Compare and Contrast Nike vs. Adidas' Business Operations Research Paper

Compare and Contrast Nike vs. Adidas' Business Operations - Research Paper Example The founder of the company, Adi Dassler intended to offer superior quality equipments to every single athlete. The product offerings of Adidas ranges from apparel to footwear to accessories related to every kind of various sports. However, the company designs products that are mainly associated with football, training, running and basketball. The brand was acquired by Salmon group in the year 1997 and the company came to be known as Adidas-Salmon AG. In the year 2006, the group acquired Reebok which was perceived to be highly advantageous for Adidas. Reebok was also a well known name in the sports industry. With the combination of two such reputed brands, the new group was expected to attain a higher degree of competitive advantage in the industry. The group was expected to cater with an increased variety of products accompanied with a strong existence across athletes, leagues, teams and events. The Adidas group engages above 42,000 employees across the globe. The group also has abov e 170 subsidiaries which assures the availability of its products across the world. The group’s sales along with distribution of products have been categorized in four global regions which are North America, Latin America, Europe/Emerging markets and Asia/Pacific. The group deals in sportswear and footwear as well and is known to be amongst the biggest suppliers of Europe. The group is also observed to dominate quite a number of sports events being reputed as the ‘Olympic brand’ in Sydney. The sale of the group was stated to reach a record high in the year 2000 (Adidas Group, â€Å"At a Glance the Story of the Adidas Group†). 1.2. Nike Nike Corporation deals with developing, designing and global marketing of products ranging from apparels and accessories to footwear and sport equipments. The company is known to cater about 18,000 retail stores with its products across the United States. It also makes available its products in about 200 different countries with the combination of independent licensees, distributors and subsidiaries. The athletic footwear range of Nike is particularly designed for the use of athletes; however, few of the products from this range are used for leisure as well as informal purposes. The company designs its products for all age group of women, men and children. The popular group of products that has the highest sales is basketball, cross-training, running, women’s and children’s shoes. The company also designs and markets footwear that are required for outdoor actions like golf, baseball, bicycling, wrestling, aquatic activities, other recreational and athletic uses, tennis, soccer, football, volleyball, cheerleading and hiking among others. Nike is also involved with selling sports related equipments which entails majority of the mentioned groups, lifestyle wear that are athletically enthused and others. The competitive advantage of the company is stated to be its constant innovations in the field of apparels, footwear and equipments as well. The company attains this competitive edge with the help of its Research and Development team which is technologically quite advanced (Dermesropian & Et. Al. â€Å"NIKE†). 2.0. Sales & Supply Chain Management 2.1. Sales & Supply Chain of Adidas The suppliers of Adidas are trained in a way so that they comprehend the significance of setting up and synchronizing the organizational system of management along with ways and methods of proper communication. The easy and