...Problem Statement Two of New Balance main competitors, size and product wise, Adidas and Reebok, recently announced their intention of merging. Together, they become a counterweight large enough to rival with Nike, the world’s dominant player in athletic footwear and apparel. The Davises, sole owners of New Balance, know that this transaction will have an impact on the industry and their business. They wonder how to react to ensure long-term business profitability and whether they should adjust the company’s priorities in light of the changing competitive landscape. New Balance wants to grow and needs to find the appropriate strategy to effectively support this endeavour. At the same time, the company’s leaders wish to remain committed to its core values, philosophy and heritage. The athletic footwear industry is very competitive and each player tries to differentiate itself from the rest of the pack. Although New Balance produces cutting-edge, high performance running shoes, their style, or lack of, plays against them. The market has evolved since the successful introduction of its iconic 990 running shoe, and more and more people are now wearing sneakers for casual purposes. The Adidas-Reebok merger will certainly have consequences on the industry. Many stakeholders, including New Balance’s own employees, will soon begin to ask questions about the company’s response. In order to secure its assets, the Davises must quickly determine how to tackle the situation and capture...
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...1. Present Situation New Balance is an athletic footwear and apparel company that has revenues of $1.64 billion per year. It has long had a cadre of loyal customers; the company was made famous for its commitment to runners and innovations like separate widths offered for most of its shoe models. Its main competitors include Nike—which pulls in around $19 billion per year in revenues—and Adidas, which draws about $12 billion per year. In recent years, New Balance has branched out with more models and acquired casual and boot brands, but it still has trouble suing for space at department stores, even when it offers to guarantee stores the products will sell. 2. Problem Identification New Balance’s most loyal customers tend to be middle aged and older individuals who buy shoes for functionality, not fashion, and as their feet don’t grow this demographic will often keep the same pair of shoes for years. Indeed, New Balance’s advertising slogan from the 1980s stated that “We don’t live by fashion. Then again, we don’t die by it either”. While they have since altered their approach in recent years to spur growth, the core of this philosophy remains essentially intact: New Balance values functionality over fashion. But while this certainly hasn’t killed the company, it has contributed partially to its stagnant position in the market with respect to more larger and more fashion-oriented competitors like Nike and Adidas. Unfortunately, many youths prize fashion over functionality. ...
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...1. Present Situation New Balance is an athletic footwear and apparel company that has revenues of $1.64 billion per year. It has long had a cadre of loyal customers; the company was made famous for its commitment to runners and innovations like separate widths offered for most of its shoe models. Its main competitors include Nike—which pulls in around $19 billion per year in revenues—and Adidas, which draws about $12 billion per year. In recent years, New Balance has branched out with more models and acquired casual and boot brands, but it still has trouble suing for space at department stores, even when it offers to guarantee stores the products will sell. 2. Problem Identification New Balance’s most loyal customers tend to be middle aged and older individuals who buy shoes for functionality, not fashion, and as their feet don’t grow this demographic will often keep the same pair of shoes for years. Indeed, New Balance’s advertising slogan from the 1980s stated that “We don’t live by fashion. Then again, we don’t die by it either”. While they have since altered their approach in recent years to spur growth, the core of this philosophy remains essentially intact: New Balance values functionality over fashion. But while this certainly hasn’t killed the company, it has contributed partially to its stagnant position in the market with respect to more larger and more fashion-oriented competitors like Nike and Adidas. Unfortunately, many youths prize fashion over functionality. ...
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...………………………………………………………………… 2. Situation Analysis 2.1. Macro Environment Analysis 2.2. South African Sports footwear /casual Industry Competitive Analysis ………… 2.2.1. Industry Analysis 2.2.1.1 Market Size 2.2.1.2. Market Growth 2.2.2. Industry Competitive Analysis 2.2.2.1. Competitive Forces Analysis …………………………… 2.2.2.2. Driving forces Analysis ……………………………… 2.2.3. Market Position 2.2.4. Industry Key Success Factors 2.3. New Balance South Africa company analysis 2.3.1. Performance Evaluation… 2.3.2. Resource Strength and Weakness. 2.4. Market Opportunities and Threats 3. SWOT analysis ………………………………… 3.1. Discussion and Conclusion-…………………………………………… 3.2. Strategic Actions…………………………………………… 4. Price and Cost Competitiveness of New Balance South Africa 5. Strategic Issues 6. Conclusion and Recommendation …………………………………………… 7. Implementation Plan References Annex Executive Summary Introduction 2. Situation Analysis...
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...Mix 12 Product 12 Price 12 Place 12 Promotion 13 Objectives and Goals 13 Short-term plan 13 Long-term marketing objectives 14 Market share and customers projections 14 Recommendations 16 References: 18 Appendix 1 20 Appendix II 21 Appendix III 22 Company Background Atos Shoes Inc. was founded in 2005, and the headquarters is located in Toronto Ontario with the primary manufacturing facility located in Kitchener-Cambridge Ontario area. Atos shoes offers a unique approach to athletic footwear, in its ability to offer customers different insole options to customize the fit to each individual. Atos is a new player in the running shoe market and is targeting not only the high performance runner, but also the recreational runner, especially trying to target active families. Atos shoes have seen a steady growth in the home and domestic market. The company is looking to enter the foreign market, while continuing to keep production in Canada, to maintain the level of quality and performance that it is known for. Mission Statement Atos Shoes specializes in athletic running shoes for the entire family, no matter the performance level. The focus of Atos Shoes is to provide a quality running shoe, with a customizable insole to provide optimum comfort for the runner. We are a fully owned and operating company with the headquarters and manufacturing located in Canada. We strive to be...
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...SNHU New Balance Case Study Ed Williams Introduction New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. (New Balance) is an organization that offers and makes athletic shoes, attire and extras for men, ladies and youngsters. It is the fourth biggest shoe maker on the planet. The organization was established by William Riley and was formerly known as New Balance Arch Company. In 1972, James S. Davis acquired the organization and renamed it The New Balance Athletic Shoe Company. The New Balance Company is a secretly held organization central command is situated in Brighton, Massachusetts and the organization utilizes 4,100 individuals all through the world. New Balance items are sold universally through their working divisions in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia and Canada. James S. Davis is current executive and Robot DeMartini is the present President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of New Balance. (Business Line. 2014) In this New Balance Case study, I will examine the organization's CSR system by utilizing the Corporate Citizenship administration structure (CCMF), examination of the qualities and shortcomings of some procedures and how the New Balance Company is executing their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) method. Qualities and Weaknesses So, as to comprehend the organization's corporate citizenship, New Balance Company uses corporate citizenship administration structure (CCMF) to comprehend the organization's qualities and shortcomings. It incorporates four interrelated...
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...A. LUEHRMAN JOEL L. HEILPRIN Mercury Athletic Footwear: Valuing the Opportunity In March 2007, John Liedtke, the head of business development for Active Gear, Inc., a privately held footwear company, was contemplating an acquisition opportunity. West Coast Fashions, Inc. (WCF), a large designer and marketer of men’s and women’s branded apparel had recently announced plans for a strategic reorganization. The plan called for a divestiture of certain non-core assets and a renewed focus on WCF’s higher-end business, business-casual, and formal-wear apparel businesses. One of the divisions WCF intended to shed was Mercury Athletic, its footwear division. Liedtke knew that acquiring Mercury would roughly double Active Gear’s revenue, increase its leverage with contract manufacturers, and expand its presence with key retailers and distributors. He also expected that Active Gear’s bankers would quickly approach the company about a possible bid for Mercury; consequently, he wanted to complete his own rough evaluation of the opportunity before hearing the bankers’ pitch. Athletic and Casual Footwear Industry Footwear was a mature, highly competitive industry marked by low growth, but fairly stable profit margins. Despite the industry’s overall stability, the performance of individual firms could be quite volatile as they vied with one another to anticipate and exploit fashion trends. The market for athletic and casual shoes remained fragmented, despite the presence...
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...Monique Scott 1.0 Executive Summary Nike is planning to introduce a new model of it’s Nike ID Plus, which will be called Nike ID Silver. The original product only calibrated with an ipod when syncing songs and only calculated how many miles ran, and how many calories burned. With the new Nike ID Silver, consumers will be able to sync with any MP3 player ( each sync piece sold separately), can be streamed wirelessly to a PC or MAC, will calculate how many calories burned, how many miles ran, your heart rate is monitored every 3 minutes of activity, weight can be calculated before and after activity, and blood pressure can be monitored( silicon strip sold separately) With the chip it will also recommend orthotics if needed, and all of this information can be streamed wireless to your computer/laptop of choice. From then on you can sign up for membership through Nike ID Silver Activity page to help with diet and fitness tips. 2.0 Situation Analysis Nike’s original version of the Nike ID, was well saturated in the market. It didn’t have any other competitors. With the launch of the Nike ID Silver, companies are beginning to grasp the same idea, by being innovative enough to saturate the athletic market and surpass Nike’s gross sales for the Nike ID Plus. Nike has been in the athletic world for nearly four decades now, and has gained a big portion of brand loyal consumers. 2.1 Market Summary |DEMOGRAPHICS| - Equal ratio between male and female - From ages 18-40 [Majority...
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...New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. is an American athletic footwear manufacturer based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 1906 as the "New Balance Arch Support Company" by William J. Riley and is now one of the world's top athletic footwear manufacturers. William Riley started out developing arch supports designed to improve shoe fit. His first product, a flexible arch. The company now boasts of manufacturing various athletic shoes and apparel. New balance is the second largest manufacture of athletic shoes in the United States and it is currently the number four largest manufacture of athletic shoes in the world. The company has over 4000 employees worldwide. The company was the only global footwear manufacturer with production in the United States. Sales for its products were estimated to be over $2.0 billion. The company prides itself as the only footwear manufactures to with production factories on US soil. The current CEO is Robert De Martini. New-Balance athletic company still remains a privately owned company. The company owns five factories in the Unites states. Two in Massachusetts and three in Maine. What makes New-Balance company rise above other companies in terms of CSR, is the current owners James and Anne Davis; continued commitment being socially responsible and “giving back” to stakeholders. Under The stewardship of the Davies, New-Balance Company had always strongly braced corporate philanthropy, encouraged employee volunteering and ensured compliance...
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...the year 1971. Nike is the number one athletic footwear and sports equipment brand in the world with over $25 billion in 2013 in revenue. Based in U.S. Nike, employees 44,000 employees worldwide. In the year 2014, Nike was valued at $19 billion for the brand alone. Nike is known for its “Just do it” slogan and “Swoosh” logo. Mission: Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. Case discussion: Foot Lockers, one of the largest retailers of Nike, Inc. has decided to reduce sales of a number of Nike’s premium shoe ranges on the fact that consumers were turning more to midpriced shoes. Based on this, a series of events occurred from cancellation of orders to reshuffling of store strategy and replacing Nike brand shoes with Reebok & FootAction. Nike fought back by changing partnership strategy with Foot Locker’s competition, from launching new products to exclusive sales right. Company culture: - Fosters a culture of innovation. They create products, services and experience for today’s athlete and solve problems for future generation - Their leadership creates opportunity and inspires others to do their best work. - They are committed to building deeper connection with the community connections and spurring positive social change around the world. - They create sustainability by innovating better solutions to create a limitless future that benefits athletes, company and the world Strength: - Largest seller of athletic footwear and apparel in the world,...
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...key objective of this Planet Reebok umbrella campaign is to reposition Reebok’s different images in the different countries to one unified global identity as well as to create a common brand image across all product categories. The research shows that it’s not that successful to let the European customers to understand the Planet Reebok’s message, although successful in the US. The umbrella campaign bears some potential risk to confuse loyal customers and draw them away to competition with clear positioning. Industry and market In 1992, Reebok held a 20% unit share and a 24% dollar share of the U.S. branded athletic sports shoe market. Its primary competitor, Nike, held a 20% unit share and a 28% dollar share. Both companies held a 15% dollar share and a 13% unit share of the non-U.S. branded athletic shoe market. Adidas, a long-standing German manufacturer of athletic footwear, was thought to hold only a 3% unit share in the United States but held a 16% unit share outside the United States. Reebok’s brand perception is very...
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...Nike: A Look Inside | June 22 2010 | By Bobby Bedsole, Matt Currie, & Brady Stoker | [Type the document subtitle] | Table of Contents Executive Summery External Analysis 1) Industry/Competition- Five Forces Current Rivalry opportunities/ Threats Potential Entrant Opportunities/ Threats Bargaining Power of Buyer Opportunities/ Threats Bargaining Power of Supplier Opportunities/ threats Substitute Products Opportunities/ Threats 2) General External Environment General Economic Opportunities/ Threats Demographic Opportunities/ Threats Sociocultural Opportunities/ Threats Political-Legal Opportunities/ Threats Technological Opportunities/ Threats Internal Analysis 1) Capabilities Assessment 2) Assessing the Primary Activities in the Value Chain a) Inbound and outbound Logistics b) Marketing c) Production Support Activities in the Value Chain a) Technological Development b) Human Relations Management c) Firm Infrastructure 3) Internal Audit of Functional Areas a) Management b) Information Systems c) Research and Development Financial Analysis- Conclusion Executive Summary Nikes Mission Statement: Our goal is to carry on his legacy of innovative thinking, whether to develop products that help athletes of every level of ability reach their potential, or to create business opportunities that set Nike apart from the competition and provide value for our shareholders...
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...developed, from the apparel to the footwear, and are able to reach women, men, and children throughout the globe. NIKE creates products tailored for just about every sports event: “running, training, basketball, soccer, sport-inspired casual shoes, and kids’ shoes. It also markets footwear designed for baseball, cheerleading, football, golf, lacrosse, outdoor activities, skateboarding, tennis, volleyball, walking, and wrestling”. All this gear is available through NIKE’s retail stores, including, but not limited to, trademarks such as “Cole Haan, Converse, Chuck Taylor, All Star, One Star, Star Chevron, Jack Purcell, Hurley, and Umbro”. Another successful marketing strategy is to implement the face of a famous athlete with the product in order to increase popularity. This has been done with Michael Jordan and the Nike shoes’ “Jordan’s”. Furthermore Nike has even granted customers the ability to have a degree of customization in shoe products that they order. This is yet another successful method that has greatly yielded to the customer’s specific designs. This idea of catering to a customer’s design is considered a breakthrough and currently this appears to be that path Nike is following on. A shop was opened where customers could design shoes that Nike would make and Nike has allowed this design customization to be done online via NIKEiD. This would further cater to a customer and make customization an even easier feature. By 2015, Nike is planning to earn revenue of about...
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...Marketing Audit of Nike Nike is an incorporated company that primarily carries footwear products. The Company designs, develops and markets athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessory products. Former CEO and Pres. Philip Knight co-founded Blue Ribbon Sports with Mr. Bill Bowerman in 1962 which officially became Nike in 1978. At first, Nike was known to distribute inexpensive, superior-quality Japanese athletic shoes to American consumers to break Germany’s domination of the domestic industry. Today, Nike Inc. manufactures and distributes athletic shoes to a global market and some 40% of sales come from athletic apparel, sports equipment, and subsidiary ventures. Nike maintains traditional and non-traditional distribution channels in more than 110 countries with primary market regions in United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas (not including the United States). Nike has some over 20,000 retailers worldwide including Nike factory stores, Nike stores, NikeTowns, Cole Haan stores, and internet-based Web sites sell Nike’s sports and leisure products. Nike is leading the sales in the athletic footwear industry with a 33% global market share. Nike Inc. achieved their current status by promoting “quality production, innovative products, and aggressive marketing” in their products. As a result, for the fiscal year end 1999, Nike’s 20,700 employees generated almost $8.8 billion in revenue worldwide. ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS ECONOMICS Have changes in the...
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...Introduction Nike is the world’s renowned and leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparels. It controls more than 47% of athletic shoe market with sale of U.S dollar 3.7 Billion. This company was founded in 1962 by Bill Bower man and Phil knight as Blue Ribbon Support and later on it became Nike in 1978 (Partlow, 2003). It is supplying its high quality products in more than 100 countries with its major target areas including United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas. Nike has attained this legendary position through innovative and attractive design, quality production and wise marketing strategies. Target Market Nike has huge range in its target market. They have wide range of different products each targeting and appealing a specific group of people. They aim to meet the requirements of people of all ages belonging to varying categories. This strategy has made this company to gain maximum number of customers and profit. Industry Trends The company initially operated as supplier for the Japanese shoe maker. The company’s profile grew quickly and soon it gained a renowned position in the market. The swoosh logo of Nike was firstly used in 1971, registered in U.S trademark office in 1974 and first product sold with Nike was a soccer (Marina, 2008). In 1980 the company gained more than 50% share in the global market. Initially the prices of the products were high then the company started focusing on providing high quality products at comparatively low prices to...
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