Supply network Of The Product Of Adidas †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Supply network Of The Product Of Adidas. Answer: Supply Network A recent purchase for me was a piece of clothing from Adidas. This paper shall discuss the supply network of the product from the raw material until I (the consumer) purchased it. Company Overview The piece of clothing was from Adidas. Adidas is a well known brand dealing with sports apparel, accessories, backpacks, footwear and sports equipment etc. The company was set up by Adolf Dassler in Herzogenaurach, Germany in the year 1949. Product Overview The clothing item was a printed t-shirt. Adidas further branches out into various sub brands such as Adidas originals, Adidas Neo etc. The printed t-shirt is an Adidas Originals item. Adidas Originals is known for being more fashion forward than the rest of the sub brands. Adidas has collaborated with a number of celebrities and fashion designers such as Stella McCartney, Pharell Williams, Raf Simons, Kanye West and Rick Owens etc.(Milnes 2016). Major Competitors Adidas' major competitors are Nike, Puma, Fila and Converse. Nike is the toughest competitor while Puma has a special history with Adidas as Puma was founded by Adolf Dassler 's brother, Rudolf Dassler after they disagreed upon how they wanted to conduct their business together as Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. Stages of Product Supply Chain Adidas is a globally recognized brand and has manufacturing units in a number of countries. Adidas indulges in third party manufacturing especially in Asian countries. Therefore, manufacturing units are located in countries like China, India etc. Right now most of Adidas footwear sourcing is in Asia, with production taking place in China, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam(Gunn 2015). But the company is planning to bring production back to Germany. Adidas also sells its products online. Supplier Customer Relationship Adidas has a more complex supplier customer relationship than most other companies. Adidas tier 1 suppliers are the factories that assembles products that directly sell for retail, while tier 2 suppliers supply materials and components to those tier 1 suppliers, such as dyes and cloth, and tier 3 are the raw material suppliers(Lee, Ramasamy Rhee 2014). Problems in Supply Chain Currently, Adidas is facing two problems. First is that of third party manufacturing and the second if slavery in two-tier suppliers. Due to third party manufacturing the brand loses out on customers as they do not trust the quality of products they receive from third party manufacturers. Modern slavery capacity building workshops were held, during which, high-risk practices such as retention of identity documents or the partial withholding of worker salaries, as a forced measure of saving, were identified(Russell 2018). Adidas has already begun working closely with first tier suppliers in order to reach the lower tiers and eradicate the root of the problem(Churchill 2016). It must continue its efforts to train suppliers on forced labor issues so that slavery can be eradicated completely. As for manufacturing through third parties, Adidas should instead highly consider bringing back production units to Germany and United States as Germany is where the company was originally founded. References- Churchill, F 2016, Adidas reveals training is key to tackling slavery, viewed 14 March 2018, Available from https://www.cips.org/supply-management/news/2016/december/adidas-tops-anti-supply-chain-slavery-ranking/. Gunn, M 2015, How Adidas Wants to Take a Shoe From Idea to Store Shelf in 45 Days, viewed 14 March 2018, Available from https://www.gtnexus.com/resources/blog-posts/adidas-agile-supply-chain. Lee, SY, Ramasamy, A Rhee, JH 2014, Green Leadership in China: Management Strategies from China's Most Responsible Companies, Springer Heidelberg, London. Milnes, H 2016, How Adidas Originals surpassed Adidas on social media, viewed 14 March 2018, Available From https://digiday.com/marketing/retailcontentstrategies-adidas-originals-surpassed-adidas-social-media/amp/. Russell, M 2018, Adidas turns anti-slavery focus on two-tier suppliers, viewed 14 March 2018, Available from https://www.just-style.com/news/adidas-turns-anti-slavery-focus-on-tier-two-suppliers_id133023.aspx.