Globalization: Adidas

When I was a kid starting to play soccer, I remember my parents would always buy me Adidas cleats. Even today, I enjoy buying from Adidas; it may just be because we have an Adidas store at our outlets.  Adidas has both expanded and taken this world to a new level of athletics.

Adidas was founded by Adolf Dassler following the company slit between him and his brother, who later established Puma. There different brands within Adidas, Reebok, Taylor Made-Adidas, Rockport and is stakeholder of 9.4% of FC Bayern Munich. It all started when Dassler created the famous three striped football cleat and had the 1954 Germany team wear the cleats. These cleats were lighter than the English boots many athletes would wear. From then on, the company expanded to different products such as apparel.

Adidas has a specific way of targeting people, mostly sport teens.  Adidas equipped 33 countries and 6000 Olympic athletes in the last summer Olympic. These athletes in total won 220 medals (70 gold medals), which resulted in a 50% increase in apparel sales. Adidas has contracted many famous athletes and teams to show off their brand. The company would eventually expand to 65 different counties in the world and employing 775,000 people. Adidas is one of the biggest companies in Europe and is the second, behind Nike, globally. Its main headquarters are in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Adidas, like many large companies outsource their jobs to developing countries. The outsourcing of jobs has led to many controversies in Indonesia and china.

The positive effect of the globalization of Adidas is that it has brought many jobs to developing countries. The bad effect would be that the workers in the factories in developing countries are not being paid fairly and the working conditions are horrible. The companies established in China have faced many strikes against the work conditions or the amount of pay many workers are paid. This year, there have been 202 reported incidents in the first quarter this year in China alone. In a recent study, Chinese workers are said to work from 8am to 11pm, working over the legal limit of overtime. In Adidas Chinese factories, workers are hired with temporary contracts. That it quite significant I must admit and I am sure that it has doubled since the first quarter.

There has also been a dilemma in Indonesia were they are paid 34p an hour which is below the minimum wage. This resulted in works skipping meals to make ends meet and to an extreme level, factory workers passing out during their shifts. In Indonesia, there is lack of basic dignity and respect. For example, workers need to ask the permission of their managers to use the toilet. They are also verbally abused, are thrown shoes or even slapped across the face. I am sure this type of behavior is not only exhibited in Indonesia. These workers have the right to protest against their factories in my opinion. The only thing these workers want is a thirty percent raise. 

Honestly, think that is quite attainable since 

Adidas is one of the largest companies in the world.

I do believe that Adidas is capable of raising the pay for workers and improving working conditions. If Adidas has enough money to sponsor both the winter and summer Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, I am sure they can put out some money for their workers. As much as I would love to see this happen, I am oblivious to say it will happen in the future.  Nevertheless, it is possible to bring to the people purchasing Adidas products the facts. The facts that involve where their money is going towards, and the working conditions the workers face to bring make the product they are purchasing.

http://www.adidas-group.com/en/group/history/
http://www.waronwant.org/attachments/Adidas%20briefing.pdf
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/22/strike-spreads-chinese-supplier-adidas-nike-yeu-yuen-factory-jiangxi-guangdong
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/worsening-china-factory-strike-threatens-adidas-nike-sneakers-n87951 http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/12/dismissed-workers-protest-against-adidas-ahead-world-cup.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas