International Marketing Assignment Introduction Globalization Has Transformed the World from Being Comprised of Individual Natio

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International Marketing

Assignment

Introduction

Globalization has transformed the world from being comprised of individual national economies into an economic system which is more integrated and interdependent. Therefore

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the companies are also moving out from their national boundaries and expanding their operations across the globe in different regions. Adidas group is a German sports wear brand which has a wide international presence. The company is known worldwide for designing and manufacturing sport shoes, clothing and accessories. The origin of the company dates back to

1949 when the company was registered as “Adi Dassler adidas Sportschuhfabrik” by Adi

Dassler at Herzogenaurach, Germany. Since then this group has emerged as a major name in the international sportswear. The group manufactures and markets four major brands which are Adidas, Reebok, Taylormade and Rockport. The products under Adidas brand are focused for addressing the needs of the Athletes, Reebok offers products for fitness loving customers,

Taylormade is a brand focused on Golf and Rockport is a brand of fashion footwear.

Together these four brands make Adidas a strong international sportswear brand which offers a wide range of sportswear products to its customers. The operations of the company are spread across the globe. The objective of this paper is to critically analyse and evaluate the marketing strategies of Adidas by using the principles and concepts of International marketing.

Globalization

Factors which led the company to internationalize

The journey of the company started as a family business but in 1940’s there was a separation of the interests of the two Dassler brothers. During the course of its history, Adidas became an internationally recognized brand because of its products becoming famous during the events like FIFA world cup. The company used well known sports stars like Jesse Owens,

Muhammad Ali and so on to advertise their products. This along with innovation and quality helped the company to develop an international image and demand for its products. In 1992

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few years after the death of Horst Dassler the company was near the brink of bankruptcy. It was during this time that some strategic decisions were taken which actually changed the fate of the company. It was decided by the company that manufacturing operations will be outsourced to Asia and design and marketing will be retained with the company itself. Later in 1997, the company purchased Salomon Ski. It later acquired Reebok to become the number two global sportswear brand after Nike. Hence need for cost cutting, competition and market growth were some major factors which led the company to internationalize

(Diamantopoulos & Riefler, 2011)

Competitive advantage of globalization

There are two major sources of competitive advantage for a firm. These are product differentiation and the low cost leadership. Adidas since its inception was an innovation based company which later started designing, manufacturing and marketing a wide range of sports wears like shoes, accessories and apparels. The innovation in design was a major competitive advantage for the company and this enabled the company to differentiate its products from the competitors. The company by its various innovations like the “screw-in- studs” on light fool boots during the 1954 football world cup in Berlin to the “miCoach” system in the 1980’s became a famous name in sports wear industry which offered unique products to its customers. Later with the outsourcing of the manufacturing to Asia the company was able to reduce the cost of production significantly. This also allowed the company to fully focus its attention towards the design and marketing of the products. All this enabled the company to offer innovative superior quality products to the customers which were according to their need and helped in creating a competitive advantage for the

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