Diversity Management Systems

Diversity Management Systems

Company history

The company chosen for the diversity management systems is Adidas. The company Adidas was found by two brothers Adi and Rudolf Dassler in Germany in 1924. The company's initial name was Dassler shoes. The Dassler shoes became a hit in Olympics. The company became very famous. Rudolf Dassler decided to start his own company with the name of 'Puma' in 1948. After Rudolf Dassler established a new company and parted ways, Adi changed the company's name to Adidas and make three stripes as Adidas famous logo. Initially, the aim of putting the three stripes was to maintain stability on foot but later it became known as the logo. It became a leading and most demanded brand by athletes especially in Olympics. Adidas saw some major problems and changes in management when Adi Dassler died in 1978, six years later his wife died Kathe who took hold of the company after Adi.

After her death, their son Horst Dassler ran the company but passed away three years later. Bernard Tapie came to save the company after Adidas saw some major financial issues. In 90s era, Adidas saw a change in the management with CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the management of Adidas is changing from manufacturing and sales to marketing. In 1995, Adidas floats its shares in Paris Stock Exchange and Frankfurt. Sales increased by 50% in 1996 when about 6,000 Olympic athletes wore Adidas shoes from 33 countries and won about 220 medals. After 1997, Adidas acquired various brands such as Mavic, Bonfire and introduced new brands such as TaylorMade FireSole clubs. In 2005, Adidas sold Salomon to Amer Sports. In 2008, Adidas acquired Reebok; presented strategic business plan in 2010 and acquired Five Ten in 2011 (theshoegame.com).

Diversity Management Systems

Adidas has always worked in reflecting the community's diversification, different areas of operations and global marketplace. Adidas Group believes that the sustenance of diversification aims to achieve competitive advantage. This increases motivation within the company and ensures success of organization and its ability. The diversity is approached in Adidas through three different ways which are acknowledgement, aspiration and action. Adidas have a gender-balanced recruitment systems which is not quota based. Acknowledgment refers to the appreciation and acceptance of differences between communities where it is recognized that each employee is different and their products contribute to the success of the athletes. Aspiration refers to the creation of respect for each other. This paves way for the diversification within the company. The spirit of openness and partnership is increased and welcomed within Adidas. Action refers to the assurance that the environment holds diversity, respect for the achievement of excellence of products and people (adidas-group.com).

Decision making tactics

With the success of the brand, high demand and tough competition, decision making is very critical in this era in Adidas. It is not easy decisions to make which brands to launch, which brands to acquire and which brands to sell. The tactics of decision making of Adidas includes capturing of ...