Under Armour

Under Armour.

Founded in 1996 by former player of the football team at the University of Maryland,

Kevin Plank, Under Armour is one of the biggest names in innovationperformance apparel. The company got its start by developing a T-shirt compression desiccant designed to be worn by athletes under their clothes. Today Under Armour designs, markets and distributes

a complete line of clothing and shoes for men and women active

of all ages. The company is the official supplier of university research teams and

business in North America and Europe.

Strategic management.

The strategic management of a firm is the process by which this firm manages the formulation and implementation of a strategy. ‘It is a rational approach firms use to achieve competitiveness and earn above-average returns.’

The strategy can be defined as the set of maneuvers that allow

the company to conduct successfully the competitive conquest of its markets. This is

a process of decision and action, deliberate and proactive. It is through it that the company defines its priorities, directing its forces allocates - and reallocates - its scarce resources. It is through it that also sets goals and standards to achieve success.

In a competitive world, the strategy management aims primarily to drive the evolution of

the company to improve its performance and to prevent its decline,

lack of initiative, loss of control commercial , technological or economic.

The company increases its performance and competitiveness when it can fit into

a cumulative process of development in which it is both the engine and the result. This

process exceeds the company since it includes the commercial, environmental, technology,

legal, and it has a decisive influence on the chances of it. However, it is also

strongly influence by it and now plays a leading role - and often innovative -

changing balances and constantly restarting the game competitive initiatives

strategic.

Strategy.

‘’As CEO Kevin Plank stated, ’the key driver is to offer products that are better than what is currently in the market, best in class’. Additionally, Under Armour has hundreds of professional athletes that not only volunteer to wear Under Armour gear, but actually want to wear it.’’ The Under Armour strategy, first tested in the United States, is now applying to Europe. It is to approach young and promising athletes and presents the brand products in order that they adopt. The interest is thus to have users Under Armour by "belief" and not for financial gain athletes. This technique, called ambush marketing , allows one hand to avoid a massive investment in the traditional sponsorship (which could also create a “hype " media counterproductive ), and to convince athletes sometimes sponsored by a competing brand.

For example, the Brazilian footballer Robinho sometimes wears Under Armour products, as its official sponsor is Nike, the number one competitor of Under Armour. The national football team of Ghana also bought shorts Under Armour in South Africa, at the expense of its official supplier, Puma. To implement this marketing strategy in France, Under Armour has assigned two representatives in Ligue 1, Ligue 2, Top 14 and Pro D2. A strategy that allows the brand to be represented on the football and the rugby field by not making a massive financial investment.

The process of strategy.

The strategic process is for an organization, a series of steps that led it to define its own identity and values; it defines what the brand wants to do and how it intends to do.

‘A business is not defined by its name, statutes, or articles of incorporation. It is defined by the business mission’ Peter Drucker . The mission is the raison d'être of the organization, defines his or her business and her expertise. It has taken, as the notion of purpose of the organization is its vocation. The mission of Under Armour is to ‘’Make all athletes better through passion, science and the relentless pursuit of innovation.’’ That offers a point of view of the company on how should athletes increase their skills in today sport societies and what they could give to make it possible.

‘A corporate vision can focus, direct, motivate, unify, and even excite a business into superior performance. The job of a strategist is to identify and project a clear vision’ John Keane. The vision of the organization is the ambition of it; it can lead to strategic choices. The vision of Under Armour come from its leader, owner and CEO Kevin Plank, which is ‘’to become the first performance athletic brand in the world’’. When the vision comes from the person who started the company, it gives another meaning and makes the stakeholder understand the role of Kevin Plank and the path he has been through to have a brand like Under Armour today.

‘’Under Armour stated goal is to be a ‘leading developer, marketer, and distributor of branded performance products.’ It has successfully penetrated the sports apparel market by using the image and influence of domestic and international professional teams, collegiate teams, Olympians and individuals.’’ To define the goal offers a guidance tool for the strategy of a brand. It gives which are the main motivation and challenges that the brand wants to work on. It also commits the employees on a different step that they will have to follow to complete the strategy.

Internal strategic analysis allows us to find the potential strengths and weaknesses of the brand. The environment could come from the SWOT analysis of the company; this will come from the opportunities and threats of the brand. Thus, the diagnosis will enhance the ability to act or to adapt the brand in the analyzed environment. Through this analysis, the organization may establish strategic assumptions or scenarios and select the strategic options that will lead the company to achieve its ambitions. By looking at the strengths and weaknesses it is important to understand the role of Kevin Plank, as the creator of the brand but also as a leader for Under Armour.

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