This is a list of multinational corporations.

 Adidas

 Aditya Birla Group

 Facebook
 Nishat Group
 Nissan
 Nokia
 Hindustan Computers Limited
 Honda
 Hyundai Motor Company
 Infosys
 BMW
 SanDisk
 Coca-Cola
 Dell
 McDonald's
 Motorola
 Microsoft
 Toshiba
 Mobil
 Epson
Adidas

Adidas AG (German pronunciation: [ˈadiˌdas]) is a German multinational corporation that designs and
manufactures sports shoes, clothing and accessories. The company is based
in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the holding company for the Adidas Group, which consists of
the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company (including Ashworth), Rockport, 9.1%
of FC Bayern Munich and Runtastic a former-Austrian fitness company. Besides sports footwear, Adidas also
produces other products such as bags, shirts, watches, eyewear and other sports and clothing-related goods.
Adidas is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second biggest in the world, after Nike.
Adidas was founded on 18 August 1949 by Adolf Dassler, following a family feud at the Gebrüder Dassler
Schuhfabrik company between him and his older brother Rudolf. Rudolf had earlier established Puma, which
quickly became the business rival of Adidas. Both the Adidas and Puma companies still remain based
in Herzogenaurach, Germany to this day.

The company's clothing and shoe designs typically feature three parallel bars, and the same motif is
incorporated into Adidas's current official logo. The company revenue for 2012 was listed at €14.88 billion.
History
Early days
Christoph Von Wilhelm Dassler was a worker in a shoe factory, while his wife Pauline ran a small laundry in
the Bavarian town ofHerzogenaurach, 20 km (12.4 mi) from the city of Nuremberg. After leaving school, their
son, Rudolf "Rudi" Dassler, joined his father at the shoe factory. When he returned from fighting in World War I,
Rudolf received a management position at a porcelain factory, and later in a leather wholesale business
in Nuremberg.

Adolf "Adi" Dassler started to produce his own sports shoes in his mother's wash kitchen in Herzogenaurach,
Bavaria after his return from World War I. In July 1924, his brother Rudolf returned to Herzogenaurach to join
his younger brother's business, which became Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory)
and prospered. The pair started the venture in their mother's laundry but, at the time, electricity supplies in the
town were unreliable, and the brothers sometimes had to use pedal power from a stationary bicycle to run their
equipment. By the 1936 Summer Olympics, Adi Dassler drove from Bavaria on one of the world's first
motorways to the Olympic village with a suitcase full of spikes and persuaded U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens to
use them, the first sponsorship for an African American. Following Owens' haul of four gold medals, his
success cemented the good reputation of Dassler shoes among the world's most famous sportsmen. Letters
from around the world landed on the brothers' desks, and the trainers of other national teams were all
interested in their shoes. Business boomed and the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of shoes each year
before World War II.

Products
Apparel
The first ever piece of apparel created by Adidas was the Franz Beckenbauer tracksuit.

Running
Adidas currently manufactures several running shoes, including the Energy-boost, and the spring-blade
trainers, among others.
Association Football
One of the main focuses of Adidas has always been football kit and the associated equipment. Adidas remains
a major company in the supply of team kits for international association football teams and clubs,
including Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Valencia, Benfica, Chelsea and Milan, with Manchester
United and Juventus starting in 2015-16.

Adidas makes referee kits that are used in international competition and by many countries and leagues in the
world. The company has been an innovator in the area of footwear for the sport, with notable examples
including the 1979 release of the Copa Mundial moulded boot used for matches on firm dry pitches. It holds the
accolade of the best selling boot of all time. The soft-ground equivalent was named World Cup and it too
remains on the market, timeless and iconic.

FIFA, the world governing body of football, commissioned specially designed footballs for use in its ownWorld
Cup tournaments to favour more attacking play. The balls supplied for the 2006 World Cup, theTeamgeist,
were particular noteworthy for their ability to travel further than previous types when struck, leading to longer
range goals. Goalkeepers were generally believed to be less comfortable with the design of the ball, claiming it
was prone to move significantly and unpredictably in flight. Adidas also introduced another new ball for
the 2010 World Cup. The Jabulani ball was designed and developed by Loughborough University in
conjunction with Bayern Munich. The Adidas Brazuca was the match ball of the 2014 World Cup. Adidas has
numerous major kit deals with clubs worldwide, including Bayern Munich, Real
Madrid,Chelsea, Milan, Ajax, Juventus, Feyenoord, Benfica, Lyon, Marseille, Aberdeen, River
Plate, Fluminense,Palmeiras, Flamengo and FC Goa. National teams sponsored
include Germany, Spain, Russia, Japan, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico,Denmark, Wales, Paraguay, Venezuela
and Sweden.

Adidas has endorsed many players, including Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Arjen
Robben, Thomas Muller, Luis Suárez,Xavi, Gareth Bale, Kaká, Robin van Persie, Karim Benzema, Mesut
Özil, James Rodríguez, Ángel Di María, Theo Walcott, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.
Golf
Adidas Golf is part of Adidas, a German-based sports clothing manufacturer and part of the Adidas Group,
which consists of Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidasgolf company, and Rockport. The Adidas
Group is one of the global leaders in the sporting goods industry offering a wide range of products around the
three core segments of Adidas, Reebok, and TaylorMade-Adidas Golf. Adidas Golf sells and manufactures
Adidas-brand golf clothing, footwear, and accessories.

Company timeline

In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group who specialized in alpine ski wear, and its official corporate
name was changed to Adidas-Salomon AG because with this acquisition Adidas also acquired the TaylorMade
Golf company and Maxfli, which allowed them to compete with Nike Golf. Salomon sold its controlling interest
in TaylorMade and its other sports equipment companies to global giant Adidas AG.

In 1998, Adidas Golf USA moved its business operations from Tualatin, Oregon, to the Carlsbad, California
headquarters of TaylorMade Golf, acquired by Adidas-Salomon. Adidas Golf USA had thirty employees to
relocate. Carlsbad is also the headquarters of one of its primary competitors, Callaway Golf Company.

In 1999, TaylorMade and AdidasGolf USA, were merged into a new company—called Taylor Made-Adidas
Golf—with world headquarters in Carlsbad. Mark King was named president of the company he had begun his
career with in 1981 as a sales representative after a short stint as vice president of sales and marketing at
Callaway Golf Ball Co. in 1998.

In November 2008, Ashworth (clothing) became a wholly owned subsidiary of TaylorMade-Adidas Golf,
complementary to the synthetic performance fabrics of Adidas Golf.

Golf
Adidas Golf sells clothing, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and youth. Men's equipment includes
footwear, shirts, shorts, pants, outerwear (wind suits), base layer and eyewear, Women's equipment includes
footwear, shirts, shorts, skirts, pants, outerwear, base layers, and eyewear. Youth equipment includes both
boys and girls footwear, clothing, and eyewear.
Marketing
Adidas, like other sports brands, is believed to engender high consumer brand loyalty. Brand loyalty towards
Adidas, Nike, Inc., Puma AG and several other sportswear brands was examined in a recent study.[56] The
study found consumers did not exhibit unduly high loyalty towards such brands.

During the mid to late 1990s, Adidas divided the brand into three main groups with each a separate
focus: Adidas Performance was designed to maintain their devotion to the athlete; Adidas Originals was
designed to focus on the brand's earlier designs which remained a popular life-style icon; and Style
Essentials, which dealt with the fashion market; the main group within this being Y-3 (which is a collaboration
between Adidas and renowned Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto - the Y representing Yamamoto
and the 3 representing the three stripes of Adidas).

"Adidas is all in" is the current global marketing strategy slogan for Adidas. The slogan aims to tie all brands
and labels together, presenting a unified image to consumers interested in sports, fashion, street, music and
pop culture. There appears to be connection with the phrase "all-in" meaning "exhausted" in some English
speaking nations.

"Impossible is Nothing" was the previous mainstream marketing slogan for Adidas. This campaign was
developed by 180/TBWA based in Amsterdam but also with significant work being done by TBWA\Chiat\Day in
San Francisco – particularly for its basketball campaign "Believe in Five".TBWA\Chiat\Day commissioned Zane
Peach[57] to produce images for 2007 international ad campaign.

Game advertisement
The brand is featured in several games, including Commodore Amiga: Daley Thompson's Olympic
Challenge, Sony PlayStation: Adidas power soccer and Commodore 64, ZX spectrum, Amstrad CPC: Adidas
Championship Football.
Corporate information
Current executive board

 CEO: Herbert Hainer

 Chief Financial Officer: Robin J. Stalker
 Global Brands: Eric Liedtke
 Global Operations: Glenn S. Bennett
 Global Sales: Roland Auschel

Former management

 CEO (1993–2002): Robert Louis-Dreyfus.

Financial information
Financial data in millions of euros

Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Sales 10,084 10,299 10,799 10,381 11,990

EBITDA 1,078 1,165 1,280 780 1,159

Net
483 551 642 245 567
income
Net
2,231 1,766 2,189 917 221
debt

Criticism
Adidas's business practises/ethics and commitment to worker welfare have been scrutinised and often
criticized.

2011 All Blacks replica rugby jersey pricing controversy

Unhappy with the local price of the Adidas replica All Blacks jersey, New Zealand-based All Blacks fans have
asked for price cuts and begun purchasing the jersey from overseas vendors after it was revealed that the local
price of $NZ220 was more than twice the price offered on some websites.

Adidas has responded by enforcing cross-border agreements to stop overseas retailers from selling to New
Zealand residents. It has been labelled a public relations disaster by leading New Zealand PR firms and
Consumer advocate groups. The largest New Zealand sportswear retailer Rebel Sport has stated it is angry
and is considering selling the All Blacks Jerseys to the general public below cost. As of 9 August 2011, Rebel
Sport has decided not to stock the Adidas Rugby Union jersey.

2012 "shackle" sneakers

On June 14, 2012, Adidas posted on their Facebook page a picture of a pair of shoes containing shackles. The
picture was of a planned shoe line that Adidas intended to release in August. The photo quickly caused
controversy including that of Jesse Jackson who was quoted as saying "The attempt to commercialize and
make popular more than 200 years of human degradation, where blacks were considered three-fifths human by
our Constitution is offensive, appalling and insensitive". Jackson threatened a boycott, and NBA
commissioner David Stern was at one point reportedly contacted in hopes that he would intervene.

Shortly after the outcry the company canceled the product.

Sweatshops and labour rights violations

Adidas has been criticized for operating sweatshops, particularly in Indonesia. Between 2006 and 2007, Adidas
rejected many of its suppliers that supported unions for subcontractors with less reputable labour rights
records. By subcontracting work to different suppliers, it is more difficult for Adidas to ensure company labour
standards are enforced. Workplace standards that Adidas' policy upholds include the freedom for workers to
take part in collective bargaining and a non-retaliation policy towards workers who express concerns. In
practice, however, many of Adidas' suppliers have not upheld these standards. At the Panarub factory in Java,
33 workers were fired after striking for better pay in 2005. PT Kizone is another Indonesian factory where
Adidas has received criticism over treatment of workers. They produced products for Adidas as well as Nike
and the Dallas Cowboys until they closed in January 2011. Laid off were 2,686 workers, who are owed $3
million in severance pay and benefits. Nike has contributed $1.5 million but Adidas has not acted. A campaign
has been initiated by United Students Against Sweatshops calling for universities to cut contracts with
Adidas. On 16 July 2012, War on Want organised activists in London to replace Adidas price tags in sports
stores with 34p ones, a reference to the low hourly wage rate paid to the Indonesian workers who make Adidas
goods. The campaign group Labour Behind the Label claimed that the basic pay of Indonesian Adidas workers
was only £10 a week. William Anderson, head of social and environmental affairs for the Asia Pacific region,
posted an entry on the company blog in which he sought to justify the 34p an hour pay rate. In April 2014, one
of the biggest strikes on mainland China took place at the Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Dongguan shoe
factory, producing amongst others for Adidas.

Environmental record[edit]
For years, Adidas purchased paper for its packaging from Asia Pulp & Paper, the third largest paper producer
in the world, which was labeled as a "forest criminal" for destroying "precious habitat" in Indonesia’s
rainforest. In 2011, when Adidas cancelled its contract with Asia Pulp & Paper, Greenpeace Executive
Director Phil Radford commended Adidas for efforts made towards forest protection, for "taking rainforest
conservation seriously."