Under ArmourEssay Preview: Under ArmourReport this essayUnder Armour® (UA), founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank, quickly rose from a basement-business into a $725 million revenue company by 2008. Even though barriers to entry are high, the athletic apparel industry is highly competitive and competitors adamantly defend their market share. UA has managed to succeed through unique product innovation and grassroots marketing techniques. These two strategies have been key to UAs success, and it now controls 75% of its sector in the sports apparel industry.1 Since inception, UA has expanded to include womens and youth apparel, footwear, and accessory products, although its key revenue driver continues to be mens sports apparel.
This is the Under Armour environment as of December 2008, and UA now asks itself the question, “Where do we go from here?” This is a timely question as UA appears to be at crossroad in its growth potential. The direction it chooses will not only determine its success or failure, but will also test the UA mission to, “make all athletes better through the science, passion, and the relentless pursuit of innovation.”
In determining the direction UA should choose, we must, most importantly, understand the external environment. Reviewing UAs internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats, we narrow our decision path down to several key deciding questions:
What is UAs core competency?Where is UAs greatest opportunity?What is hindering UA from taking advantage of that opportunity?What can we do to remove that hindrance and align UAs strengths with its greatest opportunity?Our conclusion is that UAs core competency is market recognition of its innovative products. To dilute this image would be detrimental to UAs success. Therefore, UAs greatest opportunity is international expansion of its current product line, tied on a smaller scale with domestic growth through military distribution. Its highly innovative product, although already popular in the U.S., is relatively unknown internationally, and with billions of additional potential buyers worldwide, international expansion is UAs best growth opportunity. This strategy also meets the UA goal to “become the worlds number one performance athletic brand.”
*UAS® and “What is the future of UA”?\o/
In addition to its international sales, UAS boasts other key attributes:\o/
UAS is a leading sports brand with a huge stake in all sports on the back of its commitment to competitive excellence and a strong commitment to excellence-focused consumer performance education. It has developed international business relationships through international sports leagues, universities, industry organizations and non-profit partners. It successfully develops new product lines as it expands its sports and sports programs across the globe.
UAS’ worldwide product lines have generated the largest market share to date, attracting an estimated US$15.5.7 billion in purchases and an estimated USD4.8 billion of the U.S. sports dollar.
UAS is positioned as a leader in the sports consumer and sports entertainment business, a global leader in sports training and education and to be the leading manufacturer of all technologies currently used for UA, making UA the world’s leading sports brand.
UAS has pioneered innovative technologies and partnerships that make their way across the globe through an unparalleled network of international development and investment projects.
UAS is engaged in numerous key areas to address and adapt to changing demographics.\o/​
With its strong focus on excellence and international innovation, UAS is recognized as a leading U.S. sports brand with a high level of global presence. Its international brand portfolio comprises many well-known brands and brands in over 125 countries.\o/​
UAS will continue to add strong business models to its international portfolio as UAS grows by expanding its business globally in order to achieve greater domestic and international market share.
The UAS product line focuses on U.S. sports apparel;
UAS is recognized for strong relationships with brands outside of sports in sports apparel, including the following:
The US Department of State and Major League Baseball, NFL, and MLB are three of the leading sports brand names in the world for sport. In addition, UAS is recognized internationally for its robust sports education and performance training programs that help build the strength, performance and motivation for each of its UAS brands.\o/​
For further information on the sport of UAS, please visit UAS, UAS2 and UAS3.
This research focuses on UAS core competency. Where is UAS greatest opportunity?Where is UAs greatest opportunity?\s\o
UAS and “Why are we making it great!”
What is UAs core competency?This research focuses on UAS core competency. Where is UAS greatest opportunity?Who should we invest to improve UAS?
UAS should strive to bring innovation globally into the development, production and distribution of its product line. UAS is a leader in innovative and effective technologies and partnerships with leading companies, including major domestic and international providers such as Nike, TGI Friday’s, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Cinnabon, Pepsi, and others.