Free essays

After about 65 years of existence, Adidas continues to be a leading brand in sportswear and accessories across the globe. The company now seeks to look back on its journey, as well as chart out a path for its future. It has been such a long and remarkable journey with numerous conquests, as well as difficulties, but the company is proud of its achievements so far and continues to believe in its potential, even with the challenges in the 2013 financial year. The company has launched various new products during the year, suffered some blows due to turbulent currency exchange portfolios in its European market, signed new endorsement deals, renewed contracts with major sports partners, and recovered from fraud in the offshore holdings. All has happened this year. Adidas, however, remains steadfast on its track towards the Route 2015 strategic aspirations. To end this remarkable year in a very positive note, the Adidas Group intends to continue with its innovative streak and introduce a few new products for the season, while also re-launching newer editions of some already existing lines. For the group, 2013 has seen some remarkable performances, as well as unforeseen obstacles, but the group remains grateful to its loyal consumers and investors who have remained hopeful and trusting in the companys potential and the capabilities of the management and the entire staff.

Important Events

After about 65 years of existence, Adidas has been taking a leading position in sportswear and accessories in the world. The company is situated in Germany and was founded in 1948. It has, however, grown in leaps and bounds to become a household name in the world of sports apparels and accessories. The company has numerous partnerships and sponsorships that have greatly contributed to its current success in many ways. It can, thus, attribute its growth to so many people who trusted in its potential and the managements capabilities, as well as the design teams innovativeness and responsiveness to the needs of the clients. Adidas is primarily a multinational company that specializes in design, as well as manufacture of sporting clothes and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer with the interests in non-sporty gear, such as watches, bags, eyewear, sandals, caps, socks, lotions, deodorants, perfumes, aftershave, and shirts.

Now, the company seeks to look back on its journey, as well as chart out a path for its future. It has been such a long and outstanding journey with numerous conquests, as well as difficulties, but the company is proud of its achievements and continues to believe in its potential, even with the challenges in the 2013 financial year. This has been a challenging year for the economic world given the numerous instabilities brought about by a versatile US dollar among other Wall Street issues. The company, however, remains in a position to weather this storm and come out unhurt at best or simply scratched at worst (Adidas Group, 2012).

The major challenge of this year has been the currency instability against the US dollar in most of the European locations. This led to a limited number of stocks being availed to the retailers and, thus, may have a negative influence on the companys sales numbers. This created a need for an adjustment in the financial projections for the year, and thus, some investors expectations have not been met, yet. The management, however, assures all investors and shareholders that everything will be alright as the company continues to hold on to its aspirations of the future (Grove, Mock & Ehrenreich, 1997).

Also, with regards to the problems of its past, the group can proudly state that it has put the fraud issue in India behind, and the Indian branch is now doing remarkably well under new management. The company has totally recovered from this, and there are no more threats of this nature in its future. The European market has also been hit by snares relating to the currency instabilities, and this has greatly affected the organizations performance. Once the currency exchange ambience improves, the company will be able to regain its favorable position and avail as much merchandise as required by the retailers. This may not yet be in the past, but the measures put in place by the company for mitigation are proving effective as the companys retailers are still relatively doing well at the moment.

The company has, otherwise, had such a good year. The company has launched various new products, such as the Taylormade Adidas Golf series, which went ahead to record impressive sales numbers globally. The company has also launched the smart watch edition for its sports fraternity, and an all time classic in the name of Adidas Originals Campus 80s, a line that was created in partnership with a Japanese fashion house named Edifice.

The group has signed a couple of new celebrity endorsement deals. Also, it is working on some very lucrative marketing ideas that will take the products to an all-new level against the competitors. It is a great sign of a bigger and better 2014. Other than these endorsements, the company has also renewed its contracts with the FIFA World Cup franchise until 2030 and the Chelsea Football Club until 2023. Looking at the companys Route 2015 strategic aspirations, the financial drawbacks experienced during the year do not affect this target at all. The company tries to bridge the gap by performing extremely well in this coming season with the numerous new products and marketing strategies.

Analysis of the 2012/2013 Financial Report

Adidas Group intends to continue with its innovative streak and introduce a few new products for the season in order to end this remarkable year in a very positive note. For example, the Adidas Jake Blauvelt boot is already out in time for the 2013 winter. The Adidas Mutombo, another best seller, has also been revamped and is scheduled for release on December 14, 2013. The company also continues to hold its stake in Bayern Munich. Most of the sponsored soccer, basketball, tennis, golf, skateboarding teams and players, as well as athletes remain loyal to the brand. Basically, it has been a great year in the companys relationships with the sporting community.

For the group, 2013 has seen some remarkable performances, as well as unforeseen obstacles, but the group is grateful to its loyal consumers and investors who have remained hopeful and trusting in the companys potential and the capabilities of the management and the entire staff. The company has, so far, had such remarkable customer engagement and feedback for both the Adidas and Reebok lines, implying that the products are still top-notch and that the company, thus, still has potential to hit the roof in 2014 and in the future (Fridson & Alvarez, 2011).

As an assurance to its customers, investors, and stakeholders, the group continues to stay true to its founding motto of innovative thinking not only in marketing but also in designing new products and improving the existing ones, as well as responding to the customers complaints, recommendations, and appreciations (Fridson & Alvarez, 2011). The group has seen this in the extensive customer engagement that continues to be encouraged in the online shopping platforms, as well as the social media marketing tools that are in use.

As much as the company acknowledges having had a difficult year in 2013, especially with its financial projections in the European market, it has had some great moments too. Thus, as the year comes to an end, it would be important to assure investors and shareholders that the company has a lot of potential to pull through successfully. The most logic path to recovering from the constraints created by its hindered sales in the European market would be to compensate by selling more of the new products and the re-launched editions. To achieve this, the company has upheld the good endorsement deals while taking on new ones and renewing lucrative contracts that are bound to rake in some great revenue. The company also continues to hold on to its good deals, such as the stake in Bayern Munich and the partnership with the Chelsea Football Club. Other than these, the company also continues to hold true to its marketing strategy of innovation and responsiveness to the needs of its consumers. This is and continues to be the driving force behind its success as a designer and manufacturer of sports apparels and accessories. The company may thence not meet up the investors expectations for this year, but the groundwork has surely been done to ensure that the deficiency is attained in the next fiscal year in order to realize the 2015 strategic aspirations.

With all these in mind, the company seeks to thank its consumers, investors, shareholders, employees, partners, and all the other stakeholders for their continued support throughout this year. The management would also like to assure all the interested parties mentioned above that the company has not lost track of its aspirations and will, thus, continue moving the right direction as agreed upon earlier.