AMAZON AS AN EMPLOYER SHRM case study solution- an article published in The New York Times portrayed Amazon as a soul- crushing employer and a cruel place to work.

 Case Study Summary

This case study is based on Amazon, the largest Internet-based retailer in the United States, has frequently figured among the most admired companies. However, an article published in The New York Times portrayed Amazon as a soul- crushing employer and a cruel place to work. According to the article, employees at Amazon are encouraged to be critical of each other’s ideas and performance — both openly, during meetings, and covertly, by surreptitiously sending negative feedback to each other’s bosses. As Amazon continues to be well-known for its brand and its obsession with customer service, the exposé has raised questions about Amazon’s employer brand. At the time of the article’s publication, Amazon is in the midst of implementing massive growth plans, including the construction of new office installations. Are Amazon employees thriving, or are they just barely surviving? Are such strategic human resource management (SHRM) practices sustainable?

Case Study Questions:

1. Does the people management strategy of care and compassion make business sense? How does the practice of keeping employees on the edge impact business in the short and long run?

2. Is Amazon’s employer brand as reported by The New York Times sustainable? Why or why not?

3.  Are employees thriving under Amazon’s workplace policies, or are they just barely surviving?

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Case Study Solutions

1. Does the people management strategy of care and compassion make business sense? How does the practice of keeping employees on the edge impact business in the short and long run? 

When it comes to maximisation of shareholders’ wealth, making business profitable and remain competitive, innovative, goal focused, market leader and  accountable to money put into business by investors, people management strategy of care and compassion have no sense for a business organisation. Amazon, since its start of its operations till date, has grown tremendously and generated great return to its investors, thus making the company one of the best places for investors to park their money and win heart of customers in offering unique services and experiences. Strategy of care and compassion creates issue and become insensible for business growth.

Extra care and compassion have negative results that hamper employees’ personal and professional growth.¹ Many times unnecessary concerns and worries for employees distract leaders in handling the situation and decision making. Many times, care and compassion becomes control issue for leaders.¹ For instance, managers are not able to make strong decisions because they are concerned about employees’ reaction leading to difficulty in accomplishment of goals of the organisation.

Care and compassion reduces abilities of employees to handle difficult task and convert challenging jobs into opportunities of learning new skills thus hindering employees’ growth and reduction in turnover of the company as well as unsatisfied customers.²

To an extent, care and compassion helps to increase the productivity of employees at work place² but, when it comes to make the company most innovative in the industry and work in a dynamic environment, instead of being compassionate; aggressiveness, assertiveness, bold attitude towards new and challenging task, passionate to work 24/7 and capability to devise new ideas and convert into a successful becomes more important for profitability and survival of the business.

Constant empathic role of leaders lead to reduction in capability of employees to face new and unique challenges and adapt to changes required to remain market leader in the industry and also create compassion fatigue among employees.³

It is very important for employees of business organisation to not only work hard and for long hours but also act smartly when it comes to fulfilment of wealth maximisation of shareholders. Care and compassion sometimes leads to unethical behaviour in terms of restriction of performing new and challenging tasks and accomplishment of tasks on time leading to losses to business organisations.⁴

Innovation is key driver to success for a business organisation in the industry which demands for highly talented, workaholic, competitive and passionate workforce rather than a work force who seeks compassion and care from team leaders. It will hinder the process of continuous innovation and opportunity of employees’ professional growth thus leading to failure of business.⁵

For a business organisation, the most crucial motivational factor that keeps them going on and on is the profit generated out of business operations in order to meet the expectation of shareholders and increase in valuation of company in stock market. Care and compassion does not generate profit and satisfy goals of shareholders. Hence it becomes sense less for a business to focus upon it. Investors look into financial statistics of company while investing into it rather than inculcation of care and compassion in corporate culture of an organisation.

How does the practice of keeping employees on the edge impact business in the short and long run?

In short run, practice of keeping employees on edge impact business positively in terms of increased in productivity, effectiveness, efficiency and thus overall profitability of the business. It will facilitate employees to take new challenges at work place, explore new business ideas, innovate, complete task on time and remain competitive among peers which is crucial for sustainability and growth of a business organisation.

It will foster employees to learn new things faster, improve morale, and a sense of achievement while performing task at work place. It will help managers to easily differentiate between most efficient and least efficient workforce in the organisation⁶, thus enabling process of training and development more effective and sound in the organisation.

Overall performance of employees at work place will substantiate success of organisation⁷. The organisation will be embraced with efficient pool of talents motivated to bring the company at number one position in the industry and increase its profitability.

It will facilitate eagerness among employees to collaborate, learn from their teammates and perform challenging tasks placed upon them in a fast changing global environment to become achievers who have the capability and will power to create history and pave the way of success for themselves and organisation as well.⁸

 It will increase accountability and boost coping abilities of employees at work place to remain confident, effective and efficient in accomplishment of tasks assigned to them⁸. It helps them to focus on integration of their growth with organisational growth, work with little or no supervision and make them proactive and street smart.

However, in long run, practice of keeping employees at edge will impact business organisation adversely. Employees’ fear of inability to meet Expectations and standards set up by organisation on time will put employees at distress in long run leading to high attrition rate, low productivity and feeling of discontent among employees in the organisation⁸.

Anxiety and fatigue pops out sometimes leading to depression and burnout due to long working hours, meeting deadlines, and exploring new ideas for business growth and competing with peer members for saving jobs. It reduces efficiency and performance of employees at work place, creates job dissatisfaction and work alienation.⁹

Employees are not able to concentrate at their work, a sense of belongingness remains missing towards organisation and employees suffer from work life balance issues.⁹ Creativity is lost and employees feel demotivated and devastated while doing something new and unique for growth of organisation thus hampering innovation in the organisation.

Overall efficiency and productivity of organisation is hampered dramatically if practice of keeping employees at edge is followed in long run. It negatively impacts innovation at work place, puts sustainability of organisation in danger and reduces profitability of business.⁹

Employees feel disengaged and find management insensitive towards their needs and requirements leading to distortion of talent pool within the organisation. Employees lose confidence in the company they work for and start focusing on self fulfilment rather than organisational welfare. Employees start searching for opportunities outside the company and quit the job due to which many times organisations loose best talent and employees due to practice of this strategy at work force in long run.

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2. Is Amazon’s employer brand as reported by The New York Times sustainable? Why or why not?

Amazon has been criticised for putting employees working for long hours, building pressure on employees through peer review system and promoting employees to criticise each other at work place. Work environment at Amazon is very competitive and pressure building where employees have to compete with each other and sabotage each other to survive at Amazon. However, Amazon as an employer brand seems to be sustainable as it has established itself as an employer brand for those people who are willing to work under pressure, learn and perform challenging tasks and foster constant innovation and creativity for future.

Work philosophy at Amazon is that employees have to work hard, smart and long and one cannot compromise on any of three¹⁰. Employees’ motive at Amazon is to adopt challenges as an opportunity to grow, enjoy the work and create history in the world. Customer satisfaction and value creation for its customers through continuous innovation and customer support is the top priority of Amazon. ¹¹

Corporate culture of Amazon demands from employees to use unconventional methods to generate innovative and solutions to the problems existed at work place in order to succeed in cut throat competition prevailing in the industry and attain market leadership. ¹²

Amazon as an employer suits those who are ready to take challenges in fast changing competitive environment, become forefront for technological innovations and are full of ambitions in terms of career growth & development, success achievement and wealth accumulation.¹²

It works on the philosophy of facing extreme demands at work place instead of running away considering it as a problem for them but as an opportunity to career growth and technological advancement in their skills and capability.¹²

It fosters an environment where people are enthusiastic to work on cutting edge projects with innovative ideas and solutions and ready to learn from their team members at work place who are thriving on meeting expectations of billions of its customers and achieve success individually as well as for the organisation. Amazon seeks for employees who shine under pressure and are high performers and strong emotional quotient.¹³

It considers its employees as a pool of talent and facilitates training of employees to increase their capability and develop their personality.¹⁴ Its training program enables employees to understand what is being expected from them and get engaged with work culture at Amazon. It   will facilitate smooth functioning of employees at work place as per the standards and norms set by Amazon and avoid conflicts.

Human resource activities such as training and development, performance appraisal, pay and perks are designed effectively and systematically to achieve corporate and strategic goals of Amazon such as continuous innovation and technological advancement to create value for its customers and increase revenue for the company.¹⁴

Usually small teams are formed with main motive to reduce differences, promote self management of employees and invest huge chunk of money in training and development of its employees. Company also promotes sharing of information inter and intra department level to promote creativity and learn things from each other to facilitate fast resolution and decision making.¹⁵

Amazon’s policy to hire talented people from diverse backgrounds is the key to fulfil its objective of constant innovation and maintain competitiveness in long run.¹⁶ It considers talented employees as a source of competitive advantage and thus focuses to attract people who are innovative and have firm belief in Amazon. In order to attract and retain talent, it shares profit among its employees.

It offers more incentives to employees who serve the company for more than two years than new employees with a motive to retain such talents who are highly involved with organisation and reduce training cost. Company offers best pay and perks in the industry to attract talented personnels in the organisation. Performance based incentives and signing bonus are integral part of packages offered to its employees¹⁷.

Performance appraisal is based on self evaluation and peer assessment. Earlier before 2016, Performance of employees was ranked and those who performed worst were dismissed from the company. But now, company has changed this policy and started a retraining program called Pivot to train its underperforming employees and offer them a chance to improve their performance.¹⁷

Company takes regular feedback regarding working environment from employees. It has daily question and answer feedback program called Connections to understand its work force and problems faced by them. It has ‘Forte’ an Employee review program in place which focuses on employees’ strength rather than their weaknesses and thus putting employees motivated positively towards the organisation.¹⁸

Amazon plans to retrain its one lakh employees investing $700 million.¹⁸ It has plans to expand its training programs and adds new training programs to improve the quality of its work force and retain talented and future ready employees at work place to foster constant innovation, creativity and meet its commitments to become top employer brand in the industry. 

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3.  Are employees thriving under Amazon’s workplace policies, or are they just barely surviving?

Employees are thriving as well as just barely surviving under Amazon’s workplace policies. Amazon is a technology driven company which is customer obsessed and innovation centric. Employees who are passionate about what they do at Amazon in terms of innovating new products and services to create history, earn big and become star performers of the company are thriving under Amazon’s workplace policies.

Employees who are ready to sacrifice their work life balance and enjoy career advancement by fulfilling extreme demands rising at work place are thriving not surviving in Amazon. These people are willing to work 24/7, reply mails sent to them in the midnight, highly enthusiastic, ready to take pain on behalf of the company to satisfy expectation of customers, meet high set standards of performance, ready to collaborate with work force, learn and adopt new skills, give innovative and creative insights, work on challenging and cutting edge projects, willing to accept challenging jobs as an initiative to grow and prosper in their career rather than problems and escape from it.¹⁹

Employees who are deeply rooted with Amazon’s work culture and belief of work hard, smart, long, have fun and create history are advancing in their careers and prospering while working at Amazon. These employees enjoy working in an unconventional, competitive and fast changing environment with a motive to do out of box things for welfare of the company and customers and earn strong reputation in terms of huge pay and promotion.¹⁹

Constant criticism of ideas and opinions of peers, attending late night meetings, sending feedback to others’ bosses anonymously to sabotage each other are some of the features which otherwise employees thriving at Amazon do not like but for the sake of success in their career and organisational growth, they feel correct to do so.¹⁹

Effective training programs offered by Amazon to its employees on regular basis help in career growth and personality development of employees to accept new challenges and get adept to it.²⁰

 There are various reasons due to which employees find that they are merely surviving under Amazon’s policies:

Employees at Amazon find they are surrounded with highly skilled and talented people who are extremely boosted to think creatively to overcome new operational challenges, devise innovative ideas to pave the path of success and meet the expectation of company and customers.²⁰

Cut throat competitive working environment creates huge pressure to perform and surpass their team mates to survive in the job. Long hours of operation create mental stress and anxiety sometimes leading to frustration and depression. Working even at vacation and constant overtime completely destroys work life balance and thus hampers personal well being of employees. Surviving Employees find no support from management with regard to work life balance.²⁰

Standards of performance set at Amazon are unexpectedly too high and unavoidable which creates pressure and distress among employees leading to job dissatisfaction and fear of job loss.

Culture of promoting unnecessary competition among co-workers and criticising ideas of peers in meetings prompts star performers to succeed in career and low performers to quit from the job. Company’s culture to not to include women in top management hinders female employees’ career growth and advancement which is against women empowerment guideline.

Yearly performance review process is based on rankings where managers discuss subordinates’ rankings. Employees are encouraged to criticise their peers by sending feedback to top management and low performers are thrown out of the company. However, Amazon has currently changed this policy and launched retraining program to give a chance to low performers to improve their performance and meet the expected standard.²¹

 There is a fear in the mind of old employees that they will be replaced by new and young employees as Amazon encourages to promote dismissal of old employees with more commitments in terms of responsibility towards family, parents due to which they will not be able to focus on work and contribute extra time to company as compared to young employees who have less commitments and more time to focus on work.

Management of Amazon is not sensitive towards employees who suffered from severe diseases such as cancer, miscarriages or some personal crisis and such employees are not given adequate time to recover and perform with their highest ability and are evaluated unreasonably on performance scale and are dismissed. This inhuman behaviour and work place policies hinder employees’ survival at Amazon and exhibit cruelty on the part of management’s responsibilities towards its employees.

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References

1. Jennifer V. Miller (2016). The downside of leaders who care too much retrieved from https:// www .smartbrief.com/original/2016/01/downside-leaders-who-care-too-much.

2. Lorie Corcuera (2016). The Disadvantage Of Being Too Caring retrieved from http://sparkcrea tionsinc .com/the-disadvantage-of-being-too-caring/.

3. Carl R. Rogers (2017). What's the Downside of Empathy? Retrieved from https://welldoing .org/article/downside-of-empathy-compassion

4. Katrina Clarke (2017). The pros and cons of empathy. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/life/ wellness /the-pros-and-cons-of-empathy-1.3958869.

5. Nicky LaMarco (2018). The Disadvantages of Corporate Culture retrieved from https://small business.chron.com/disadvantages-corporate-culture-67042.html

6. Eugene Kim (2016). Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos shares his thoughts in a shareholder letter every year - here are the highlight retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/Amazon-CEO-Jeff-Bezos-shares-his-thoughts-in-a-shareholder-letter-every-year-160here-are-the-highlights/articleshow/51931364.cms.

7. G. Sampath, “In Love With Work, Amazon Style,” The Hindu, September 17, 2015, accessed September 20, 2015, www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/in-love-with-work-amazon-style/article7659931.ece.

8. Adeyemi Adetilewa (2019). 10 Pieces of Advice That Will Give Your Employees an Edge retrieved from https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/employee-performance-reviews/business-employees-edge.

9 key issues with Amazon's corporate culture, retrieved from https://www.beckershospital review.com/hospital-management-administration/9-key-issues-with-amazon-s-corporate-culture.html

10.Jeffery Bezos, Letter to Shareholders, 1997, accessed December 21, 2015, http://media.Corpo rate- ir.net/media_files/irol/97/97664/reports/Shareholderletter97.pdf.

11. Raj Bharti (2015). Learn From Amazon’s Leadership Principles retrieved from https://magazine .wharton.upenn.edu/digital/learn-from-amazons-leadership-principles/.

12. Larry A. Downs, “Work Hard. Have Fun. Make History,” LarryADowns.com, August 8, 2013, accessed January 7, 2016, www.larryadowns.com/2013/04/english/work-hard-have-fun-make-history.

13. Ibid.

14. Ben Bushby. A strong employer brand and EVP: why it’s important and where to begin retrieved from https://theorganicagency.com/news/three-benefits-of-building-a-strong-employer-brand-and-evp/.

15. Caroline Poynton (2017). The Power Of The Employer Brand retrieved from https://www .corpcommsmagazine.co.uk/features-and-analysis/view/the-power-of-the-employer-brand.

16. A Critical Analysis of Amazon's Approach to People Management retrieved from https://busin essteacher.org/reports/critical-analysis-of-amazons-approach-to-people-management.php.

17. Joel Holland, “The New Establishment: 2013,” VF News, October 31, 2013, accessed September 20, 2015, www.vanityfair.com/news/business/2013/11/new-establishment-2013.

18. Amazon revamps HR strategies to aid underperforming employees retrieved from https://www.r etaildive.com/news/amazon-revamps-hr-strategies-to-aid-underperforming-employees/434526/.

19. Alexandra Efthymiades (2015). What can Amazon teach us about workplace relations retrieved from https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/can-amazon-teach-us-workplace-relations/.

20.  Euzene Kim (2018). Amazon employees start their day by answering a simple question about work retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/30/amazon-employee-reaction-to-hr-programs-connections-forte.html.

21.  Kathy Gurchiek (2019). Amazon Commits to Investing Millions in Training retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/organizational-and-employee-development/ pages/amazon-commits-to-investing-millions-in-training.aspx

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Adidas Marketing case study solution: Marketing mix of Adidas Website, SMART Analysis for setting objectives of website of Adidas, SWOT Analysis of website of Adidas, Adidas Brand Identity, Adidas Digital Marketing Communication, The three Adidas Collaborations, Brand Elements of Adidas, Evaluation of Brand elements on Adidas website, Brand positioning of Adidas, Nike versus Adidas Brand comparative analysis

Case Snippet: 

Identify and evaluate the strong and weak features of a website as marketing tool of a given company

Identify and describe the targeted customers group/s of a given company

Examine branding strategies of a given company (Adidas)

Explain the brand image, brand identity and brand relationship of a given company (Adidas)

Case Questions:

Part A:

1. Identify and evaluate the strong and weak features of a website as marketing tool of a Adidas company.

2. Identify the customers being targeted by the website of Adidas by explaining with suitable evidence and examples. Describe one of the groups being targeted.

Part B

1. Identify how Adidas brand is currently expressed in the company website of Adidas you have chosen. Evaluate elements used to assemble the brand.

2. Explain the brand image of the company (Adidas) you have considered. Is there a gap between your brand image and the brand identity which is portrayed on the website? Explain your reasons.

Marketing Mix of Adidas Website 

SMART Analysis for setting objectives of website of Adidas 

SWOT Analysis of website of Adidas Adidas 

Digital Marketing Communication 

The three Adidas Collaborations 

Brand Element of Adidas 

Evaluation of Brand elements on Adidas website 

Brand positioning of Adidas on website 

Adidas Brand Identity

Nike versus Adidas Brand comparative analysis  

1. Identify and evaluate the strong and weak features of a website as marketing tool of a Adidas company.

About Adidas	·         Founded in 1949, Adidas AG is the largest sportswear company in Europe and second largest in world. ·         Revenue € 23.6 Billion and net profit € 1.9 Billion (2019).
Brand Mission	To become best sports brand through design, build up and sale of best sports products with best service and experience to its customers.
Products	Athletic shoes, apparel and sporting goods and accessories.
Website	www.adidas.com
Reasons for selecting Adidas	Adidas is a multinational company engaged not only in offline sales but also through its website. Analysis will be more goal oriented and specific for this assignment.

Marketing Mix of Adidas Website

Online Product

Products are categorised on the basis of men, women, kids and sports shoes, clothing and accessories. Customisation of products is also offered by the website. Products have also been displayed brand wise. Features, description and all other necessary information on products along with product images have been exhibited to keep customers informed to meet their expectations. Mega offers and discounts are being displayed on first page of website.

Online Price

Price of all products is mentioned along with products.Customers can navigate through website and search products of their choice, add products to cart, order online and also cancel the order anytime before product is dispatched directly using the website.

Discounts and offers are being displayed along with product display. Method of payments offered on website is through pay on delivery, credit & debit card, net banking and other UPI apps. Option of payment in instalments is also offered to customers through EMI.

Online Place

Products are being shipped to all parts of the country including remote areas. Website has also option to order online and pick products from stores for its customers. Billing address and shipping address can be same or different as per the choice of the customers. Products are generally shipped and delivered within 3 to 15 days of time. In case of customised products delivery time ranges between 1 month to 3 months.  Website also offers fast / emergency delivery system but charges extra for the same on request of the customer. Products are being shipped through courier partners of Adidas.

Online Promotion

Adidas has dedicated team of SEO, SMO and web developers and designers to manage its website. It uses Google analytics tools and other web tools to keep an eye on traffics, returned customers, customers who have added products in cart but not purchased. It regularly conducts online survey to enhance customer experience on its website. It makes use of Google paid services and Facebook paid services to promote its products online. Company performs press release on regular basis and also offers feedback and product review option to customers to improve customer interactivity and experience on website.

Target Customers & Intended positioning

It targets young adults, adults as well as children who have passion for fitness & sports 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 the luxury class of customers

SMART Analysis for setting objectives of website of Adidas

Specific	·         E commerce sales to rise by 35 % in 2020 with revenue target of 4 Billion Pound. ·         Reduce delivery time by 2 days for normal orders and 7 days for remote areas within 6 months. ·         Shorten period of customised products delivery by one fourth time than current time period within one year.
Measurable	·         Adidas maintains customer relationship management software to track record of sales, tracks new entrants on website initiating purchase, tracks shipping and delivery time period and has vendor management system to track record of manufacturing and delivering customised products and other products.
Attainable	·         It has speed factories which can help to reduce manufacturing time of customised products. ·         Efficient courier delivery management system and inventory management can help to reduce shipping period in remote areas and normal orders. ·         In 2019, E Commerce revenue sales were up by 34 %.
Realistic	·         Reducing shipping time will help Adidas to beat its competitor Nike. ·         Increase in E Commerce sales will help Adidas to achieve its overall sales growth of 8 % in 2020. ·         Reduction in time of delivery of Customised products will help it to become global leader in the sporting goods industry which is ultimate mission of Adidas.
Time-based	Increase in sales revenue is targeted to be achieved within one year, shipping period for normal and remote areas to be 6 months and decrease in delivery time of customised products to be achieved in one year time frame.

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SWOT Analysis of website of Adidas

Strength	Dedicated team to manage the operations of website to enhance customer experience. Order online and collect from store. Easy Cancellation of order and refund of money even after shipment. Return of product within 30 days. App to support browsing and conduct purchase through smart phones. Prompt Online customer support to help on queries of customers. Content updates on regular basis. Detailed information of products.
Weakness	Longer delivery time in remote areas. Long waiting time for customised orders. Delay in delivery of products.
Opportunity	Tapping of new markets and customers in areas where Adidas is not physically present. Design and development of innovative products to attract more and more customers.
Threats	Competitors like Nike have also entered into E Commerce and offering customisation. Local laws such as varying tax policies prevailing in other countries with regards to E Commerce. Customers’ can’t review products on thee website.

 Adidas Digital Marketing Communication

Informativeness

Website contains adequate information on products being displayed and are regularly updated to enhance customer experience.

Usability

Navigation on website is very easy from point of searching a product to check out. Process has been kept very simple to avoid confusions and anxiety while navigating from one product search to another.

Quality of information

Information on website is apt to its users as it shares minute details regarding manufacturing material to its delivery to the customers.

Commercial transaction

Website offers easy to process order, make payment either online or pay on cash, delivery tracking mechanism and easy to cancel order, get refund and return policy of 30 days.

Company policies

Price inclusive of taxes is being displayed on website. Packaging and shipping are free of cost.

Business Environment

China US trade war and US imposition on tariffs can have negative impact on sales.

Web Based Commercial Communication

Interactivity

Online chat support to offer two way communications through website.

Creators club membership program to strengthen relationship with customers.

Flexibility

Cancellation of order anytime, change of shipping address, replacement of products, and return within 30 days of purchase is some of the features to promote flexibility.

Addressability

One to one support to its customers through online support, emailing to update on new products and offers, customisation of products to offer personalisation to its customers.

Accessibility

Website remains operational 24x7. Online Chat support is available during office hours. Orders can be placed anytime.

2. Identify the customers being targeted by the website of Adidas by explaining with suitable evidence and examples. Describe one of the groups being targeted.

Adidas through its website uses demographic and psychographic market segmentation to target customers of its products. Being a sports products company, it targets male and female customers of age between 14 to 40 who are athletes and fitness freak. The company is focused on targeting and strengthening its brand with the next generation of athletes of age of 14 to 19 years. However, Adidas is also popular among people of age between 40 to 65. It offers different sub brands to target different customer segments like Adidas Originals, Adidas Neo, Porsche design, Stella McCartney.

Psychographic segmentation is based on socioeconomic and personality variables of customers which are done using Niche pricing strategy and superior quality products of Adidas. Thus it targets upper middle class consumers to affluent consumers by premium positioning of its products among consumers.

To target its customers it has defined a segmentation grid which comprises of comprises six key quadrants Male Athlete, Female Athlete, Young Creator, Street wear Hound, Amplifier, and Value Consumer. Within this grid, it is key to win the most influential consumers, defined as the creator archetype. Major categorization of products have been done on the basis of male, female, kids and A separate sports category with on the website directly targets athlete customers to navigate products in that section. Navigation on the basis of male, female and kids category is meant to segment customers in small group on the basis of gender and age to target customers who are into sports or fitness lover.

Exploiting opportunity of  changing social proposition of and growing culture of remaining fit and healthy, Adidas website is targeting customers of all age groups by displaying products under Male, female and kids category. Product display on the basis of brand categorization is done to easily locate the product and prompt buying decisions. Brand such as Adidas NEO is meant for kids products which are price competitive in market. Customisation of products offer competitive advantage as well as company’s thrust to remain innovative and create best and new as per the requirement of the customers to remain customer obsessive and offer great experience to them.

Potential Barriers Adidas Company is facing in implementing its idea:

·         Pricing issue- Products of Adidas are expensive.

·         Stiff competition from its rivals such as Nike, Armour, Puma.

·         Availability of Fake and duplicate Adidas products in market.

·         Delay in delivery due to shortage of inventory

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Part B

1. Identify how Adidas brand is currently expressed in the company website you have chosen. Evaluate elements used to assemble the brand.

Expression of brand on company website:

Adidas Brand

To be best in world in sports brand through design, build up and sale of best products and services empowered with advance technology and innovation to share best consumer experience.

Brand Identities:

Adidas Sport Performance

Focus: Products with advance technology and innovation

Group targeted: athletes and sports persons with a desire to remain strong smart, cool and excellent in their performance. It also targets customers who are inspired by fitness and sports.

Adidas Originals

Focus: Products that set trends including life style products.

Group targeted: consumers willing to express their individuality.

Adidas Neo

Focus of Adidas NEO:  Stylish, fresh and young Products related to sports, Fashion and Lifestyle

Group targeted: Teenage consumers between 14 to 19 years.

The three Adidas Collaborations

Y-3, Porsche Design, and Stella McCartney focus on extraordinary products aligned with most updated technologies and top fashion designers.

Brand Element of Adidas
Criterion	Brand Name & URL	Logo & Symbol	Characters	Slogans & Jingles	Packaging & Signage
Memorability	Easy and simple to memorise and recall.	Three stripes logo with Adidas tag is appealing helpful in easily recalling products of Adidas.	Useful in recalling brand name and its products.	Helpful in recognising brand	Makes easy to recognise products of Adidas.
Meaningfulness	Strong, positive and high quality	Represents sports challenges athletes face.	Performance based products as tools to face challenges	Convey mission of Adidas to become best sports brand in the world.	Convey association of brand with its customers.
Likability	Offer verbal imagery and mission of brand.	Three stripes using black and white colour depicts simplicity and likability.	Depicts boldness and strength.	‘Impossible is nothing’ enhances motivation of customers specifically sportsperson.	Energises customers through its visual and verbal appeal.
Transferability	Easily transferable through sub brands inclusion.	Smart and excellent.	Unlimited additions in product ranges.	Promotes innovation and implementation of technology to adapt changes	Very good.
Adaptability	Difficult Near to impossible.	Modified multiple times in the past to adapt changes.	Responsive brand in redefining itself.	Modified to meet new requirements.	Redesigned multiple times in past.
Protectability	Fully protected through acquisition of domain name	Fully protected through trademarks and copyright registration.	Strong, excellent and comprehensive.	Protected through copyrights.	Can be copied.

Evaluation of Brand elements on Adidas website

Memorability

Since name Adidas has been derived from its founder, Adi Dassler a strong, versatile, enthusiastic and top quality shoe maker, the brand also depicts these three features accompanied with innovation and technology. The three striped with black and white logo along with its website name is not only easy to remember but also simple and catchy.

Meaningfulness

Brand logo signifies challenges and products displayed on website are considered as tools to overcome those challenges by athletes and fitness lovers.

Likability

Brand likability through website is visible through increase in its E commerce sales by 34 % in 2018. Also Logo of brand characterises boldness and strength to the consumers’ thus increasing likability.

Transferability

Website can easily incorporate sub brands and new products as per the design and resemblance of features into it, thus reflecting easy transferability through technology and innovative products.

Adaptability

Website URL may not be modified, however website is adaptable to changes to environment. Adidas logo went through multiple modifications since its inception and its mission supports adaptability.

Protectability

Adidas has copyrights and trademark rights for its URL, Logo and slogans & patent rights for design of products and products. Hence company has protected its brand elements in all respects.

 

4. Explain the brand image of the company you have considered. Is there a gap between your brand image and the brand identity which is portrayed on the website? Explain your reasons.

Adidas Brand identity
1. As a product	Product Scope- to cater needs of athletes, sports persons and health & fitness freak at competitive price. Product attributes- innovative design to match customer expectation, long lasting, customised, size fit for all, eco friendly raw material used, Quality- Unmatched quality embedded with innovation and advance technology sports products much ahead than its competitors. Users- athletes, fitness and health conscious people of age group between 14 to 65. Uses- fitness and sports apparels shoes and accessories to deliver high performance in sports. Country of origin and year of establishment- Herzogenaurach, Germany, 1924.
2. As an organisation	Organisation attributes- To deliver most innovative and best technology sports products to offer best consumer experience with a motive to become best sports brand in the world. Local versus global- Multinational brand with presence in more than 160 countries worldwide physically and all around the globe through its Ecommerce website and distribution network.
3.Brand as a Person	Personality- 1. Sincerity- Real, original, honest, genuine 2. Excitement- Daring, trending, imaginative, independent, unique, adventurous 3. Competence- Reliable, successful, technical, confident, and efficient 4. Sophistication- Upper Class, smooth 5. Ruggedness – tough, strong. Brand Customer relationship - committed to providing premium retail experiences to consumers with executions that connect, engage and inspire them. Brand strives to build a strong image, trust and loyalty with consumers through its brand strategy of ‘creating the new’.
4. Brand as Symbol	Visual imagery & metaphors – Providing strength to accept challenges and overcome it. Brand heritage – Long lasting heritage with high brand value in market. Brand is 95 years old.

Brand positioning of Adidas on website:

Messages transmitted:

Product- Most innovative and best technology based sports shoes, apparels and accessories to offer best consumer experience.

Price- Competitive pricing for normal product launches and skimming pricing for unique and technologically advanced product launches.

Place – Shipment and delivery of products in all parts of the world including remote areas to create trust and loyalty among customers.

Promotion/ Communication- Slogan of Adidas ‘Nothing is impossible’ rejoice consumers’ strength and empower them to overcome challenges and encourages them to become effortless in what they do. It portrays itself as a creators’ sports brand through its website Regular discounts and offers are made to customers on the website to increase sales and web traffic.

Nike versus Adidas Brand comparative analysis

The major competitor of Nike on E Commerce Platform is Nike. Both more or less follow similar branding strategy to lure customers but Adidas has leveraged the Internet and E Commerce marketing and sale more aggressively than Nike. Nike’s Ecommerce strategy created a strong brand position of its products and leader in this market contributing to its success in this market. However, Adidas has revamped its branding strategy from being a minor insignificant player during 1998 to reach to second position in the industry. Thus, it can be said that Adidas has really worked hard in strengthening its brand position in market through its continuous effort of designing and developing innovative and highly advanced products for its consumers to win their heart and maintain long lasting relationship through enhancing customer experiences.

Brand image of Adidas as perceived by consumers

Adidas through its website and E Commerce business has been successful in understanding the customer’s needs and design and development of innovative and technological products that suits their requirements. Adidas has been continuously accelerating on graph of having strong brand equity among customers in terms of an innovative, reliable, brave, tough, independent, daring trending and unique brand delivering promising and long lasting sports products to customers.

Gap between Brand image and brand identity:

Adidas fails in portraying itself as a company whose pricing is competitive among rivals. Local competitors can exert tough competition when it comes to target customers who seek low pricing with similar features. It will become difficult to target those customers who decide their buying decisions on the basis of pricing of products. Hence company should also focus on manufacturing products to cater needs of such customers in order to remain competitive in market. 

Reference

Adidas Group. (2019). Adidas Annual Report 2019. Retrieved from https://report.adidas-group.com/2019/en/group-management-report-our-company/corporate-strategy/sales-and-distribution-strategy.html

Omer Khan. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.academia.eduv /19958453/Brand_ elements_ of_Adidas_and_Nike

Adidas Group (2019). Adidas Brand Strategy. Retrieved from https://report.adidas-group.com/2019/en/group-management-report-our-company/corporate-strategy/adidas-brand-strategy.html

Norizah Mustamil , Ho Yeow Chung & Mohd. Shoki Bin Mohd. Ariff. (2014).Determining Brand Personality of Nike Sports Shoes Using Aaker’s Brand Personality Scale; International Journal for Innovation Education and Research; Vol.2-06, 2014.

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