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A
Project Report
On
Adidas
Of The Subject
Business to Business Marketing

Project Assigner: Prof Hitesh Manocha Submitted By:

Anjals Sehgal-007
Introduction
Adidas is one of the leading players in the sports shoe industry with a large
market base and a strong sales and distribution network spread worldwide. The
brand is a leading competitor of Nike and has continued to grow its market
share through focus upon product quality and marketing
Adidas has made several important changes to its business operations,
marketing and supply chain strategies during the recent years. These changes
have resulted in rising sales and revenue for the sports shoes, apparel and
hardware brand. However, an excellent supply and distribution chain, great
production capabilities as well as a deep understanding of market trends.

Its global operations function covers three major areas- product development,
sourcing and supply chain management. Adidas has set clear priorities for its
global operations and the focus is on bringing supply chain agility and
improving efficiency. Keeping the customer at the center, “Global Operations”
tries to make the products available to the customers at the right place at right
time and at the right costs.

An agile supply chain is like the backbone of a global company and in case of
Adidas which has kept increasing its number of customer touch points over
years, its supply chain plays the role of a central pillar of business driving speed
and performance. Adidas has been able to improve its supply chain efficiency
through its Global Operations functions making it highly competitive which is
absolutely essential to survive the tough competition from the nearest and
biggest competitor Nike. A large and agile supply chain helps you satisfy your
customers’ demands better and, in this regard, Adidas has proved itself
innovative and smart.
About the Company - Adidas is a German multinational Corporation founded
and headquartered in Herzogenaurach Germany, that designs and
manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear
manufacturer in Europe, and second largest in the world after Nike. it is the
holding company for the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok
sportswear company,8.33% of German football club Bayern Munchen and
Runtastic and Austrian fitness technology company

Products
Adidas deals with in different categories
● Apparel- Adidas sells a range of clothing items,varying from men’s
women’s t-shirts,jackets,hoodies
● Sportswear- one of the famous Adidas has always been football kits, and
the associated equipment. Adidas remains a major company in the global
supply of teams’ kits for international association football teams and
clubs.
● Baseball - Adidas has also provided baseball equipment and sponsors
numerous players of Major League Baseball in Japan.
● Basketball- Adidas superstar and pro model shoes, affectionately known
as “Shelltoes” for their stylized hard rubber toe box were fueled by,
among other, coaches such as UCLA’s John Wooden.
Customers-
Adidas uses differentiated targeting strategy to target young adults, adults as
well as children who have passion for fitness and sports. Although it targets
customers in the age group of 13-40 years but majority of its customers are of
15-30 years of age who hail from upper middle class or luxury class of
customers.

Supply Chain

The Supply chain is large,multi-tiered and varied. We have an in-depth

approach to managing the relationships with our suppliers and we continue to
develop approaches for engaging suppliers who are part of indirect sourcing
models.for years, adidas has been running leadership programs that address
this topic: important steps have been
● In 1997 building on existing initiative, adidas developed its initial
supplier code of conduct and established a compliance team. The
standards of engagement which are now called workplace standards,
reflect international human rights and labor rights conventions.
● In 1999, adidas joined the fair labor association as founding member
● In 2000 adidas started reporting about its sustainability performance, the
first company in the sportswear industry to do so
 ● In 2001 adidas played an instrumental role in the development of the
international labor organization better factories Cambodia initiative,
addressing working conditions and labor rights in the apparel sector.

Purchase Order
A purchase order is a commercial source document that is issued by a business
purchasing department when placing an order with its vendors or suppliers.
The document indicates the details on the items that are to be purchased, such
as the types of goods, quantity and price. In simple terms, it is the contract
drafted by the buyer when purchasing goods from the sellers.

Steps in Ordering
● Buyers create a purchase requisition- Before sending out the purchase
order to the supplier, the first step is to create a purchase requisition. This
is a document issued within the company to the purchasing department
to keep track of the goods ordered
● Buyer creates a purchase order- When the goods that need to be
purchased are agreed upon the purchase order is created. The po list the
date of order, Fob shipping information, discount terms names of the
buyers and sellers description of the goods being purchased , item
number price quantity and the po number
● Seller accepts purchase order- At the bottom of the purchase order is
dotted line from the authorized manager of the seller to sign off on the
order. The PO includes all the details about the transaction and what the
buyer expects to receive.once the seller receives the PO, they have the
right to either accept or reject the document.
● Buyer records purchase order- once the order has been placed the
purchased order remains”open” an open purchase order is a PO where
the order is placed but the goods have not been yet received, or it can
mean that only part of the order has been received. Either way, it signifies
that the delivery of the goods is not complete.
 There are some problems faced by the Adidas while purchasing the raw
material
Managing multiple moving pieces and people in your organization is
challenging at best.
Without an AI- driven insights platform, its nearly impossible to keep
track of all of the spend. While people can catch some line items in
employee travel and expense budgets.

Purchasing intelligence can help you find and stop spend that isn't pre
approved with a purchase order. Additionally, its flag anything over the
approved spend amount and helps to identify fraudulent or rogue
spending.

Supply chain management of Adidas

Manufacturing sportswear is a complex process that for years
necessitated the intersection and logistical oversights of numerous
players across disparate regions. In recent years, though, Adidas has
made moves to automate its processes under one roof. Two key
initiatives are in place to implement this plan:
1. Tapping into Technology and Digitization- By
manufacturing on an on demand basis, Adidas can deliver
what consumers want, when they want it. This is
accomplished through.
Speedfactory- All Adidas suppliers components directly to
speedfactory, where products are assembled using primarily
3d printing and robotics, increasing efficiency as they move
closer to mass customization goals. Originally built in
germany, satellite speedfactory facilities moved to asia in
2019, where the infrastructure to support the volume of
production was already in place.
 2. Optimizing the customer experience - A three pronged set
of parameters works to ensure customer satisfaction and
inspire brand loyalty.
● Speedy delivery- the company aims to provide
customers with the newest, highest quality products,
exactly when they want them.
● Location desirability- Adidas is focused on being
present in urban markets, where many values and
trends are shaped

Supply chain model of Adidas

The efficiency brought about by speedfacotory may very well inspire
competitors to take a page from the Adidas book. By speeding up production
time, Adidas can respond to consumer demand faster than ever.
Through shortened development and production lead times, we’ve provided
select customers with hyper-relevant product for moments that matter,” said
Martin Shankland, a member of Adidas’ executive board.

Adidas and Nike

Adidas has a strong corporate culture centering on innovation and
collaboration. It maintains a strategic focus on a simplified manufacturing
process,working with long term suppliers.
Nike maintains a lean supply chain, relying almost exclusively on independent
contractors to source its raw materials in 14 countries around the world. By
manufacturing products in the countries when they are sourced, the company
minimizes the need to negotiate with multiple vendors or oversee production.

Case study of Addidas

Weathering the COVID-19 Storm
As with just about every other industry, the covid-19 pandemic disrupted
Adidas’ supply chain with suppliers and retailers alike being forced to pause
operations around the world. The company's main priority, in addition to
remaining financially viable and protecting its employees’ health, has been to
ensure the supply chain will survive lockdowns and other containment
measures.

Purchase orders play a major role in the inventory management process when
the supplier receives the PO, they will take the items listed in the PO from their
inventory. The PO helps keep a record of the inventory on hand and identify
any discrepancies between the values shown in the records and the actual stock

Additionally, the supplier needs the PO to fill the order correctly. The buyer
will also be charged by the supplier based on the payments terms agreed upon
in the PO.

Recommendations
The procurement transactions within company exceed the spending budget just
like in the case of Adidas so we can also this problem by regular budgetary
updated. Clear up lines of communication and make sure everyone in the
supply chain is on the same page
If the procurement policy is outdated, unclear or non-existent. Then take steps
to clearly define procurement problems and needs, then collaborate with
people involved in all the steps of purchasing to update and or create a
company policy.