ABSTRACT
The innovation culture at Adidas, one of the world's biggest sportswear brands, is driven by a cycle of big international sporting events such as the World Cup, the Olympic Games and myriad big annual fixtures. It is good to have innovation planning cycles driven by external events; they give focus and force Adidas to be fast and maintain a sense of urgency. Two major external barriers are price pressure, from competition and from shareholders, and control of the supply chain. Most of the primary supply chain is bought in, that is, only five per cent of the items produced come from Adidas-owned factories. Jobs had both an understanding of where electronic media, computing and communications were heading and a finger on the pulse of popular culture. Marketing restrictions made consumer communication very challenging and Imperial Tobacco Limited (ITL) lacked the ability to deliver impact where it mattered most in the Canadian market, at points of purchase and points of consumption.
