Adidas is a leading international sports sector company
striving to provide the best services and products to its consumers while
considering the social, economic and environmental impacts of its business on
the community. Its headquarters is in Germany and ranked 76 in the Corporate
Knights 2021 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations. Our research hypothesis
is that their sustainability practices contributed to their business success
metrics including innovation and profitability. Our data sources are Adidas'
corporate sustainability reports, annual reports, GRI Index and others.
Our analysis will look at whether Adidas has achieved the
sustainability goals they have committed to in the past. Porter and Kramer
(2011) state that companies must create shared value in order to be successful
in the long run. Our research questions include how Adidas created shared
values to influence society, the economy and the environment and succeed. The
triple bottom line (Dharmasasmita et al, 2017) analysis will help us to study
Adidas' attitude towards stakeholders on sustainability. Eccles et al. (2014)
state that in the long run, highly sustainable companies significantly
outperform their peers.
Purpose of the study:
This study analyzes Adidas' history of sustainability and
how it practices its sustainability strategy. It addresses the following
research questions:
1. Does Adidas
achieve its sustainable Development Goals?
2. How is Adidas
achieving a sustainable growth strategy by creating shared value?
3. Which ESG Issues
are most material and how did Adidas address them?