...______________________________________________________________________________ Under Armour Enters the Basketball Shoe Market ______________________________________________________________________________ This case was written by Professors George E. Belch and Michael A. Belch. It is intended to be used as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. The case was compiled from published sources. Company Background Under Armour (UA) was founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank, a former Maryland football player, who began by selling compression clothing that could “wick” sweat away from the body to college sports teams out of the trunk of his car. Plank was a football player at the University of Maryland, and hated wearing cotton shirts to practice in the hot, humid Maryland climate. Knowing that he would never be an NFL player, Plank devoted his efforts to starting a company that could make a product that would be an improvement over cotton, in that it would not absorb sweat and be much more functional and comfortable to wear. Once made, he started selling the shirts to the lacrosse and football teams at the University of Maryland out of the trunk of his car. In 1998, the football oriented movie “Any Given Sunday” was being filmed in Baltimore where Under Armour is based. The producers of the movie were looking for a product that would...
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...CONNECT FEATURES Interactive Applications Interactive Applications offer a variety of automatically graded exercises that require students to apply key concepts. Whether the assignment includes a click and drag, video case, or decision generator, these applications provide instant feedback and progress tracking for students and detailed results for the instructor. Case Exercises The Connect platform also includes author-developed case exercises for all 12 cases in this edition that require students to work through answers to assignment questions for each case. These exercises have multiple components and can include: calculating assorted financial ratios to assess a company’s financial performance and balance sheet strength, identifying a company’s strategy, doing five-forces and driving-forces analysis, doing a SWOT analysis, and recommending actions to improve company performance. The content of these case exercises is tailored to match the circumstances presented in each case, calling upon students to do whatever strategic thinking and strategic analysis is called for to arrive at a pragmatic, analysis-based action recommendation for improving company performance. eBook Connect Plus includes a media-rich eBook that allows you to share your notes with your students. Your students can insert and review their own notes, highlight the text, search for specific information, and interact with media resources. Using an eBook with Connect Plus gives your...
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