adidas Group Chairman and CEO Herbert Hainer played it safe during a recent presentation at WSA as he reviewed progress in the integration of the recently-acquired Reebok business into the adidas structure. As Sports Executive Weekly reported last week, Hainer expects to expand Reeboks efforts in the performance end of the business, focusing on American sports, but was less committal when talking about the future status of the league licenses. The company is executing with German precision on the integration of the various businesses that now make up the adidas Group portfolio. The company appears to be committed to maintaining the brand integrity of the Reebok and adidas brands, while capitalizing on the opportunities in back-end shared services.
As previously reported in Sports Executive Weekly, the first line announcements saw Erich Stamminger appointed president and CEO of the adidas Brand and Paul Harrington appointed president and CEO of the Reebok brand. TaylorMade-adidas Golf will remain under Mark King and his team in Carlsbad. Hainer, in a satellite video presentation at the WSA Global Footwear Investor Conference, said the second line management appointments had been made and that the third line structure would be announced in late February. While the organizations are not 100% complete at this point, the second line structure does give some insight into the direction the new adidas Group may take. The second line structure reveals an organization that is dedicated to the individual branded footwear and apparel business in the U.S., while introducing new integrated functions for the company in sports licensed products and the Asia/Pacific region, along with the obvious opportunities in finance, operations & sourcing, IT, and human resources.
In announcing his team, Harrington said the company will no longer do things because “its the way we have always done it.” He said they will energize the Reebok brand with employees who are committed to embracing new ideas and a new way of thinking. This positioning is critical as Reebok makes strides to shed itself of a culture — nurtured under its former leadership — that many would argue has limited the brands ability to succeed against more focused competition.
While Harrington has most of his team in place, the product end of the business will apparently take shape over the next thirty days. Dennis Baldwin, the son-in-law of Paul Fireman that has been global brand marketing chief, will exit the company in May after completing the Spring 07 sales meetings and product launch. His replacement has not yet been named. On the product side, John Frascotti will remain head of the performance business, including equipment, while Matt Feiner heads up the kids business and Michael Schaeffer runs the design team. Reebok is currently looking for a chief for the lifestyle/fusion business.
On the operational side of the field, Bob Munroe will continue to lead the U.S. team, but will add the Reebok owned-retail and operations piece to his responsibilities in a new fully integrated brand structure for the region. Matt OToole will remain at the helm of Reebok Canada and The Hockey Company, reporting directly to Harrington. adidas will move one of their people into the international operations role, positioning Michael Rupp, the former head of adidas Central European business, to run Reeboks international group. He will report to Harrington. Dave Singleton, head of Reebok Europe, Dan Brausch, head of Reebok Latin America, and John Chappell, head of Reebok Asia, will report to Rupp.
The Asia reporting structure will be a bit trickier than the others. adidas Group has made the decision to structure Asia/Pacific as an integrated region, and, as such, Chappell will have a direct reporting line to Christophe Bezu, who runs the region for Brand adidas reporting to Erich Stamminger.
The sports licensing function will have a somewhat similar structure, with David Baxter, head of the OnField Sports Licensed group, reporting to both Harrington and Stamminger. He will assume responsibility for the adidas licensed efforts in the new role, apparently integrating the Valley Apparel business into the OnField operation.
Sharon Bryan, formerly the CFO for Rockport, has been appointed to head up the finance function for Reebok and Bill Holmes assumes the top human resources job for the brand. Both will have dotted line responsibilities into adidas Groups global finance and HR chiefs. Denise Kaigler, who had been running corporate communications for Reebok International, will run global communications and public relations for the Reebok brand, but will also assume corporate communications responsibilities for the adidas Group in the U.S.
On the adidas brand side, Stamminger will continue to have Roland Auschel reporting to him as head of Region Europe, while Rob Langstaff moves into the top job for adidas America and Bezu heads the Asia/Pacific team. Charlie Maurath continues to lead the adidas efforts in Latin America. While no announcement was made on an integrated structure here, SEW suspects it would make sense in the long term. adidas said it is reviewing the region.
Harm Ohlmeyer, the CFO at TM-aG, has been appointed head of finance for brand adidas. As such, he will also have dotted line reporting to Robin Stalker, CFO of adidas Group and maintain a direct line to TM-aGs CEO, Mark King until a replacement is named. The adidas Group human resources chief, Matthias Malessa, will also function in the lead HR role for brand adidas.
The global operations unit will handle operations and sourcing for all brands, but has separate product creation groups working on the adidas, Reebok, and TM-aG brands. There is one chief of global sourcing.
Glenn Bennett, a former Reebok exec and the only American on the adidas Group Executive Board, has assumed the role of chief operations officer.
Jay Pollard, who has been with adidas for over 10 years, has been named head of brand operations for adidas, reporting to Bennett. Hugh Hamill, who ran Reeboks footwear operations group, has been named head of brand ops for Reebok. Donna Flood, head of apparel ops for Reebok, reports to Hamill. Steve Horton will continue to head up TM-aGs brand operations team. Bob Shorrock, who ran all sourding for adidas-Salomon, will now add the sourcing functions for Reebok in the new structure. Dave Mischler, who was VP of supply chain management for Reebok, will assume all integrated responsibilities for planning, supply chain integration and supply chain service functions for all brands. Brian Mignano, head of adidas global supply network, will report to Mischler.
The IT group is also an integrated function led by Gerber Otter, chief information officer. While the other sales, marketing, product, and operations teams are structured by brand, the IT group will have responsibilities by region, with a separate head for the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific. The lone exception will be golf, which will have its own IT chief.
What is missing in the new structure is any mention of Rockport or Greg Norman Collection. SEW assumes these businesses will either report directly to Hainer or be put on the auction block. There is also some speculation by market watchers that the TM-aG business could be carved up, with adidas Golf moving back to the mother ship and TaylorMade put into play.
>>> Regardless, this integration is moving along quickly and methodically and appears to have buy-in from the senior Reebok team, something that stymied success with the Salomon deal…
>>> If the company can truly retain brand integrity for the two major brands, the question becomes one of positioning. Hainer is maintaining his position that Reebok will not be forced down-market and is also maintaining a position that the league licenses belong with the brand that best exemplifies American sports, we can only assume that means Reebok…
