首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
It was a moment most business executives would pause to savor: late last year, German sporting goods pioneer Adidas learned that
It was a moment most business executives would pause to savor: late last year, German sporting goods pioneer Adidas learned that
admin
2012-12-13
67
问题
It was a moment most business executives would pause to savor: late last year, German sporting goods pioneer Adidas learned that after years of declining market share, the company had sprinted past U. S. Reebok International to take second place behind Nike in the race for worldwide sales. But Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the rumpled Frenchman who now runs Adidas, didn’t even stop for one of his trade mark Havana cigars in celebration, worried that the company would grow complacent. Instead, he and a group of friends bought French soccer club Olympique de Marseille "Now that’s something I have dreamed about since I was a kid, ’ Louis-Dreyfus says with an adolescent grin.
A sports addict who claims he hasn’t missed attending a soccer World Cup final since the 1970s or the Olympic Games since 1968, the 50-year-old Louis-Dreyfus now is eminently well placed to live out many of his boyhood fantasies. Not only has he turned Adidas into a global company with market capitalization of $ 4 billion (he owns stock worth $ 250 million), but he also has endorsement contracts with a host of sports heroes from tennis great Steffi Graf to track’s Donovan Bailey, and considers it part of the job to watch his star athletes per form on the field, "There are very few chances in life to have such fun," he says.
With sales in the first three quarters of 1996 at $ 2.5 billion, up a blistering 30.7% over 1995, it’s hard to recall the dismal shape Adidas was in when Louis-Dreyfus took over as chairman in April 1993. Founded in 1920 by Adi Dassler, the inventor of the first shoes de signed especially for sports, the company enjoyed a near monopoly in athletic shoes until an upstart called Nike appeared in the 1970s and rode the running fad to riches. By the early 1990s Adidas had come under the control of French businessman Bernard Tapie, who was later jailed for bribing three French soccer players. Al though the company tried to spruce up its staid image with a team of American designers, Adidas lost more than $100 million in 1992, prompting the French banks that had acquired control of the company from Tapie to begin a desperate search for a new owner.
Louis-Dreyfus, scion of a prominent French trading dynasty with an M. B. A. from Harvard, earned a reputation as a doctor to sick companies after turning around London-based market research firm IMS--a feat that brought him more than $10 million when the company was eventually sold. He later served as chairman of Saatchi ~ Saatchi, then the world’s largest ad agency, which called him in when rapid growth sent profits into a tailspin. With no other company or entrepreneur willing to gamble on Adidas, Louis-Dreyfus got an incredible bargain from the banks., he and a group of friends from his days at IMS contributed just $10, 000 each in cash and signed up for $100 million in loans for 15% of the company, with an option to buy the remainder at a fixed price 18 months later.
The poker-loving Louis-Dreyfus knew he had been dealt a winning hand. Following the lead set by Nike in the 1970s, he moved production to low-wage factories in China, Indonesia and Thailand and sold Adidas’ European factories for a token one Deutsche mark apiece. He hired Peter Moore, a former product designer at Nike, as creative director, and set up studios in Germany for the European market and in Portland, Oregon, for the U. S. He then risked everything by doubling his advertising budget. "We went from a manufacturing company to a marketing company, "says Louis-Dreyfus. "It didn’t take a genius--you just had to look at what Nike and Reebok were doing. It was easier for someone coming from the outside, with no baggage, to do it, than for somebody from inside the company."
Just as the transition was taking place, Adidas had a run of good luck. The fickle fashion trendsetters decided in early 1993 that they wanted the "retro look, "and the three-stripes Adidas logo, which had been overtaken by Nike swoop, was suddenly hot again. Models such as Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiller and a score of rock idols sported Adidas gear on television, in films and music videos, giving the company a free publicity bonanza. Demand for Adidas products soared.
"The marketing at Adidas is very, very good right now, "says Eugenio Di Maria, editor of Sporting Good Intelligence, an industry newsletter perceives Adidas as a very young brand. The company is particularly strong in apparel, much stronger than Nike and Reebok.
Although 90% of Adidas products for wear on the street instead of sports fields, Louis-Dreyfus felt the previous management had lost sight of Adidas’ roots as a sporting goods company. After all, Adi Dassler invented the screw-in stud for the soccer shoe and shod American champion Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics. So he sold off or folded other non-core brands that Adidas had developed, including Le Coq Sportif, Arena and Pony. Europe is still the company’s largest market because Adidas dominates the apparel industry and thanks to soccer’s massive popularity there. Louis-Dreyfus is quick to share credit for the turnaround with a small group of friends who bought the company with him in 1993. One of those fellow investors is a former IMS colleague, Christian Tourres, now sales director at Adidas. "We’re pretty complementary because I’m a bit of a dreamer, so it’s good to have somebody knocking on your head to remind you there’s a budget, "says Louis-Dreyfus.
Commuting to the firm’s headquarters in the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach from his lakeside house outside Zurich, Louis-Dreyfus also transformed Adidas from a stodgy German company into a business with a global outlook. Appalled on his first day at work that the chief executive had to sign a salesman’s travel voucher for $ 300, he slashed the company’s bureaucracy, adopted American ac counting rules and brought in international management talent. The company’s chief financial officer is Australian and the international marketing manager is a Swede. English is the official language of the head office and no Germans remain on the managing board of the company, now whittled down to just himself and a few trusted aides. "It was clear we needed decentralization and financial controls, "recalls Louis-Dreyfus. "With German accounting rules, I never knew if I was making money or losing."
In another break with the traditional German workplace, Louis-Dreyfus made corporate life almost gratingly informal: employees ostentatiously called him "Rowbear" as he strides down the corridors, and bankers are still amazed when counterparts from Adidas show up for negotiations wearing sweatshirts and sneakers.
"He gives you a lot of freedom, says Michael Michalsky, a 29-year-old German who heads the company’s apparel design team. "He has never interfered with a decision and never complained. He’s incredibly easy to work for."
After reducing losses in 1993, Adidas turned a profit in 1994 and has continued to surge: net income for the first three quarters in 1996 was a record $ 214 million, up 29% from the previous year. Louis-Dreyfus and his friends made vast personal fortunes when the company went public in 1995. The original investors still own 26% of the stock, which sold for $ 46 a share when trading has doubled to $ 90.
The challenge for Louis-Dreyfus is to keep sales growing in a notoriously trend-driven business. In contrast to the boom at Adidas, for example, Reebok reported a 3 % line in sales in the third quarter. Last fall Adidas rolled out a new line of shoes called "Feet You Wear" which are supposed to fit more comfortably than conventional sneakers by matching the natural contour of the foot. The first 500, 000 sold out. Adidas is an official sponsor of the World Cup, to be held next June in France, which the company hopes to turn to a marketing bonanza that will build on the strength of soccer worldwide. But Reebok also has introduced a new line called DMX Series 2000 and competition is expected to be tough come spring.
Adidas was under the control of Bernard Tapie before 19
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
B
解析
文章的第三段提到,“By the early 1990s Adidas had come under the control of French businessman Bernard Tapie...”,很明显,本题答案为“N”。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/cfw7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
A、Themanmadeabadsuggestion.B、Thewomanwilltaketheman’sadvice.C、ThewomanhastaughtJiminapleasantway.D、Theman
Asksomeonewhattheyhavedonetohelptheenvironmentrecentlyandtheywillalmostcertainlymentionrecycling.Recyclingin
Asksomeonewhattheyhavedonetohelptheenvironmentrecentlyandtheywillalmostcertainlymentionrecycling.Recyclingin
Banks______(通常优先考虑)largebusinesseswhendecidingonloans.
A、Theyhadenoughmoneytodoit.B、Theyhadsucceededintheirbusiness.C、Theywantedtomakeothersbelievethattheyweresu
Hejustcannot______tothedifferentlifestylehereinAmerica.
A、Indifferent.B、Surprised.C、Confident.D、Worried.D浏览选项可知,本题可能考查态度看法。短文中说话者指出Themajordifference…pointsoutthetragicchange
Properarrangementofclassroomspaceisimportanttoencouraginginteraction.Mostofushavenoticedhowimportantphysicalse
SellingaCarHowlonghaveyoubeendrivingaroundinthatsameoldear?Doyouthinkyouwanttosellit?Therearesomed
SellingaCarHowlonghaveyoubeendrivingaroundinthatsameoldear?Doyouthinkyouwanttosellit?Therearesomed
随机试题
减少压弯件回弹的常用方法有哪些?
闭合性颅脑损伤不包括
某地块甲价格为2000元/m2,地块乙为2200元/m2,若甲允许的容积率为7,乙为5,其他条件两块地相同,则两块地总价相比有()。
会计报告是确认和计量的开始,即通过报告将确认、计量、记录的结果即本年度的会计信息进行归纳和整理,以方便编制下一年度的财务预算。()
以下属于风险管理框架八大要素的有()。
刘基刘基,字伯温,青田人。基幼颖异。元至顺间举进士,除高安丞,有廉直声。行省辟之,谢去。及太祖下金华,定括苍,闻基名,以币聘,基未应。总制孙炎再致书固邀之,基始出。既至,陈时务十八策,太祖大喜,筑礼贤馆以处基等,宠礼甚至。会陈友谅陷太平,谋东下,
若复数z满足z1=1+2i,则|z1-z|的最大值是()。
设非零n维列向量α,β正交且A=αβT.证明:A不可以相似对角化.
DVD盘中的信息存储在(9)中。
分布式数据中,外设储存的数据通常属于
最新回复
(
0
)