributed by a professional content writer, having experiences of working in different industries. For further information on inground pools Oakville and Inground pools Etobicoke please visit http://www.soldapools.com/
How did cavemen stay in such great shape?
They look great in the photos. Mostly a meat diet, no?
Hahah a paleolithic diet, my friend. It is actually a diet that is gaining a lot of popularity as of recent. The premise behind it is that in an evolutionary sense, a lot of things added to the human diet are relatively recent (dairy products believe it or not, all processed foods, etc) and these foods are harder to break down, because the human digestion system has not evolved to accommodate for these new foods.
Im actually on this diet right now, eating only meat, veggies, fruit, eggs, and nuts, and have lost a good amount of body fat.
This season, set out on a journey of rediscovery as Lifestyle launches its AW 09 collection which promises to have fun and youthful elements like Edgy fashion, chic designs, bold hues and more. On offer are six exciting ranges of diverse fashion to choose from:
Collection Highlights:
Ginger: Calls out to the young, sprightly & flirty women with super cool fashion that says ‘I belong'. Hot, seductive and bold, best describe this collection which has specs of modern, retro, floral and artistic graphics in its line of tops, denims, leggings, jackets & footwear. The collection is sure going to be a hot favourite amongst the girls who like to flaunt their attitude with style.
The brand has also introduced a diverse, eclectic, and trendy accessories complimenting the apparel line. The range offers bracelets, ear rings, Necklace, Hair accessories, Rings and Baby accessories.
Code: >Presents the cosmopolitan Indian male or female the choice of dressing offering a definitive edge in the corporate jungle.The collection comprises of an exciting range of Formal & Casual wear, inspired by colour stories, unique styling and global trends, in vibrant and youthful colours with a dash of class to it. The women wear line comprises evening dresses, night wear and fashion accessories while the men's wear comprises shirts, trousers, jackets, footwear, belts, ties.
Club Hoppers: Specially designed for urban males who believe in working hard and partying harder! This rich & super stylish collection has just the perfect touch of bling which can be worn all through the day and works perfectly for the night as well. Reinforced with impeccable club styling and tailored construction, the collection is dominated by winter colours. Comprising of ties, shirt, trousers, t-shirts, waist coats, Belts & Shoes.
Fame Forever: Super cool and super hip, Fame Forever has a youthful spirit to it and consist of trendy, colourful and funky casual clothes for men and woman. Offering clothes in a vibrant and kaleidoscopic range of colours, the AW09 collection has a feel of fun and frolic to it. Comprising of t-shirts and Denims.
Forca: Once you adorn a Forca, edginess & irreverence takes over. The cool denim brand is perfect for men who are youthful while being evolved & self assured. The collection is inspired from new technologies, alternate sports and music and a well defined adaptation of the latest in street fashion, comfortable, easy to wear and in touch with their surroundings. The collection comprises of t-shirts, shirts, denims, footwear, belts & fashion accessories.
Melange: Offers a mix & match contemporary ethnic adornment for women, to dazzle the evenings. This collection comprises of an exclusive line of ethnic wear for women with a modern and contemporary look. The collection entails a combination of hand block printing and exquisite hand embroideries with the use of pure fabrics like silks, chiffons, georgettes etc in vibrant-to-soothing shades. The brand has also recently launched ‘Melange Sarees' across select stores in cotton, silk, chiffons and georgettes. The collection comprises Salwar Kamiz, Dupatta & Kurtis.
The Landmark Group, founded in 1973 with a single store in Bahrain, has grown into one of the largest retail conglomerates in the Middle East and is expanding rapidly in India.
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Can u find me sum shirts from the forever 21 website tht go with these shoes?
It doesnt hav 2 b a perfect match...
jus it has 2 flow...ya kno?
A scarf would be cute 2...
Here's the link:
http://www.pickyourshoes.com/collectible/nike_wmns_dunk_lo_premium_birch_grn.htm
US $9.99
