阿迪达斯CEO绘制全球战略
译者按：引起世界，尤其是鞋业界倍加关注的阿迪达斯-锐步的合并案，中国鞋都网已经翻译了不少的相关深度报道，涉及两个品牌如何在全球互补以打败耐克，以及它们不同的企业文化如何的融合等等一系列问题。译者身处鞋业界，感触对于全球的鞋业制造商而言，如果没有进军欧盟和美国这两个世界顶级市场，尤其是美国，它就仍然是被排斥在主流市场之外。从这个角度而言，中国的运动鞋制造商才是刚起步，其优势主要来源于成本于规模，所以擅长打价格战，企业文化和品牌的建设都是陌生刚起步的，要进入世界的高端市场是非常艰难的，但是至少，而且是必须的，中国的运动鞋制造商可以把国内市场当做企业文化与品牌建设的一个良好的舞台，因为中国本身是一个很大的市场，还有2008年的奥运会以及中国在世界日益增长的影响力，都为中国企业提供了非常好的背景，同为拥有劳动力成本优势的越南等国家的鞋业企业就没有这样幸运了，所以让我们努力吧！
William McCall
美联社
波特兰，俄勒冈--在距离死对头耐克公司总部10英里的办公室里策划谋略，艾瑞克.斯坦明格在思考采取怎样的措施把耐克赶下世界第一的制鞋及服装公司的宝座。
“我们都知道这不可能一夜而来，即使你把所有的事情都做好了，你也不可能在12个月里改变世界。” 阿迪达斯美国公司的总裁和CEO斯坦明格说，他同时还担任德国母公司阿迪达斯-萨拉蒙的全球营销总监。
在上个月宣布它将以38亿美元收购总部在马萨诸塞州坎顿市的排名第三的的锐步国际有限公司之后，阿迪达斯正在精心准备以其自己的方式打败耐克。
即使在合并之后，阿迪达斯和锐步仍然落后于耐克的年销售额--去年阿迪达斯是80亿美元锐步是40亿美元--或者是总计120亿美元，相较于耐克的140亿美元。
但是这个合并，如果被批准的话，将立即为阿迪达斯增加很大一部分国内市场的份额，阿迪达斯与耐克一直在世界其他的地方旗鼓相当的竞争。
阿迪达斯现在拥有美国运动鞋市场9%的份额，它将从锐步那里得到额外的12%的份额--总共的份额是21%，相较于耐克36%的份额。
它同样将提升在每一项运动上争夺顶级运动员的能力，一位行业分析家说。
阿迪达斯一直拒绝为明星运动员支付最高的报酬，或者说在过去耐克的出价都要高--包括对于NBA明星伦勃郎.詹姆斯，他与耐克签定了一份估计为900万美元的赞助合同之后，成为了2003年的重大新闻。
“我们不准备支付他们想要的任何数额。” 斯坦明格在谈到与詹姆斯的谈判时说。
“我们自己设有限制，最后的问题是归结于钱，它只是超出了我们的限制。”
他说阿迪达斯本能够比耐克出价更高，在它最终出局之前他们与詹姆斯开始会谈时的价格是最后价格的一半。
当被问及在与足球明星大卫.贝克汉姆(David Beckham)签定赞助协议的时候是否也有限制的时候，斯坦明格笑了。
“我可以告诉你一件事情，它不是关于价格的”他说，并补充道阿迪达斯的创立者安迪.达斯勒（Adi Dassler）在20世纪早些时候在德国是与足球一起成长起来的，你甚至可以在1950年代在赛场上看见他本人，为了给运动员做更好的鞋子。
“足球是我们的第一优先选择，”他说，他的办公室外面有一个数字显示器倒计时着2006年世界杯的时间，“足球是我们的生命线”。
为阿迪达斯的赞助合同选择运动员是一门学问，它要确保运动员的潜力与阿迪达斯的营销计划和产品线的良好搭配。
但是他拒绝谈论锐步作为阿迪达斯的补充是如何的与之相配。
一些分析家已经开始推测这是否是一个好的搭配，举出了近来在大公司之间的问题联姻--包括另一个著名的德-美配对，戴姆勒-克赖斯勒，以及其他的麻烦的合并如惠普-康柏，迪斯尼与ABC，时代华纳与美国在线。
“我没有看到锐步将如何能够帮助他们与耐克之间的竞争。”一个名叫杰克.特劳特(Jack Trout)的资深的体育营销顾问说，“这是否意味着耐克将不能够获取大球星的垂青？我表示怀疑。”
（英文原文引自The Associate Press，编译：Rainpoem）
Adidas CEO charts his strategy
PORTLAND, Ore. - Plotting strategy in his office 10 miles from the headquarters of archrival Nike Inc., Erich Stamminger contemplates what it’s going to take for Adidas to knock Nike off its pedestal as the No. 1 shoe and apparel company in the world.
“We all know that this does not come overnight. Even if you do everything right, you will not in 12 months change the world,” said Stamminger, the president and CEO of Adidas America Inc. who also serves as global marketing chief for its German parent, Adidas-Salomon AG.
Adidas is mapping out ways to beat Nike at its own game after announcing last month that it will buy No. 3 Reebok International Ltd., based in Canton, Mass., for $3.8 billion.
Even combined, Adidas and Reebok will still trail Nike in annual sales - $8 billion for Adidas and $4 billion for Reebok last year - or a total of $12 billion compared with $14 billion for Nike. But the merger, if approved, will instantly add a good chunk of the domestic market to Adidas, which has always competed head-to-head with Nike around the rest of the world.
Adidas, with about 9 percent of the U.S. athletic footwear market, will get an additional 12 percent share from Reebok - for a total of 21 percent compared with about 36 percent for Nike.
It could also boost the bidding for the top athletes in every sport, industry analysts say.
Stars who have not yet signed major deals, such as D.C. United soccer player Freddy Adu and golfer Michelle Wie, for example, along with “a handful of others are now in a great position because they will take advantage of what may not be a bidding war between the two companies but will certainly be a much more compelling race,” said David Carter, founder of the Sports Business Group, a marketing firm.
Adidas has resisted paying top dollar for celebrity athletes or has been outbid by Nike in the past - including for NBA star LeBron James, who made headlines in 2003 when he signed an endorsement contract with Nike worth an estimated $90 million.
“We are not ready to pay any amount people are asking for,” Stamminger said about the negotiations with James.
“We set ourselves a limit. But it finally came down to the money. It just went beyond our limits.”
He said that Adidas could have afforded to outbid Nike but started talking to James at about half the final price before eventually dropping out.
When asked whether there was a limit to the endorsement deal Adidas signed with soccer star David Beckham, Stamminger laughed.
“I can tell you one thing, it was not about price,” he said, adding that Adidas founder Adi Dassler grew up with soccer in Germany in the early 20th century and could even be seen at matches personally changing shoes for players well into the 1950s.
“Soccer is our No. 1 priority,” he said as digital display outside his office counted down the minutes until the 2006 World Cup. “This is our lifeblood.”
Choosing athletes for Adidas endorsement contracts is a study in making sure the athlete’s potential is a good fit for marketing plans and product lines, Stamminger said.
But he declined to talk about how good a fit Reebok will make as a corporate addition to Adidas, citing Securities and Exchange Commission restrictions on executives involved in a pending merger.
Some analysts are already speculating whether it will be a good match, citing some of the problem marriages among big companies recently - including another famous German-American pairing, DaimlerChrysler, and other difficult mergers such as Hewlett-Packard and Compaq, Disney and ABC, and Time-Warner and AOL.
“I don’t see how the addition of Reebok helps them in their quest to run against Nike,” said Jack Trout, a veteran sports marketing consultant. “Does this mean Nike is not going to get their hands on the big athletes? I doubt it.”
