Type: Soft drink Manufacturer: The Coca-Cola Company Country of origin: United States Introduced: 1886 Color Caramel:

E-150d Flavor: Cola, Cola Cherry, Cola Vanilla, Cola Green Tea, Cola Lemon, Cola Lemon Lime, Cola Lime, Cola Orange and Cola Raspberry. Variants: See Brand portfolio section below Related products: Pepsi RC Cola Cola Turka Zam Zam Cola Mecca-Cola Virgin Cola Parsi Cola Qibla Cola Evoca Cola Corsica Cola Breizh Cola Afri Cola Website: www.coca-cola.com History Of Coca Cola In May, 1886, Coca Cola was invented by Doctor John Pemberton a pharmacist from Atlanta, Georgia. John Pemberton concocted the Coca Cola formula in a three legged brass kettle in his backyard. The name was a suggestion given by John Pemberton's bookkeeper Frank Robinson. Birth of Coca Cola Being a bookkeeper, Frank Robinson also had excellent penmanship. It was he who first scripted "Coca Cola" into the flowing letters which has become the famous logo of today. The soft drink was first sold to the public at the soda fountain in Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta on May 8, 1886. About nine servings of the soft drink were sold each day. Sales for that first year added up to a total of about $50. The funny thing was that it cost John Pemberton over $70 in expanses, so the first year of sales were a loss. Until 1905, the soft drink, marketed as a tonic, contained extracts of cocaine as well as the caffeine-rich kola nut.

Asa Candler In 1887, another Atlanta pharmacist and businessman, Asa Candler bought the formula for Coca Cola from inventor John Pemberton for $2,300. By the late 1890s, Coca Cola was one of America's most popular fountain drinks, largely due to Candler's aggressive marketing of the product. With Asa Candler, now at the helm, the Coca Cola Company increased syrup sales by over 4000% between 1890 and 1900. Advertising was an important factor in John Pemberton and Asa Candler's success and by the turn of the century, the drink was sold across the United States and Canada. Around the same time, the company began selling syrup to independent bottling companies licensed to sell the drink. Even today, the US soft drink industry is organized on this principle. Logo design

Detail on Elmira Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, Elmira, New York The famous Coca-Cola logo was created by John Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885.[47] Robinson came up with the name and chose the logo's distinctive cursive script. The typeface used, known as Spencerian script, was developed in the mid 19th century and was the dominant form of formal handwriting in the United States during that period. Robinson also played a significant role in early Coca-Cola advertising. His promotional suggestions to Pemberton included giving away thousands of free drink coupons and plastering the city of Atlanta with publicity banners and streetcar signs.[48]

Contour bottle design

Earl R. Dean's original 1915 concept drawing of the contour Coca-Cola bottle.

The prototype never made it to production since its middle diameter was larger than its base, making it unstable on conveyor belts.

Designer label for 2 litre Coca-Cola bottle The equally famous Coca-Cola bottle, called the "contour bottle" within the company, but known to some as the "hobble skirt" bottle, was created by bottle designer Earl R. Dean. In 1915, the Coca-Cola Company launched a competition among its bottle suppliers to create a new bottle for their beverage that would distinguish it from other beverage bottles, "a bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was."[49] Chapman J. Root, president of the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, turned the project over to members of his supervisory staff, including company auditor T. Clyde Edwards, plant superintendent Alexander Samuelsson, and Earl R. Dean, bottle designer and supervisor of the bottle molding room. Root and his subordinates decided to base the bottle's design on one of the soda's two ingredients, the coca leaf or the kola nut, but were unaware of what either ingredient looked like. Dean and Edwards went to the Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library and were unable to find any information about coca or kola. Instead, Dean was inspired by a picture of the gourd-shaped cocoa pod in the Encyclopdia Britannica. Dean made a rough sketch of the pod and returned to the plant to show Root. He explained to Root how he could transform the shape of the pod into a bottle. Root gave Dean his approval.[49] Faced with the upcoming scheduled maintenance of the mold-making machinery, over the next 24 hours Dean sketched out a concept drawing which was approved by Root the next morning. Dean then proceeded to create a bottle mold and produced a small number of bottles before the glass-molding machinery was turned off.[50] Chapman Root approved the prototype bottle and a design patent was issued on the bottle in November, 1915. The prototype never made it to production since its middle diameter was larger than its base, making it unstable on conveyor belts. Dean resolved this issue by decreasing the bottle's middle diameter. During the 1916 bottler's convention, Dean's contour bottle was chosen over other entries and was on the market the same year. By 1920, the contour bottle became the standard for the Coca-Cola Company. Today, the contour Coca-Cola bottle is one of the most recognized packages on the planet..."even in the dark!".[51] As a reward for his efforts, Dean was offered a choice between a $500 bonus or a lifetime job at the Root Glass Company. He chose the lifetime job and kept it until the Owens-Illinois Glass Company bought out the Root Glass Company in the mid-1930s. Dean went on to work in other Midwestern glass factories. One alternative depiction has Raymond Loewy as the inventor of the unique design, but, while Loewy did serve as a designer of Coke cans and bottles in later years, he was in the French Army the year the bottle

was invented and did not emigrate to the United States until 1919. Others have attributed inspiration for the design not to the cocoa pod, but to a Victorian hooped dress.[52] In 1944, Associate Justice Roger J. Traynor of the Supreme Court of California took advantage of a case involving a waitress injured by an exploding Coca-Cola bottle to articulate the doctrine of strict liability for defective products. Traynor's concurring opinion in Escola v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. is widely recognized as a landmark case in U.S. law today.[53] In 1997, Coca-Cola introduced a "contour can," similar in shape to its famous bottle, on a few test markets, including Terre Haute, Indiana.[54] The can has never been widely released. A new slim and tall can began to appear in Australia on December 20, 2006; it cost AU$1.95. The cans have a resemblance to energy drink cans. The cans were commissioned by Domino's Pizza and are available exclusively at their restaurants. In January 2007, Coca-Cola Canada changed "Coca-Cola Classic" labeling, removing the "Classic" designation, leaving only "Coca-Cola." Coca-Cola stated this is merely a name change and the product remains the same. The cans still bear the "Classic" logo in the United States. In 2007, Coca-Cola introduced an aluminum can designed to look like the original glass Coca-Cola bottles. In 2007, the company's logo on cans and bottles changed. The cans and bottles retained the red color and familiar typeface, but the design was simplified, leaving only the logo and a plain white swirl (the "dynamic ribbon"). In 2008, in some parts of the world, the plastic bottles for all Coke varieties (including the larger 1.5- and 2-liter bottles) were changed to include a new plastic screw cap and a slightly taller contoured bottle shape, designed to evoke the old glass bottles.[55]

Type: Cola Manufacture:r PepsiCo. Country of origin: North Carolina, U.S.A. Introduced: 1898 (as Brad's Drink) June 16, 1903 (as Pepsi-Cola) 1961 (as Pepsi) Related products: Coca-Cola 7 Up Irn Bru Cola Turka Big Cola Website: pepsi.com A BRIEF HISTORY OF PEPSI-COLA One of Americas favorite soft drinks, Pepsi-Cola, didn't make it to the Taste test stage ... several times. The ability of the product to survive several bankruptcies, numerous management changes, and major internal squabbles made it an even stronger player in the bid for consumer taste acceptance. Our story begins with the birth of Caleb D. Bradham in in 1867. Bradham was born in Chinquapin, North Carolina in 1867. Chinquapin is a rural community about forty miles south of New Bern, North Carolina. New Bern is a seaport town which was first settled in 1710 by Swiss and German emigrants. Caleb Bradham attended the University of North Carolina and the University of Maryland Medical School. While at the University of Maryland, he worked part-time in a local drug store. When his fathers' business failed in 1891, Caleb dropped out of medical school and decided to open a drug store of his own in New Bern. This drug store was the first home of Pepsi-Cola, and it was located at Middle and Pollock Streets in New Bern. Caleb formulated the Taste that Beats the Others cold in his new drug store, and in 1893, he began selling "Brad's Drink", which among other claims, was to be a cure for dyspepsia. In 1898, Caleb Bradham bought the name "Pep Cola" for $100 from a company in Newark, New Jersey that had gone broke. He then changed the name of his new drink from "Brad's Cola to Pepsi-cola, and persuaded a neighbor who was an artist to create the first Pepsi-Cola logo.

Bradham applied to the state of North Carolina and to the U.S. Patent Office for a trademark on the name Pepsi-cola in 1902. He also issued ninety-seven shares of stock for his new company, and was ready to supply Pepsi to an eagerly awaiting world. From the back room of his pharmacy, Caleb mixed and sold over 8,000 gallons of syrup his first year. Having an appreciation and understanding of the value of advertising, he invested $1,900 of his early profits in promotion of his new drink. By 1903, Bradham had outgrown the back room of his drug store, and moved his young company to temporary rented quarters for almost a year before finally settling into its permanent home, known as Bishops factory, in New Bern. At that time, he also added bottling lines to his growing syrup manufacturing business.

Pepsi logo (19701991) In 1987, the font was modified slightly to a more rounded version which was used until 1991. This logo is now used for Pepsi Throwback

Pepsi logo (20032008). Pepsi Wild Cherry continued to use this design through March 2010. Pepsi ONE still uses this design as of October 2011. This logo is still in use in India and other international markets. The original version had the Pepsi wording on the top left of the Pepsi Globe. In 2007, the Pepsi wording was moved to the bottom of the globe. From the 1930s through the late 1950s, "Pepsi-Cola Hits The Spot" was the most commonly used slogan in the days of old radio, classic motion pictures, and later television. Its jingle (conceived in the days when Pepsi cost only five cents) was used in many different forms with different lyrics. With the rise of radio, Pepsi utilized the services of a young, up-and-coming actress named Polly Bergen to promote products, oftentimes lending her singing talents to the classic "...Hits The Spot" jingle.

Film actress Joan Crawford, after marrying then Pepsi-Cola President Alfred N. Steele became a spokesperson for Pepsi, appearing in commercials, television specials and televised beauty pageants on behalf of the company. Crawford also had images of the soft drink placed prominently in several of her later films. When Steele died in 1959 Crawford was appointed to the Board of Directors of Pepsi-Cola, a position she held until 1973, although she was not a board member of the larger PepsiCo, created in 1965.
[12]

Through the intervening decades, there have been many different Pepsi theme songs sung on television by a variety of artists, from Joanie Summers to the Jacksons to Britney Spears. (See Slogans) In 1975, Pepsi introduced the Pepsi Challenge marketing campaign where PepsiCo set up a blind tasting between Pepsi-Cola and rival Coca-Cola. During these blind taste tests the majority of participants picked Pepsi as the better tasting of the two soft drinks. PepsiCo took great advantage of the campaign with television commercials reporting the results to the public.[13] In 1976 Pepsi, RKO Bottlers in Toledo, Ohio hired the first female Pepsi salesperson, Denise Muck, to coincide with the United States bicentennial celebration. In 1996, PepsiCo launched the highly successful Pepsi Stuff marketing strategy. By 2002, the strategy was cited by Promo Magazine as one of 16 "Ageless Wonders" that "helped redefine promotion marketing".[14] In 2007, PepsiCo redesigned its cans for the fourteenth time, and for the first time, included more than thirty different backgrounds on each can, introducing a new background every three weeks. [15] One of its background designs includes a string of repetitive numbers, "73774". This is a numerical expression from a telephone keypad of the word "Pepsi". In late 2008, Pepsi overhauled its entire brand, simultaneously introducing a new logo and a minimalist label design. The redesign was comparable to Coca-Cola's earlier simplification of its can and bottle designs. Pepsi also teamed up with YouTube to produce its first daily entertainment show called Poptub. This show deals with pop culture, internet viral videos, and celebrity gossip. In 2009, "Bring Home the Cup" changed to "Team Up and Bring Home the Cup". The new installment of the campaign asks for team involvement and an advocate to submit content on behalf of their team for the chance to have the Stanley Cup delivered to the team's hometown by Mark Messier. Pepsi has official sponsorship deals with three of the four major North American professional sports leagues: the National Football League, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball. Pepsi also sponsors Major League Soccer. It also has the naming rights to the Pepsi Center, an indoor sports facility in Denver, Colorado. Pepsi also has sponsorship deals in international cricket teams. The Pakistan cricket team is one of the teams that the brand sponsors. The team wears the Pepsi logo on the front of their test and ODI test match clothing. On July 6, 2009, Pepsi announced it would make a $1 billion investment in Russia over three years, bringing the total Pepsi investment in the country to $4 billion.[16] In July 2009, Pepsi started marketing itself as Pecsi in Argentina in response to its name being mispronounced by 25% of the population and as a way to connect more with all of the population.[17]

In October 2008, Pepsi announced that it would be redesigning its logo and re-branding many of its products by early 2009. In 2009, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max began using all lower-case fonts for name brands, and Diet Pepsi Max was re-branded as Pepsi Max. The brand's blue and red globe trademark became a series of "smiles", with the central white band arcing at different angles depending on the product until 2010. Pepsi released this logo in U.S. in late 2008, and later it was released in 2009 in Canada (the first country outside of the United States for Pepsi's new logo), Brazil, Bolivia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Panama, Chile, Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Australia. In the rest of the world the new logo has been released in 2010. The old logo is still used in several markets internationally, and has been phased out most recently in France and Mexico. The UK started to use the new Pepsi logo on cans in an order different from the US can. In mid-2010, all Pepsi variants, regular, diet, and Pepsi Max, have started using only the medium-sized "smile" Pepsi Globe. Pepsi and Pepsi Max cans and bottles in Australia now carry the localized version of the new Pepsi Logo. The word Pepsi and the logo are in the new style, while the word "Max" is still in the previous style. Pepsi Wild Cherry finally received the 2008 Pepsi design in March 2010. In 2011, for New York Fashion Week, Diet Pepsi introduced a "skinny" can that is taller and has been described as a "sassier" version of the traditional can that Pepsi says was made in "celebration of beautiful, confident women". The company's equating of "skinny" and "beautiful" and "confident" is drawing criticism from brand critics, consumers who do not back the "skinny is better" ethos, and the National Eating Disorders Association, which said that it takes offense to the can and the company's "thoughtless and irresponsible" comments. PepsiCo Inc. is a Fashion Week sponsor. This new can was made available to consumers nationwide in March.[18] In April 2011, Pepsi announced that customers will be able to buy a complete stranger a soda at a new "social" vending machine, and even record a video that the stranger would see when they pick up the gift.
[citation needed]

In May 2011, the week before Memorial Day, Pepsi launched a limited edition flavor called "Memorial Day Pepsi", with blueberry and cherry flavors added to the cola.

In 1865, mining engineer Fredrik Idestam sets up his first wood pulp mill at the Tammerkoski Rapids in south-western Finland. A few years later he opens a second mill on the banks of the Nokianvirta river, which inspires him to name his company Nokia Ab in 1871. How apt that Nokia begins by making paper one of the most influential communications technologies in history. Electronics go boom: In 1912, Arvid Wickstrm sets up Finnish Cable Works, the foundation of Nokias cable and electronics business. By the 1960s, Finnish Cable Works already working closely with Nokia Ab and Finnish Rubber Works starts branching out into electronics. In 1962, it makes its first electronic device in-house: a pulse analyser for use in nuclear power plants. In 1963, it starts developing radio telephones for the army and emergency services Nokias first foray into telecommunications. In time, the companys MikroMikko becomes the best known computer brand in Finland. And by 1987, Nokia is the third largest TV manufacturer in Europe. Always adapting: Over the past 150 years, Nokia has evolved from a riverside paper mill in south-western Finland to a global telecommunications leader connecting over 1.3 billion people. During that time, weve made rubber boots and car tyres. Weve generated electricity. Weve even manufactured TVs. Changing with the times, disrupting the status quo its what weve always done. And we fully intend to keep doing it. The mobile revolution: In 1987, GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) is adopted as the European standard for digital mobile technology. With its high-quality voice calls, international roaming and support for text messages, GSM ignites a global mobile revolution. As a key player in developing this new technology, Nokia is able to take full advantage. A New direction: On July 1, 1991, Finnish Prime Minister Harri Holkeri makes the worlds first GSM call, using Nokia equipment. And in 1992, Nokia launches its first digital handheld GSM phone, the Nokia 1011. That same year, new Nokia President and CEO Jorma Ollila makes a crucial strategic decision: to focus exclusively on manufacturing mobile phones and telecommunications systems. Nokias rubber, cable and consumer electronics divisions are gradually sold off. On top of the world:

By 1998, Nokia is the world leader in mobile phones. The strategic decision to focus on telecommunications, plus early investment in GSM, has paid off. Between 1996 and 2001, Nokias turnover increases almost fivefold from EUR 6.5 billion to EUR 31 billion. And with the new millennium comes a host of new possibilities as the internet goes mobile History of NOKIA: In 1865, an engineer named Fredrik Idestam established a wood-pulp mill and started manufacturing paper in southern Finland near the banks of a river. Those were the days when there was a strong demand for paper in the industry, the company's sales acheived its high-stakes and Nokia grew faster and faster. The Nokia exported paper to Russia first and then to the United Kingdom and France. The Nokia factory employed a fairly large workforce and a small community grew around it. In southern Finland a community called Nokia still exists on the riverbank of Emkoski. Finnish Rubber Works, a manufacturer a Rubber goods, impressed with the hydro-electrcity produced by the Nokia wood-pulp (from river Emkoski), merged up and started selling goods under the brand name on Nokia. After World War II, it acquired a major part of the Finnish Cable Works shares. The Finnish Cable Works had grown quickly due to the increasing need for power transmission and telegraph and telephone networks in the World War II. Gradually the ownership of the Rubber Works and the Cable Works companies consolidated. In 1967, all the 3 companies merged-up to form the Nokia Group. The Electronics Department generated 3 % of the Group's net sales and provided work for 460 people in 1967, when the Nokia Group was formed. In the beginning of 1970, the telephone exchanges consisted of electro-mechanical analog switches. Soon Nokia successfully developed the digital switch (Nokia DX 200) thereby replacing the prior electro mechanical analog switch. The Nokia DX 200 was embedded with high-level computer language as well as Intel microprocessors which in turn allowed computer-controlled telephone exchanges to be on the top and which is till date the basis for Nokia's network infrastructure. Introduction of mobile network began enabling the Nokia production to invent the Nordic Mobile Telephony(NMT), the world's very first multinational cellular network in 1981. The NMT was later on introduced in other countries. Very soon Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), a digital mobile telephony, was launched and Nokia started the development of GSM phones. Beginning of the 1990 brought about an economic recession in Finland. (Rumour has it that Nokia was offered to the Swedish telecom company Ericsson during this time which was refused) Due to this Nokia increased its sale of GSM phones that was enormous. This was the main reason for Nokia to not only be one of the largest but also the most important companies in Finland. As per the sources, in August 1997, Nokia supplied GSM systems to 59 operators in 31 countries. Slowly and steadily, Nokia became a large television manufacturer and also the largest information technology company in the Nordic countries. During the economic recession the Nokia was committed to telecommunications. The 2100 series of the production was so successful that inspite of its goal to sell 500,000 units, it marvellously sold 20 million. Presently, Nokia is the number 1 production in digital technologies, it invests 8.5% of net sales in research and development. Also has its annual Nokia Game. Company Description Nokia manufactures mobile phones and mobile network equipment. They provide solutions and services for mobile telecommunications and network infrastructure.

The company is divided into four major segments: Mobile Phones, Multimedia, Networks and Ventures Organization. The Mobile Phones division of Nokia manufactures develops wireless handsets are developed using GSM and various other mobile technologies. This segment also includes Vertu Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Nokia and also the first company in the world to manufacture exclusive luxury Nokia cell phones. The Multimedia division manufactures multimedia devices and applications that are compatible with games, music, imaging, video and other media capabilities.The Multimedia division has gained prominence for its Internet services, music synchronization, optics and streaming video. Nokias Networks segment offers network infrastructure, service delivery platforms and associated services. In this part of the company, the focuses is mainly on the GSM cell phones and GSM technology. For the public safety and security sector, the Networks offers broadband access for professional users. They also produce a range of devices and mobile connectivity solutions that are based on end-to-end mobility architecture. By December 2005, Nokia had more than 150 cell phone network customers in more than 60 countries.

Nike

Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area. It is the world's leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, with revenue in excess of US$18.6 billion in its fiscal year 2008 (ending May 31, 2008). As of 2008, it employed more than 30,000 people worldwide. Nike and Precision Cast parts are the only Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the state of Oregon, according to The Oregonian. The company was founded on January 25, 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Philip Knight,and officially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1978. The company takes its name from Nike (Greek , pronounced , the Greek goddess of victory. Nike markets its products under its own brand, as well as Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Nike+, Air Jordan, Nike Skateboarding, and subsidiaries including Cole Haan, Hurley International, Umbro and Converse. Nike also owned Bauer Hockey (later renamed Nike Bauer) between 1995 and 2008.In addition to manufacturing sportswear and equipment, the company operates retail stores under the Niketown name. Nike sponsors many high profile athletes and sports teams around the world, with the highly recognized trademarks of "Just do it" and the Swoosh logo. Origins and history Nike, originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), was founded by University of Oregon track athlete Philip Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman in January 1964. The company initially operated as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger (now ASICS), making most sales at track meets out of Knight's automobile. The company's profits grew quickly, and, in 1967, BRS opened its first retail store, located on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California. By 1971, the relationship between BRS and Onitsuka Tiger was nearing an end. BRS prepared to launch its own line of footwear, which would bear the Swoosh newly designed by Carolyn Davidson. The Swoosh was first used by Nike on June 18, 1971, and was registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 22, 1974. The first shoe sold to the public to carry this design was a soccer shoe named Nike, which was released in the summer of 1971. In February 1972, BRS introduced its first line of Nike shoes, with the name derived from the Greek goddess of victory. In 1978, BRS, Inc. officially renamed itself to Nike, Inc. Beginning with Ilie Nstase, the first professional athlete to sign with BRS/Nike, the sponsorship of athletes became a key marketing tool for the rapidly growing company. The company's first self-designed product was based on Bowerman's "waffle" design. After the University of Oregon resurfaced the track at Hayward Field, Bowerman began experimenting with different potential outsoles that would grip the new urethane track more effectively. His efforts were rewarded one Sunday morning when he poured liquid urethane into his wife's waffle iron. Bowerman developed and refined the so-called "waffle" sole, which would evolve into the now-iconic Waffle Trainer in 1974.

By 1980, Nike had attained a 50% market share in the U.S. athletic shoe market, and the company went public in December of that year. Its growth was due largely to "word-of-foot" advertising (to quote a Nike print ad from the late 1970s), rather than television ads. Nike's first national television commercials ran in October 1982, during the broadcast of the New York Marathon. The ads were created by Portland-based advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, which had formed several months earlier in April. Together, Nike and Wieden+Kennedy have created many print and television advertisements, and Wieden+Kennedy remains Nike's primary ad agency. It was agency co-founder Dan Wieden who coined the now-famous slogan "Just Do It" for a 1988 Nike ad campaign, which was chosen by Advertising Age as one of the top five ad slogans of the 20th century and enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution. Walt Stack was featured in Nike's first "Just Do It" advertisement, which debuted on July 1, 1988. Wieden credits the inspiration for the slogan to "Lets do it", the last words spoken by Gary Gilmore before he was executed. Throughout the 1980s, Nike expanded its product line to encompass many sports and regions throughout the world.

Acquisitions As of November 2008, Nike, Inc. owns four key subsidiaries: Cole Haan, Hurley International, Converse Inc. and Umbro. Nike's first acquisition was the upscale footwear company Cole Haan in 1988. In February 2002, Nike bought surf apparel company Hurley International from founder Bob Hurley. In July 2003, Nike paid US$309 million to acquire Converse Inc., makers of the iconic Chuck Taylor All Stars sneakers. On March 3, 2008, Nike acquired sports apparel supplier Umbro, known as the manufacturers of the England national football team's kit, in a deal said to be worth 285 million (about US$600 million). Other subsidiaries previously owned and subsequently sold by Nike include Bauer Hockey and Starter. Products Nike produces a wide range of sports equipment. Their first products were track running shoes. They currently also make shoes, jerseys, shorts, base layers, etc. for a wide range of sports, including track and field, baseball, ice hockey, tennis, association football (soccer), lacrosse, basketball, and cricket. Nike Air Max is a line of shoes first released by Nike, Inc. in 1987. The most recent additions to their line are the Nike 6.0, Nike NYX, and Nike SB shoes, designed for skateboarding. Nike has recently introduced cricket shoes called Air Zoom Yorker, designed to be 30% lighter than their competitors'. In 2008, Nike introduced the Air Jordan XX3, a high-performance basketball shoe designed with the environment in mind. Nike sells an assortment of products, including shoes and apparel for sports activities like association football, basketball, running, combat sports, tennis, American football, athletics, golf, and cross training for men, women, and children. Nike also sells shoes for outdoor activities such as tennis, golf, skateboarding, association football, baseball, American football, cycling, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, aquatic activities, auto racing, and other athletic and recreational uses. Nike is well known and popular in youth culture, chav culture and hip hop culture for their supplying of urban fashion clothing. The 2010 Nike Pro Combat jersey collection were worn by teams from the following universities: Miami, Alabama, Boise State, Florida, Ohio State, Oregon State, Texas Christian University, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh. Teams will wear these jerseys in key matchups as well as any time the athletic department deems it necessary. Headquarters Nike's world headquarters are surrounded by the city of Beaverton, but are within unincorporated Washington County. The city attempted to forcibly annex Nike's headquarters, which led to a lawsuit by Nike, and lobbying by the company that ultimately ended in Oregon Senate Bill 887 of 2005. Under that bill's terms, Beaverton is specifically barred from forcibly annexing the land that Nike and Columbia Sportswear occupy in Washington County for 35 years, while Electro Scientific Industries and Tektronix receive the same protection for 30 years.

Bata

Bata Shoes (Czech: Baa or Baovy zvody) is a large, family owned shoe company based in Bermuda but currently headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, operating 3 business units worldwide Bata Metro Markets, Bata Emerging Markets and Bata Branded Business. It has a retail presence in over 50 countries and production facilities in 26 countries. In its history the company has sold more than 14 billion pairs of shoes. Foundation by Tom Baa The company was founded in 1894 Zln (then Austro-Hungarian Empire, today the Czech Republic) by Tom Baa (Czech pronunciation: [toma baca]), whose family had been cobblers for generations. A large order from the army, military shoes and rising demand for them, during World War I started rapid growth and small manufacture turned into modern industrial concern, one of the first mass producers of shoes. Tom Baa was recognised for his social consciousness, establishing housing, cinemas and advancement programmes for his employees. The phrase "work collectively, live individually" is one of his sayings. Baa recognised the potential of large-scale production, and was often called the "Henry Ford of Eastern Europe". He saw technology as a means of progress, and wanted to make the shoes as cheaply as possible so that the greatest number of people could access them In 1932 Tom died in a plane crash at the age of 56 at the Zln Airport (attempting to take off under bad weather conditions) and his half-brother Jan Antonn Baa became head of the company. At the time of Tom's death, the Baa company employed 16,560 people, maintained 1,645 shops and 25 enterprises. Most of what Tom had built was centralised in Bohemia-Moravia (15,770 employees, 1,500 shops, 25 enterprises) and Slovakia (250 employees and 2 enterprises). The total international contribution to the Baa organisation at the time of Tomas's death consisted of 20 international enterprises, 132 shops and 790 employees.

Jan Antonn Baa Under Jan Antonn Baa the company grew quickly and continued its expansion throughout Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa. Zln accommodated the largest part of the company, with manufacturing and headquarters. Apart from shoes, Baa also diversified into other areas (tyres, toys, plastic fibres, etc.). 1930s and 1940s Lockheed 10 Electra executive aircraft operated prewar by Bata in Europe Jan Baa expanded the Bohemian and Moravian part of the business, more than doubling its size to 38,000 employees, 2,200 shops and 70 enterprises. In Slovakia, the business grew from 250 employees to 12,340 and 8 enterprises. In the face of a worldwide depression, Jan Baa, following the plans laid down by Tomas Bata before his death, expanded the company more than six times its original size throughout Czechoslovakia and the world. From the time of his brother's death, in 1932, to 1942, he grew the Baa organisation to 105,770 employees. During the 1930s, imports from Czechoslovakia ultimately became too expensive, due to the economic crisis in Europe at the time. Jan Antonn also established subsidiaries in several foreign countries (for example in Brazil and Britain). Following the overseas expansion, Bata owned executive aircraft to transport managers between the various company locations. Bata-villes Company policy initiated under Tomas Bata was to set up villages around the factories for the workers and to supply schools and welfare. These villages include Batadorp in the Netherlands, Baovany (present-day Partiznske) and Svit in Slovakia, Baov (nowadays Bahk, part of Otrokovice) in the Czech Republic, Borovo-Bata (nowadays Borovo Naselje, part of Vukovar in Croatia then in Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Bataville in Lorraine, France, Batawa in Canada, East Tilbury[1] in Essex, England, Batapur in Pakistan and Batanagar and

Bataganj in India. There was also a Bata shoe factory in Maryland, USA, northeast of Baltimore, that was next to U.S. Route 40. This town was named Belcamp http://www.kilduffs.com/BATA.html. The company, which established itself in India in 1931, started manufacturing shoes in Batanagar in 1936. In 1922, the first Bata shop abroad opened in the Netherlands; in 1933, construction began on the Bata shoe factory in Best, in the Dutch province of Brabant, at the intersection of the railway tracks leading to Eindhoven and the Wilhelmina Canal located nearby. There was an abundance of inexpensive and hardworking labourers in the Brabant countryside. The British "Bata-ville" in East Tilbury inspired the documentary Bata-ville: We Are Not Afraid of the Future. During World War II After Germany occupied the rest of pre-war Czechoslovakia (15 March 1939) Jan Antonn Baa, who left the country with his family after a brief time in jail after the Nazi occupation, tried to save as much as possible, submitting to the plans of Germany as well as supporting financially the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile led by Edvard Bene. Foreign factories were separated from mother company and ownership of plants in Czech lands was transferred to one member of the family. Jan Antonn Baa stayed in the Americas from 19391940, but as America entered the war, he felt it would be safer for his co-workers and their families back in occupied Czechoslovakia if he left the United States. At the moment he left the protection of the United States, the British placed him on the "black list". It is believed that the communist influence on the Bene' exile government was behind this. The official reason for this was Mr. Baa's inability to pay a demand by the British government amounting to 250,000 (a huge sum of money at the time). The United Kingdom insisted on the huge bail because Mr. Baa was the owner of the largest industrial concern in occupied Czechoslovakia, located in enemy territory and employing more than 40,000 Czechs and Slovaks. After the war Communist Czechoslovakia After the war, Jan Antonn Baa attempted (unsuccessfully) to clear his good name against communist accusations against him, in spite of 64 trumped up charges, typical mock trials and the inability of his attorneys to be allowed to offer a defence. Despite the organised effort against him, the jury of the time took the brave step of finding Jan innocent of all 64 charges. Communist Military Judge Sramek then invented two new charges against Jan Bat'a and found him guilty, thus expropriating his property in Czechoslovakia. Two unsuccessful attempts were made by the family of Jan Baa to clear him of the communist era charges. The first attempt was made during 1968. The second attempt was made via a lawsuit filed in Prague in 1993. Finally on the third attempt in 2007, Jan Bata was cleared of all charges made against him.

In 1945, the Czech companies were nationalized under the Bene decrees, part of a large scale nationalisation programme in Czechoslovakia. After the communist party took overall power in 1948, it tried to suppress all memory of Tom and the Bata enterprise. Tomas Bata was portrayed as a ruthless capitalist, in pursuit of higher profit, yet Baa employees were typically paid from 3-5 times the wages of their counterparts around the world (see Svatopluk Turek). Furthermore, Bat'a employees were recipients of benefits such as life insurance, healthcare, long term care, and generous savings accounts for retirement. Bata even gifted employees' babies generous bank accounts. The company was renamed as Svit and the town of Zln as Gottwaldov (after the leader of the communist party). The Svit factory concentrated on the domestic market. During the following decades, its ability to compete and its technological infrastructure declined due to under-investment, weak management and bad decisions. Canada - Thomas J. Bata Anticipating the Second World War, Thomas J. Bata, the founder's son, together with over 100 families from Czechoslovakia, moved to Canada in 1939 to develop the Bata Shoe Company of Canada, including a shoe factory and engineering plant, centred in a town that still bears his name, Batawa, Ontario. Thomas J. Bata successfully established and ran the new Canadian operations and, during the war years, he sought to maintain the necessary coordination with as many of the overseas Bata operations as was possible. During this period, the Canadian engineering plant manufactured strategic components for the Allies' war effort and Thomas J. Bata worked together with the Czechoslovak government-in-exile of President Bene and with other democratic powers. The Second World War saw many Bata businesses in Europe and the Far East destroyed. After the Second World War, the core business enterprise in Czechoslovakia and other major enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe were nationalised by the Communist governments. Thomas devoted himself to the rebuilding and growth of the Bata Shoe Organisation, together with his wife and partner, Sonja. He successfully spearheaded ethical and innovative expansion into new markets throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Under his leadership, the Bata Shoe Organisation experienced unprecedented growth and became the world's largest manufacturer and marketer of footwear, selling over 300 million pairs of shoes each year and employing over 80,000 people. In 1964, the headquarters of the Bata Shoe Organisation was moved to Toronto, Canada and in 1965 it moved into an ultra-modern building, the Bata International Centre. The Bata Shoes' former headquarters in North York, Ontario was designed in the 1960s by architect John B. Parkin. The building was later sold and was to be replaced by a cultural centre, museum and park. [2] Other Bata family contributions to Canadian life include: Mrs. Sonja I. Bata founding the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto in 1998, Mr. and Mrs. Bata being supporters of Trent University, where the Thomas J. Bata Library bears Bata's name and supporters of York University in Toronto. After the Second World War, the Bata Shoe Organisation was led by Thomas J. Bata (Tom Baa Junior), son of Tom Baa and the company grew significantly under Thomas J. Bata's driving leadership. In 2002, the headquarters was moved to Lausanne, Switzerland and the organisation has been led by Thomas G. Bata, grandson of Tom Baa. After the global economic changes in 1990s, the company closed a number of its manufacturing factories in developed countries and has focussed its activities on expanding its retail business there. In developing countries it still has a large number of manufacturing units and still produces a significant number of shoes each year.:

Bata Store Wenceslas Square in Prague, the Czech Republic - 2005 The company is currently headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, with 3 business units

Bata Metro Markets, Lausanne Bata Emerging Markets, Singapore Bata Branded Business, Best, Netherlands

Current shoe brands are:

Bata (Baa in former Czechoslovakia) Bata Premium (handcrafted dress shoes) Bata Industrials (safety footwear) Bubblegummers (children) Power (athletic shoes) Marie Claire (women) Hush Puppies (Premium) [Hush Puppies is owned by Wolverine Worldwide and not Bata]

North Star (youth) Weinbrenner (Premium Outdoor Shoes)

Adidas

Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company (including Ashworth), and Rockport. Besides sports footwear, the company also produces other products such as bags, shirts, watches, eyewear, and other sports- and clothing-related goods.The company is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second-biggest sportswear manufacturer in the world, with American rival Nike being the biggest. Adidas was founded in 1948 by Adolf "Adi" Dassler, following the split of Gebrder Dassler Schuhfabrik between him and his older brother Rudolf. Rudolf later established Puma, which was the early rival of Adidas. Registered in 1949, Adidas is currently based in Herzogenaurach, Germany, along with Puma. 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 "Three Stripes" were bought from the Finnish sport company Karhu Sports in 1951. The company revenue for 2009 was listed at 10.38 billion and the 2008 figure at 10.80 billion.

Corporate History Gebrder Dassler Schuhfabrik Christoph von Wilhelm Dassler was a worker in a shoe factory, while his wife Pauline ran a small laundry in the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, 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 Gebrder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory) and prospered. The pair started the venture in their mother's laundry,[6]:5 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. Company split Both brothers joined the Nazi Party, but Rudolf was slightly closer to the party. During the war, a growing rift between the pair reached a breaking point after an Allied bomb attack in 1943, when Adi and

his wife climbed into a bomb shelter that Rudolf and his family were already in: "The dirty bastards are back again", Adi said, referring to the Allied war planes, but Rudolf was convinced his brother meant him and his family.[9] After Rudolf was later picked up by American soldiers and accused of being a member of the Waffen SS, he was convinced that his brother had turned him in.[7] The brothers split up in 1947,[10] with

Rudi forming a new firm that he called Ruda from Rudolf Dassler, later rebranded Puma, and Adi forming a company formally registered as Adidas AG from Adi Dassler on 18 August 1949. The acronym All Day I Dream About Sport, although sometimes considered the origin of the Adidas name, was applied retroactively, which makes it a backronym. The name is actually a portmanteau formed from "Adi" (a nickname for Adolf) and "Das" (from "Dassler").[1]

Products Adidas currently manufactures several running shoes, including the adiStar Salvation 3, the adiStar Ride 3 (the replacement for the adiStar Cushion 6), the Supernova Sequence 4 (the replacement for the Supernova Control 10), and the Supernova Glide 3, among others. In addition, their performance apparel is widely used by runners. Adidas also uses kangaroo leather to make their more expensive shoes. Adidas Golf sells apparel, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and youth. Men's equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, pants, outerwear, 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, apparel, and eyewear.
Football (soccer)

One of the main focuses of Adidas is football kit and associated equipment. Adidas remain a major company in the supply of team kits for international football teams. Adidas also 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. Some of the most famous football teams are currently sponsored by Adidas.[citation needed] Adidas became renowned for advancing the Predator boot design developed by ex-Liverpool and Australian international player Craig Johnston. This design featured a ribbed rubber structure for the upper leather of the shoe, used to accent the movement of the ball when struck; highly skilled players claimed they were able to curve the flight of the ball more easily when wearing this new contoured design. The Predator also features the Craig Johnston-invented Traxion sole. Tennis Adidas has sponsored tennis players and recently introduced a new line of tennis racquets. While the Feather is made for the "regular player", and the Response for the "club player", Adidas targets the "tournament player" with the 12.2 oz Barricade tour model. Adidas sponsors the following professional players with mainly clothing apparel and footwear: Ana Ivanovi, Andy Murray, Maria Kirilenko, Caroline Wozniacki, Justine Henin, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Daniela Hantuchov, Alicia Molik, Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Simon, Fernando Gonzlez, Flavia Pennetta, Laura Robson, Melanie Oudin, and Sorana Crstea. Adidas tennis apparel contains the ClimaCool technology found in other athletic jerseys and shoes. Golf Adidas Golf is part of Adidas, a German-based sports apparel manufacturer and part of the Adidas Group, which consists of Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf 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 apparel, footwear, and accessories.

Cricket In the 1990s, Adidas signed world's iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar of India and made shoes for him. Tendulkar continues to wear Adidas shoes while playing matches. Since 2008, Adidas has sponsored the cricket bat used by Sachin Tendulkar. It created a new cricket bat, 'Adidas Master Blaster', personalized for him.

Sony

Sony Corporation ( Son Kabushiki Gaisha?) (TYO: 6758, NYSE: SNE), commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Knan, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It ranked 73 on the 2011 list of Fortune Global 500. Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics products for the consumer and professional markets. Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business through its six operating segments Consumer Products & Services Group (consumer electronics, game & network services), Professional, Device & Solutions Group (B2B products & services), Pictures, Music, Financial Services and Sony Ericsson. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sony's principal business operations include Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics in the U.S.), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Mobile Communications (formerly Sony Ericsson), and Sony Financial. As a semiconductor maker, Sony is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders. The Sony Group ( Son Gurpu?) is a Japan-based corporate group primarily focused on the Electronics (such as AV/IT products & components), Game (such as PlayStation), Entertainment (such as motion pictures and music), and Financial Services (such as insurance and banking) sectors. The group consists of Sony Corporation (holding & electronics), Sony Computer Entertainment (game), Sony Pictures Entertainment (motion pictures), Sony Music Entertainment (music), Sony Financial Holdings (financial services) and others. Its founders Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka derived the name from sonus, the Latin word for sound, and also from the English slang word "sonny", since they considered themselves to be "sonny boys", a loan word into Japanese which in the early 1950s connoted smart and presentable young men.
History

In late 1945, after the end of World War II, Masaru Ibuka started a radio repair shop in a bomb-damaged department store Shirokiya building in Nihonbashi of Tokyo. The next year, he was joined by his colleague, Akio Morita, and they founded a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K.,[10] (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation). The company built Japan's first tape recorder, called the Type-G.[10] In the early 1950s, Ibuka traveled in the United States and heard about Bell Labs' invention of the transistor.[10] He convinced Bell to license the transistor technology to his Japanese company. While most American companies were researching the transistor for its military applications, Ibuka and Morita looked to apply it to communications. Although the American companies Regency Electronics and Texas Instruments built the first transistor radio as joint venture, it was Ibuka's company that made them commercially successful for the first time. In August 1955, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo released the Sony MK-55, Japan's first commercially produced transistor radio.[11] They followed up in December of the same year by releasing the Sony TR-72, a product that won favor both within Japan and in export markets, including Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Germany. Featuring six transistors, push-pull output and greatly improved sound quality, the TR-72 continued to be a popular seller into the early sixties.

In May 1956, the company released the TR-6, which featured an innovative slim design and sound quality capable of rivaling portable tube radios. It was for the TR-6 that Sony first contracted "Atchan", a cartoon character created by Fuyuhiko Okabe, to become its advertising character. Now known as "Sony Boy", the character first appeared in a cartoon ad holding a TR-6 to his ear, but went on to represent the company in ads for a variety of products well into the mid-sixties. The following year, 1957, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo came out with the TR-63 model, then the smallest (112 71 32 mm) transistor radio in commercial production. It was a worldwide commercial success. University of Arizona professor Michael Brian Schiffer, PhD, says, "Sony was not first, but its transistor radio was the most successful. The TR-63 of 1957 cracked open the U.S. market and launched the new industry of consumer microelectronics." By the mid 1950s, American teens had begun buying portable transistor radios in huge numbers, helping to propel the fledgling industry from an estimated 100,000 units in 1955 to 5,000,000 units by the end of 1968. Origin of name When Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo was looking for a romanized name to use to market themselves, they strongly considered using their initials, TTK. The primary reason they did not is that the railway company Tokyo Kyuko was known as TKK. The company occasionally used the acronym "Totsuko" in Japan, but during his visit to the United States, Morita discovered that Americans had trouble pronouncing that name. Another early name that was tried out for a while was "Tokyo Teletech" until Akio Morita discovered that there was an American company already using Teletech as a brand name. The name "Sony" was chosen for the brand as a mix of two words. One was the Latin word "Sonus", which is the root of sonic and sound, and the other was "Sonny", a familiar term used in 1950s America to call a boy. The first Sony-branded product, the TR-55 transistor radio, appeared in 1955 but the company name did not change to Sony until January 1958. At the time of the change, it was extremely unusual for a Japanese company to use Roman letters to spell its name instead of writing it in kanji. The move was not without opposition: TTK's principal bank at the time, Mitsui, had strong feelings about the name. They pushed for a name such as Sony Electronic Industries, or Sony Teletech. Akio Morita was firm, however, as he did not want the company name tied to any particular industry. Eventually, both Ibuka and Mitsui Bank's chairman gave their approval. Cyber-shot is a line of digital cameras made by Sony. The first cyber-shot was made by Sony in 1996. The Cyber-shot range is known for its proprietary InfoLithium battery pack, the trademark Carl Zeiss lenses, and overall design. All Cyber-shot models have a DSC prefix in their names, which is an acronym for "Digital Still Camera". All Cyber-shot cameras accept Sony's proprietary Memory Stick or Memory Stick PRO Duo flash memory. Select models have also supported CompactFlash. Current Cyber-shot cameras support Memory Stick PRO Duo, SD and SDHC. The current Line up consists of:

T series These models offer high end features and have a slimline design. W series Made to be an all round digital camera. H series Aimed towards amateur photographers. S series Sony's budget line of cameras, usually have basic features such as face recognition.

Sony Ericsson, now Sony Mobile Communications also (as of 2012) had a line of mobile phones named Cyber-shot.

Ferrari S.p.A. At a glance Type Industry Founded Founder(s) Headquarters History of Ferrari: Enzo Ferrari's Early Years at Alfa Romeo: On February the 18th 1898 Enzo Ferrari was born in Modena. After being forced to leave school after the death of his father, he went on to work in the Modeno Fire Brigades workshop as a turning instructor. After serving his country in World War I, in 1918 he started to work as a test driver in Turin. He soon moved to Milan to work for CMN (Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali) as a racing driver and a test driver. In 1919 he made his racing debut in the Parma - Berceto race, later that year he also entered the Taraga Florio race. 1920 saw Enzo move to the racing team Alfa Romeo, at this team he formed a strong relationship which lasted over 20 years, his career progressed from a test driver to a race driver to a sales assistant and he eventually he was to be the Director of the Alfa Racing Division until 1939. Societ per azioni Automotive 1947 (historical 1929) Enzo Ferrari Maranello, Italy

Scuderia Ferrari were founded in Modeno in 1929, the main purpose this company was to organize racing for its members. This was the beginning of a strong involvement in motor racing, this led to the creation of the official racing team and the Scuderia was to become a division of Alfa Romeo, Scuderia Ferrari took overall control of the racing team in 1933. 1940 saw the end of the Scuderia's connection with Alfa Romeo, the company then went on to establish itself as an independent organization to be called "Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari" the company worked for the national Aviation Company in Rome.

During World War II in 1943 the Ferrari workshop moved base from Modeno to Maranello and began to produce grinding machines for ball bearings. The workshop had to be rebuilt in 1946 after being bombed during the war, this was also the year that the company started to design and build the first Ferrari. In 1960 the business was turned into a joint stock company in which Fiat became a 50-50 partner in 1969. The Emblem: "The story of the prancing horse is simple and fascinating. The horse was painted on the fuselage of the fighter plane flown by Francesco Baracca, a heroic Italian pilot who died on Mount Montello: the Italian ace of aces of the First World War. In 1923, when I won the first Savio circuit, which was run in Ravenna, I met Count Enrico Baracca, the pilot's father, and subsequently his mother, Countess Paolina. One day she said to me, "Ferrari, why don't you put my son's prancing horse on your cars; it would bring you luck." I still have Baracca's photograph with the dedication by his parents, in which they entrusted the emblem to me. The horse was black and has remained so; I added the canary yellow background because it is the colour of Modena." - Enzo Ferrari The 1930s - Scuderia Ferrari:

In 1929, Enzo Ferrari left Alfa Romeo's employment to start his own racing stable (scuderia in Italian). Scuderia Ferrari did not race cars with the Ferrari name, though the Alfas they used on the track did sport the prancing horse. Race cars came to the scuderia from Alfa for tuning for almost a decade, and the Ferrari shop in Modena built its first car, the Alfa Romeo 158 Grand Prix racer, in 1937. In 1938, Alfa took its racing program in-house, and Enzo Ferrari went with it. After 10 years on his own, though, working for someone else proved difficult. He left Alfa (or was dismissed) for the last time in 1939. The 1940s - Ferrari Survives the War: When Enzo Ferrari left Alfa Romeo, he agreed to not use his name in connection with racing for four years. That wasn't so bad; WWII curtailed racing for most of those four years anyway. Ferrari moved from Modena to Maranello during the war, where it remains today. In 1945, Ferrari began work on the 12-cylinder engine the company would be famous for, and in 1947, Enzo Ferrari drove the first 125 S out of the factory gates. Post-war racing was Ferrari's finest hour on the track. Driver Luigi Chinetti was the first to import Ferrari cars to the U.S. in the late 1940s, including the first highway Ferrari, the 166 Inter. The Ferrari automobile company has produced sports cars since 1947.Unlike many similar yet independent companies, Fiat Group-owned Ferrari continued to thrive after the death of its charismatic founder and is today one of the most successful sports car companies in the world. 1947 - The beginning: The first Ferrari road car was the 1947 125 Sport, powered by a 1.5 L V12 engine; Enzo reluctantly built and sold his automobiles to fund the Scuderia. While his beautiful and blazingly fast cars quickly gained a reputation for excellence, Enzo maintained a famous distaste for his customers; most of whom he felt was buying his cars for the prestige and not the performance. 1961 - The great walkout: Enzo Ferrari's strong personality had served his company and racing team well for decades. But internal tensions reached the boiling point in November 1961 Long-time sales manager, Girolamo Gardini, had long chafed at Enzo's wife, Laura's, involvement in the company. The two frequently argued, but their dispute became a crisis for the company when Gardini made an ultimatum to Enzo: If tensions continued, he would leave the company. Enzo was never a man to accept a challenge to his authority, and he dealt with the situation with a typically heavy hand. Gardini was ousted, as was Scuderia Ferrari manager, Romolo Tavoni, chief engineer Carlo Chiti, experimental sports car development chief, Giotto Bizzarrini, and a number of others who stood by them. All were tremendous losses to the company, and many thought this might be the end of Ferrari. Indeed, the defectors immediately formed a new company, ATS, to directly compete with Ferrari on the street and the track, and took with them Scuderia Serenissima, one of Ferrari's best racing customers. This "great walkout" came at an especially difficult time for Ferrari. At the urging of Chiti, the company was developing a new 250-based model to defend its honor against the Jaguar E-Type. Development of this car, the 250 GTO, was at a critical point, with the chassis development and styling left incomplete. Even if the car could be finished, it was unclear if it could be raced successfully without Tavoni and his lieutenants. Into this void stepped young engineer Mauro Forghieri and long-time racing bodyman, Sergio Scaglietti. Both were up to the task, with Forghieri successfully honing the GTO's handling and Scaglietti designing an all-new body for the car. The GTO went to Sebring with driver Phil Hill and placed first in class. It

continued winning through 1962, brushing aside the challenge from Jaguar and becoming one of the most famous sports cars in history. This shakeup, and Forghieri's engineering talent, made the 1960s even more successful for Ferrari than the previous decade. The mid-engined Dino racers laid the foundation for Forghieri's dominant 250powered 250 P. On the street, the Dino road cars sold strongly, and legendary models like the 275 and Daytona were on the way. 1963-1967 - The US rivals: The big V8-powered Shelby Cobra developed and built by the American entrepreneur Carroll Shelby challenged the Ferraris in the early 1960s. By mid 60's, Ford tried to buy Ferrari but no agreement was reached. Instead, after being defeated in 1964 and 1965 races the Ford GT40 ended the dominance of Ferrari Prototypes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 when the GT-40 Mark II dominated the race with a 1-2-3 finish.. Ford would win again in 1967, this time with its Mark IV prototype and also in 1968 and 1969 with the Gulf-Wyer entered Ford GT-40 Mk.I cars winning both years to close out the decade against the new and upcoming Porsche 917. 1968 - Ferrari boycott: After the performance of the big V8-powered Ford at the 1967 Le Mans, the FIA banned prototypes over 3000cc, which also affected the Ferrari 330P models. This was announced in late 1967 and came in effect for 1968, and the Scuderia did not take part in Sports car racing in order to protest this. 1969-1971 - Porsche These years saw a new challenger. Formerly competing with smaller cars only, the Germans entered the new 3 litre sports car prototype class in 1968 with the Porsche 908, while Ferrari raced the Ferrari 312P in only few events in 1969. In March of that year, the presentation of the 5 litre Porsche 917, built in advance in 25 exemplars, had surprised also Ferrari, which answered later that year with the production of 25 Ferrari 512S, funded from the money gained by the FIAT deal. At that time, Porsche had almost a full season of experience with their new car, though, and also taken the World Sportscar Championship where Ferrari was only 4th. The year 1970 saw epic battles between the two teams and the many cars they entered, yet Porsche won all races except the 12 Hours of Sebring, where the victorious car and its drivers Ignazio Giunti/Nino Vaccarella/Mario Andretti had their origins in Italy. Ferrari decided to give up the 512 in 1971 in order to prepare the new Ferrari 312PB for the 1972 season, when only 3 litre class would be allowed. In addition to Porsche, the old national rival with its Alfa Romeo T33/3 also had won two races in 1971, and thus was ranked 2nd in the World Championship, above Ferrari. 1969 Fiat: Early in 1969 Fiat took a 50% stake in Ferrari. An immediate result was an increase in available investment funds, and work started at once on a factory extension intended to transfer production from Fiat's Turin plant of the Ferrari engined Fiat Dino. New model investment further up in the Ferrari range also received a boost. Less positive was the effect on industrial relations at Ferrari's Maranello plant. In June a visiting journalist witnessed a group of workers suddenly running out of a work-shop in response to the blast of a whistle: this was part of an industrial stoppage originating at the main Fiat plant in Turin, and contrasted with the relatively smooth state of production that the writer had witnessed at competitor plants nearby.

While increased Fiat influence was quickly felt in the development, production and marketing of road cars, the racing department remained initially little touched by Fiat's new status within the company as chief investor. 1972-1973 - dominance defeats and fare-well: The Ferrari 312PB models dominated the World Sportscar Championship in 1972 against a rival Alfa Romeo, as the Porsche factory did not compete after the rule changes, and Matra focused on Le Mans only. In their home race, the French won, as Ferrari did not enter in 1972 due insufficient reliability over 24 hours, in order not to blemish their otherwise perfect record in that season.In 1973, though, the Matra team also challenged for the championship which Ferrari eventually lost with two wins, compared to Matra's five, while Alfa Romeo had not entered that year. In addition, Ferrari was now forced to race also at Le Mans, despite concerns that even the modified engine would not last. Yet, one car survived and scored an unexpected and honorable 2nd place. Ferrari then retired from Sports car racing to focus on the ailing F1 effort. 1988 - The Death of Enzo: When Enzo died in 1988, Ferrari finally became a mythos. The value of used cars rose, as well as sales of current models. The last new model he commissioned was the specialist F40. 1996 - Champion Schumacher to Scuderia Ferrari: The hiring of Michael Schumacher and other members from Benetton triggered a comeback of the F1 team, with three wins in 1996, and close yet eventually losing challenges to the driver's championship in the years 1997 to 1999. 2000-2004 - Schumacher Dominates F1: In an unprecedented and record-setting fashion, Schumacher and Ferrari dominate F1 winning the World Driver's championship from 2000 through 2004 and the Constructors' Championship from 1999 through 2004. 2006 saw him retire from F1. Until 2008: As of 2008, Fiat Group owns 85% of Ferrari, Mubadala Development Company owns 5%, and Enzo's second son Piero Ferrari owns 10%. Of these, Ferrari is under main control of the Fiat Group, containing Alfa Romeo as well. Motorsport: Since the company's beginnings, Ferrari has been involved in motorsport, competing in a range of categories including Formula One and sports car racing through its Scuderia Ferrari sporting division as well as supplying cars and engines to other teams and for one make series.The 1940 AAC 815 was the first racing car to be designed by Enzo Ferrari, although it was not badged as a Ferrari model. Scuderia Ferrari: Scuderia Ferrari has participated in a number of classes of motorsport, though it is currently only involved in Formula One. It is the only team to have competed in the Formula One World Championship continuously since its inception in 1950. Jos Froiln Gonzlez gave the team its first F1 victory at the 1951 British Grand Prix.

Alberto Ascari gave Ferrari its first Drivers Championship a year later. Ferrari is the oldest team in the championship, and the most successful: the team holds nearly every Formula One record. As of 2008, the team's records include 15 World Drivers Championship titles (1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2007) 16 World Constructors Championship titles (1961, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008), 209 Grand Prix victories, 4925.27 points, 622 podium finishes, 203 pole positions, and 218 fastest laps in 776 Grands Prix contested.

Identity The famous symbol of the Ferrari race team is the Cavallino Rampante ("prancing horse") black prancing stallion on a yellow shield, usually with the letters S F (for Scuderia Ferrari), with three stripes of green, white and red (the Italian national colors) at the top. The road cars have a rectangular badge on the hood (see picture above), and, optionally, the shield-shaped race logo on the sides of both front wings, close to the door. On 17 June 1923, Enzo Ferrari won a race at the Savio track in Ravenna where he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Count Francesco Baracca, an ace of the Italian air force and national hero of World War I, who used to paint a horse on the side of his planes. The Countess asked Enzo to use this horse on his cars, suggesting that it would bring him good luck. The original "prancing horse" on Baracca's airplane was painted in red on a white cloud-like shape, but Ferrari chose to have the horse in black (as it had been painted as a sign of grief on Baracca's squadron planes after the pilot was killed in action) and he added a canary yellow background as this is the color of the city of Modena, his birthplace. The Ferrari horse was, from the very beginning, markedly different from the Baracca horse in most details, the most noticeable being the tail that in the original Baracca version was pointing downward. Ferrari has used the cavallino rampante on official company stationery since 1929. Since the Spa 24 Hours of 9 July 1932, the cavallino rampante has been used on Alfa Romeos raced by Scuderia Ferrari. Ferrari Achievement: The Ferrari case is of maximum interest in marketing strategy. To understand how Ferrari achieved this stunning result, we must review the beginning of Ferrari, and its development. Enzo Ferrari founded Ferrari back in 1943, during WW II. The first Ferrari premises were bombed and heavily damaged. Enzo Ferrari was not an Engineer, nor he was an enterpreneur. Enzo Ferrari never went to college, not even high school, no PhD, never made and MBA. Enzo Ferrari was "just" a mechanic at Alfa Romeo, with a strong passion for engines, speed and racing. He was a tough guy, and he had his own ideas on engines and cars. Passion has always been the "drive" of Ferrari.

Ford Motor Company- At a glance Type Traded as Public company NYSE: F S&P 500 Component Industry Founded Founder(s) Headquarters Area served Key people Products Automotive June 16, 1903 Henry Ford Dearborn, Michigan, U.S. Worldwide William C. Ford, Jr. Automobiles Automotive parts Services Automotive finance Vehicle leasing Vehicle service Divisions Ford Lincoln

A History of the Ford Motor Co.: 1863 Birth of Henry Ford 1896 Runs Quadricycle experimental car on Detroit streets 1899 Persuades investors to underwrite Detroit Auto Co., quits Detroit Edison; venture fails 1901 Jobless, moves his wife and son back into his father's home on Grand Boulevard in Detroit; Ford, driving own car, beats Alexander Winton in automobile race, attracts investors who form Henry Ford Co. 1902 Ford withdraws. Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK. Ford's former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover were sold to Tata Motors of India in

March 2008. In 2010 Ford sold Volvo to Geely Automobile. Ford discontinued the Mercury brand after the 2011 model year. Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines. Henry Ford's methods came to be known around the world as Fordism by 1914. Ford is the second largest automaker in the U.S. and the fifth-largest in the world based on annual vehicle sales in 2010. At the end of 2010, Ford was the fifth largest automaker in Europe. Ford is the eighthranked overall American-based company in the 2010 Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues in 2009 of $118.3 billion. In 2008, Ford produced 5.532 million automobile and employed about 213,000 employees at around 90 plants and facilities worldwide. During the automotive crisis, Ford's worldwide unit volume dropped to 4.817 million in 2009. In 2010, Ford earned a net profit of $6.6 billion and reduced its debt from $33.6 billion to $14.5 billion lowering interest payments by $1 billion following its 2009 net profit of $2.7 billion. Starting in 2007, Ford received more initial quality survey awards from J. D. Power and Associates than any other automaker. Five of Ford's vehicles ranked at the top of their categories and fourteen vehicles ranked in the top three. 20th century: Henry's first attempt at a car company under his own name was the Henry Ford Company on November 3, 1901, which became the Cadillac Motor Company on August 22, 1902 after Ford left with the rights to his name. The Ford Motor Company was launched in a converted factory in 1903 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, most notably John and Horace Dodge (who would later found their own car company). During its early years, the company produced just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies. Later Ford realized it would be better if he manufactured all of his company's automotive parts himself instead of using parts from aftermarket sources which lead to the production of the assembly line. Henry Ford was 40 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company, which would go on to become one of the world's largest and most profitable companies, as well as being one to survive the Great Depression. As one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world, the Ford Motor Company has been in continuous family control for over 100 years. During the mid to late 1990s, Ford sold large numbers of vehicles, in a booming American economy with soaring stock market and low fuel prices. With the dawn of the new century, legacy healthcare costs, higher fuel prices, and a faltering economy led to falling market shares, declining sales, and sliding profit margins. Most of the corporate profits came from financing consumer automobile loans through Ford Motor Credit Company. 21st century: By 2005, corporate bond rating agencies had downgraded the bonds of both Ford and GM to junk status, citing high U.S. health care costs for an aging workforce, soaring gasoline prices, eroding market share, and dependence on declining SUV sales for revenues. Profit margins decreased on large vehicles due to increased "incentives" (in the form of rebates or low interest financing) to offset declining demand. In the face of demand for higher fuel efficiency and falling sales of minivans, Ford moved to introduce a range of new vehicles, including "Crossover SUVs" built on unibody car platforms, rather than more body-on-frame chassis. In developing the hybrid electric powertrain technologies for the Ford Escape Hybrid SUV, Ford licensed similar Toyota hybrid technologies to avoid patent infringements. Ford announced that it will team up with electricity supply company Southern California Edison (SCE) to

examine the future of plug-in hybrids in terms of how home and vehicle energy systems will work with the electrical grid. Under the multi-million-dollar, multi-year project, Ford will convert a demonstration fleet of Ford Escape Hybrids into plug-in hybrids, and SCE will evaluate how the vehicles might interact with the home and the utility's electrical grid. Some of the vehicles will be evaluated "in typical customer settings", according to Ford. In December 2006, the company raised its borrowing capacity to about $25 billion, placing substantially all corporate assets as collateral to secure the line of credit. Chairman Bill Ford has stated that "bankruptcy is not an option". In order to control its skyrocketing labor costs (the most expensive in the world), the company and the United Auto Workers, representing approximately 46,000 hourly workers in North America, agreed to a historic contract settlement in November 2007 giving the company a substantial break in terms of its ongoing retiree health care costs and other economic issues. The agreement includes the establishment of a company-funded, independently run Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) trust to shift the burden of retiree health care from the company's books, thereby improving its balance sheet. This arrangement took effect on January 1, 2010. As a sign of its currently strong cash position, Ford contributed its entire current liability (estimated at approximately US$5.5 Billion as of December 31, 2009) to the VEBA in cash, and also pre-paid US$500 Million of its future liabilities to the fund. The agreement also gives hourly workers the job security they were seeking by having the company commits to substantial investments in most of its factories. The automaker reported the largest annual loss in company history in 2006 of $12.7 billion, and estimated that it would not return to profitability until 2009.However, Ford surprised Wall Street in the second quarter of 2007 by posting a $750 million profit. Despite the gains, the company finished the year with a $2.7 billion loss, largely attributed to finance restructuring at Volvo. On June 2, 2008, Ford sold its Jaguar and Land Rover operations to Tata Motors for $2.3 billion. In January 2008, Ford launched a website listing the ten Built Ford Tough rules as well as a series of webisodes that parodied the TV show COPS. During November 2008, Ford, together with Chrysler and General Motors, sought financial aid at Congressional hearings in Washington, D.C. in the face of worsening conditions caused by the automotive industry crisis. The three companies presented action plans for the sustainability of the industry. The Detroit based automakers were unsuccessful at obtaining assistance through Congressional legislation. GM and Chrysler later received assistance through the Executive Branch from the T.A.R.P. funding provisions. On December 19, the cost of credit default swaps to insure the debt of Ford was 68 percent the sum insured for five years in addition to annual payments of 5 percent. That means it costs $6.8 million paid upfront to insure $10 million in debt, in addition to payments of $500,000 per year. In January 2009, Ford announced a $14.6 billion loss in the preceding year, making 2008 its worst year in history. Still, the company claimed to have sufficient liquidity to fund its business plans and thus, did not ask for government aid. Through April 2009, Ford's strategy of debt for equity exchanges, erased $9.9 B in liabilities (28% of its total), in order to leverage its cash position. These actions yielded Ford a $2.7 billion profit in fiscal year 2009, the company's first full-year profit in four years.

Brands Ford Motor Company manufactures automobiles under its own name and as Lincoln in the United States. In 1958, Ford introduced a new brand, the Edsel, but poor sales led to its discontinuation in 1960. In 1985, the Merkur brand was introduced to market Fords from Europe in the United States; it met a similar

fate in 1989. The Mercury brand was also introduced by Ford in 1939 but poor sales also led to its discontinuation in 2011.

Ford has major manufacturing operations in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, the People's Republic of China, and several other countries, including South Africa where, following divestment during apartheid, it once again has a wholly owned subsidiary. Ford also has a cooperative agreement with Russian automaker GAZ.

Ford acquired British sports car maker Aston Martin in 1989, but sold it on March 12, 2007, retaining a small minority stake, and bought Volvo Cars of Sweden in 1999,[38] selling it to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2010. In November 2008 it reduced its 33.4% controlling interest in Mazda of Japan, to a 13.4% non-controlling interest. On November 18, 2010, Ford reduced their stake further to just 3%, citing the reduction of ownership would allow greater flexibility to pursue growth in emerging markets. Ford and Mazda remain strategic partners through joint ventures and exchanges of technological information. It shares an American joint venture plant in Flat Rock, Michigan called Auto Alliance with Mazda. It has spun off its parts division under the name Visteon. Ford sold the United Kingdom-based Jaguar and Land Rover companies and brands to Tata Motors of India in March 2008. Ford's FoMoCo parts division sells aftermarket parts under the Motorcraft brand name. Ford's non-manufacturing operations include organizations such as automotive finance operation Ford Motor Credit Company. Ford also sponsors numerous events and sports facilities around the US, most notably Ford Center (now Chesapeake Energy Arena) in downtown Oklahoma City and Ford Field in downtown Detroit. Overall the Ford Motor Company controls the Ford and Lincoln car brands. Brands Years Used Markets Ford 1903present Global

Lincoln 1922present North America, Middle East Mercury 19392011 North America

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG- At a glance Type: Traded as: Industry: Aktiengesellschaft FWB: BMW Automotive

Predecessor(s) : Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFW)[1] Founded: July 21, 1917

Founder(s): Franz Josef Popp Headquarters: Munich, Germany Area served: Key people: Products: Revenue: Worldwide Norbert Reithofer (CEO), Joachim Milberg (Chairman of the supervisory board) Automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles 60.48 billion (2010)[2] 5.094 billion (2010)[2] 3.218 billion (2010)[2] 108.87 billion (end 2010)[2] 23.10 billion (end 2010)[2] 95,450 (end 2010)[2] Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Husqvarna Website: bmw.com

Operating income: Profit : Total assets: Total equity: Employees: Subsidiaries:

Company history

BMW entered existence as a business entity following a restructuring of the Rapp Motorenwerke aircraft engine manufacturing firm in 1917. After the end of World War I in 1918, BMW was forced to cease

aircraft engine production by the terms of the Versailles Armistice Treaty.[3] The company consequently shifted to motorcycle production in 1923, once the restrictions of the treaty started to be lifted,[4] followed by automobiles in 192829.

The first car which BMW successfully produced and the car which launched BMW on the road to automobile production was the Dixi, it was based on the Austin 7 and licensed from the Austin Motor Company in Birmingham, England.

The circular blue and white BMW logo or roundel evolved from the circular Rapp Motorenwerke company logo, from which the BMW company grew, combined with the blue and white colors of the flag of Bavaria.[8] The logo has been portrayed as the movement of an aircraft propeller with the white blades cutting through a blue sky first used in a BMW advertisement in 1929, twelve years after the roundel was created but this is not the origin of the logo itself.[9]

BMW's first significant aircraft engine was the BMW IIIa inline-six liquid-cooled engine of 1918, much preferred for its high-altitude performance. With German rearmament in the 1930s, the company again began producing aircraft engines for the Luftwaffe. Among its successful World War II engine designs were the BMW 132 and BMW 801 air-cooled radial engines, and the pioneering BMW 003 axial-flow turbojet, which powered the tiny, 1944-1945-era jet-powered "emergency fighter", the Heinkel He 162 Spatz. The BMW 003 jet engine was tested in the A-1b version of the world's first jet fighter, the Messerschmitt Me 262, but BMW engines failed on takeoff, a major setback for the jet fighter program until successful testing with Junkers engines.

By the year 1959, the automotive division of BMW was in financial difficulties and a shareholders meeting was held to decide whether to go into liquidation or find a way of carrying on. It was decided to carry on and to try to cash in on the current economy car boom enjoyed so successfully by some of Germany's ex-aircraft manufacturers such as Messerschmitt and Heinkel. The rights to manufacture the Italian Iso Isetta were bought; the tiny cars themselves were to be powered by a modified form of BMW's own motorcycle engine. This was moderately successful and helped the company get back on its feet. The controlling majority shareholder of the BMW Aktiengesellschaft since 1959 is the Quandt family, which owns about 46% of the stock. The rest is in public float.

BMW acquired the Hans Glas company based in Dingolfing, Germany, in 1966. It was reputed that the acquisition was mainly to gain access to Glas' development of the timing belt with an overhead camshaft in automotive applications.[13] Glas vehicles were briefly badged as BMW until the company was fully absorbed.

In 1992, BMW acquired a large stake in California based industrial design studio DesignworksUSA, which they fully acquired in 1995. In 1994, BMW bought the British Rover Group[14] (which at the time consisted of the Rover, Land Rover and MG brands as well as the rights to defunct brands including Austin and Morris), and owned it for six years. By 2000, Rover was incurring huge losses and BMW

decided to sell the combine. The MG and Rover brands were sold to the Phoenix Consortium to form MG Rover, while Land Rover was taken over by Ford. BMW, meanwhile, retained the rights to build the new Mini, which was launched in 2001.

Chief designer Chris Bangle announced his departure from BMW in February 2009, after serving on the design team for nearly seventeen years. He was replaced by Adrian van Hooydonk, Bangle's former right hand man. Bangle was known for his radical designs such as the 2002 7-Series and the 2002 Z4. In July 2007, the production rights for Husqvarna Motorcycles was purchased by BMW for a reported 93 million euros. BMW Motorrad plans to continue operating Husqvarna Motorcycles as a separate enterprise. All development, sales and production activities, as well as the current workforce, have remained in place at its present location at Varese.

Production

In 2006, the BMW group (including Mini and Rolls-Royce) produced 1,366,838 fourwheeled vehicles, which were manufactured in five countries.[16] In 2010, it manufactured 1,481,253 four-wheeled vehicles and 112,271 motorcycles (under both the BMW and Husqvarna brands). The BMW X3 (E83) was made by Magna Steyr, a subsidiary of Magna of Canada, in Graz, Austria under license from BMW until 2010. More than 45,973 were produced in 2009. Starting October 2010, the new BMW X3 (F25) is produced in BMW's plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, U.S.A. From September 2010, the plant is producing MINI Countryman. It is reported that about 56% of BMW-brand vehicles produced are powered by petrol engines and the remaining 44% are powered by diesel engines. Of those petrol vehicles, about 27% are four-cylinder models and about nine percent are eight-cylinder models. New Class

The New Class (German: Neue Klasse) was a line of compact sedans and coupes starting with the 1962 1500 and continuing through the last 2002s in 1977. Powered by BMW's celebrated four-cylinder M10 engine, the New Class models featured a fully independent suspension, MacPherson struts in front, and front disc brakes. Initially a family of four-door sedans and two-door coupes, the New Class line was broadened to two-door sports sedans with the addition of the 02 Series 1600 and 2002 in 1966.

Sharing little in common with the rest of the line beyond power train, the sporty siblings caught auto enthusiasts' attention and established BMW as an international brand. Precursors to the famed BMW 3 Series, the two-doors' success cemented the firm's future as an upper tier performance car maker. New Class four-doors with numbers ending in "0" were replaced by the larger BMW 5 Series in 1972. The upscale 2000C and 2000CS coupes were replaced by the six-cylinder BMW E9, introduced in 1969 with the 2800CS. The 1600 two-door was discontinued in 1975, the 2002 replaced by the 320i in 1975.

BMW slang The initials BMW are pronounced in German.The model series are referred to as "Einser" ("One-er" for 1 series), "Dreier" ("Three-er" for 3 series), "Fnfer" ("Five-er" for the 5 series), "Sechser" ("Six-er" for the 6 series), "Siebener" ("Seven-er" for the 7 series). These are not actually slang, but are the normal way that such letters and numbers are pronounced in German.

The English slang terms Beemer, Bimmer and Bee-em are variously used for BMWs of all kinds, cars, and motorcycles.

In the US, specialists have been at pains to prescribe that a distinction must be made between using Beemer exclusively to describe BMW motorcycles, and using Bimmer only to refer to BMW cars, in the manner of a "true aficionado" and avoid appearing to be "uninitiated." The Canadian Globe and Mail prefers Bimmer and calls Beemer a "yuppie abomination," while the Tacoma News Tribune says it is a distinction made by "auto snobs."Using the wrong slang risks offending BMW enthusiasts. An editor of Business Week was satisfied in 2003 that the question was resolved in favor of Bimmer by noting that a Google search yielded 10 times as many hits compared to Beemer.

The Secret of BMW's Success:

BMW's reputation for innovation can be traced to its equally innovative lateral management techniques

At 4:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, when most German workers have long departed for the weekend, the mini-cafs sprinkled throughout BMW's sprawling R&D center in Munich are jammed with engineers, designers, and marketing managers deliberating so intently it's hard to hear above the din. Even the cappuccino machine is running on empty. It's an atmosphere far more Silicon Valley than Detroit. "At lunch and breaks everyone is discussing ideas and projects all the time. It's somewhat manic. But it makes things move faster," says BMW chief designer Adrian van Hooydonk.

The intense employee buzz at BMW is hot management theory in action. Top consultants and academics say the kind of informal networks that flourish at BMW and the noise and borderline chaos they engender in big organizations are vital for innovationespecially in companies where knowledge sits in the brains of tens of thousands of workers and not in a computer server. Melding that brain power, they say, is essential to unleashing the best ideas.

Ideas First.

How does BMW manage discipline with creativity and keep the anarchy of networks from careening out of control? Workers at the Bavarian automaker are encouraged from their first day on the job to build a network or web of personal ties to speed problem-solving and innovation, be it in R&D, design, production, or marketing. Those ties run across divisions and up and down the chain of command.

When it comes to driving innovation, forget formal meetings, hierarchy, and stamps of approval. Each worker learns quickly that pushing fresh ideas is paramount. "It's easier to ask forgiveness for breaking the rules than to seek permission," says Richard Gaul, a 33-year veteran at BMW and former head of communications at the $60 billion automaker.

BMW's complex customized production system, the polar opposite of Toyota's (TM ) standardized lines, is easier to manage if workers feel empowered to drive change. Like Dell Computer (DELL ), BMW configures its cars to customers' orders, so each auto moving down the production line is different.

Know The Consumer. BMW managers, by contrast, even talk about the "physics of chaos" and how to constantly nurture innovation and creativity by operating on the very edge of chaos without getting out of control. "Discipline and creativity are not a paradox, there is a borderline case of self-controlling systems," says Gaul. "Where you break rules you have to be very disciplined." That's the industry's next kaizenthe art automakers will be forced to master in the 21st century.

The novel advertising scheme developed back in 2001 is a good example. Jim McDowell, then U.S. vicepresident of marketing, was confident the project, dubbed "Big Idea," and kept under tight security in "War Room" No. 6 at BMW USA's Woodlake (N.J.) headquarters, would create just the kind of consumer buzz that BMW wantedand would ultimately be more cost-effective for BMW than Super Bowl advertising. The idea was to give film directors a BMW car around which a compelling short film was to be made. Many of the tales centered on life-and-death chase scenes, but several were humorous or even melancholy.

McDowell figured if The Hire, took off and the films were downloaded from BMW's Web site by 1 million to 2 million viewers, BMW would chalk up the same number of eyeballs as a snappy advertising campaign aired during the Super Bowl, but would reach a higher percentage of BMW-type customers, progressives with a nose for cinema, technology, and high bandwidth. "If you really understand your consumer, you can be very clever about how to communicate. You can change the whole paradigm," says McDowell, who is now executive vice-president at Mini.

Snowball Effect. McDowell didn't take any half-measures. He went after talented directors such as John Frankenheimer (The French Connection) and Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and signed up stars such as Madonna, Clive Owens, and Gary Oldmangiving them complete artistic freedom, aside from the BMW model that starred in each film. No advance advertising heralded the Internet launch of the films.

The buzz started slowly with the first film but grew to avalanche proportions by the time Madonna's short comedy film about a cranky diva was released, overwhelming BMW's expectations and forcing the automaker to add servers as fast as it could.

But it didn't stop there. As the short-film gambit rocketed around the blogosphere, national TV broadcasters flooded McDowell's office with requests for interviews on CBS, Entertainment Tonight, and Fox News. The novelty of an automaker producing films fanned public interest and stoked downloads.

How Ideas Travel. For academics and consultants studying the phenomenon of corporate networks, the most fascinating element is the "node" or the broker individual who can join two separate clusters with different pools of knowledge. Such a broker may have once worked in purchasing but now sits in R&D. As such, he or she can bridge the two worlds by "reaching across the white space of disconnected people," says Ronald S. Burt, a sociologist at the University of Chicago, who is studying the impact corporate networks have on performance.

That linkage speeds learning throughout companiesa vital tool to industries that should continually innovate. "People exposed to a diversity of information are at higher risk of seeing a new angle, a better way to frame ideas," says Burt. And companies that recognize and tap such social capital "have better growth rates and better patent rates. Formal structures decide who to blame. Informal structures decide how to get things done," he says.

The History PUMA Shoes The history of PUMA begins in Germany during the mid-1920s when brothers Adolf and Rudolph Dassler founded a shoe company specializing in athletic shoes. World War II was hard on the family and led to a falling out that split the company in two: brother Adolf 'Adi' Dassler went on to create the adidas brand while Rudolph Dassler founded PUMA. From PUMA Casual Shoes and PUMA Faas running shoes to track jackets, t-shirts, hats and bags, the PUMA brand bears a signature style that boasts a sleek, streamlined look, often featuring retro and classic designs. PUMA shoes are poppin' with style that features nubuck and leather uppers, as well as colorways that are constructed to look good with any outfit. PUMA Running Shoes pack a punch full of comfort in every shoe series constructed. For its lightweight shoes, PUMA uses BioRide technology, which is an integrated system that gives you a more natural and responsive ride. For their cushioned running shoes, PUMA uses IdCELL, a low-density cushioning unit that improves shock absorption and protects your foot. PUMA Cleats are designed for soccer players and are lightweight while giving a snug, comfortable fit to keep your feet feeling fresh throughout the duration of the time you have them on your feet. They are also engineered to bring enhanced touch and feel to the foot; therefore, they offer maximum ball control. If you're looking for stylish kicks, fast runners or high-performance cleats, look no further than PUMA. The History of the Puma Shoe PUMA is a German-based shoe company that produces sportswear and specializes in making athletic shoes. It employs nearly 8,000 people and its products reach as many as 80 countries around the world. PUMA sponsors many individual athletes, such as Olympic champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica and also sponsors a large number of national and club teams in sports ranging from soccer to cricket. A German man named Christoph Dassler, who lived in the town of Herzogenaurach in the Bavarian region of Germany, worked in a shoe factory prior to World War I. His wife ran a laundry and they had a son named Rudolf, who also worked with his father at the factory. Rudolf served in the army during the war and when he returned, he worked in manufacturing venues near the city of Nuremberg. He finally returned to his hometown in 1924, where he joined his younger brother Adolf who had established a shoe factory of his own. This was the beginning of what would become PUMA shoes. Significance The Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory had humble beginnings as the two siblings used their mother's laundry to make the shoes. They had to supply their own electrical power at times by riding a stationary bike hooked up to their equipment. The brothers' big break came in 1936 when Adolf traveled to the Summer Olympics in Berlin, where he was able to talk the great American track star Jesse Owens into wearing a pair of their track spikes. Owens went on to win four gold medals and the brothers' shoes became a hit. Effects Cashing in on their fame, the Dassler brothers were able to expand their factory and sold thousands of shoes. But World War II came along and both brothers joined the Nazi party. During the course of the

war, the brothers had a severe falling out and when the war ended they broke up their business. In 1948, Adolf founded Adidas shoes while Rudolf called his new shoe company Ruda. Identification Both companies thrived over the years. Rudolf quickly changed the name of his to PUMA and was able to still sponsor many athletes, including the West German soccer team in 1948. In 1949, Rudolf came up with soccer shoes that had removable spikes and in1952 a runner wearing a pair of PUMA spikes won a gold medal in the Helsinki Olympics. PUMA became identified with the most famous athlete in the world when the company signed the great Pele of soccer to a marketing contract. PUMA also boasted of having basketball star Walt Frazier and football icon Joe Namath endorse their shoes. Expert Insight The two brothers never reconciled. When Rudolf died in 1974, his two sons took over the company, which became a corporation in 1986. Adolf passed away in 1978. The pair is buried in the same cemetery but as far apart as could be. In 1998, the company, named for the Spanish word for a cougar, diversified, branching out into sportswear as well. In 1936 Adi decided to drive across country to the Olympic Village. He had a suitcase full of spikes and a simple plan: convince American sprinter Jesse Owens to wear Dassler Brothers spikes during the races. Adi was successful, and after Owens went on to win four gold medals that summer Dassler Brothers athletic shoes were globally in demand. Unfortunately, World War II was just around the corner. Both brothers joined the Nazi Party, but at some point during the War, they had a falling out. The facts are not abundantly clear, but the split between the two brothers may have had something to do with their different political viewpoints, or Rudolphs belief that he was turned in to the Americans by his brother. The result was that after World War II the brothers split the business. Adi founded the company adidas (from Adi Dassler), and Rudolph took charge of a company he dubbed Ruda (from Rudolph Dassler). Ruda was later re-christened Puma, like the South American panther. Discord between the two brothers continued as each company fought for the sponsorship of different athletes. In one particular memorable business transaction, German sprinter Armin Hary agreed to wear Pumas at the 1960s Summer Olympics for a sizable fee. He decided against wearing adidas (which he had worn before) after adidas declined to pay the sprinter for wearing their shoes. Hary wore his Pumas during the 100-meter dash and was victorious. But he showed up to the medal ceremony in a pair of adidas. The sprinter was hoping to be paid by both companies, but Adi was so angry that he refused to have anything to do with Hary for the rest of Harys career. Both brothers businesses are extraordinarily successful. Unfortunately, they never reconciled. They are buried on opposite ends of the same cemetery.

Running PUMA has always been successful in finding the right partners, who perfectly reflect and convey the image of the brand around the world. Sprint superstar Usain Bolt and the Jamaican track and field team perfectly embody that sports, fun and style have always been key elements in PUMAs brand strategy. At the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing, Usain Bolt set a 100m world record of 9.69 seconds, smashing his own mark from May that year and sprinted 200m in the world record time of 19.30 seconds, beating

Michael Johnsons 1996 record by two hundredths of a second. He won his third gold medal as Jamaica shattered the world record in the 4x100m relay in 37.10 seconds. In close collaboration with Usain Bolt, PUMA developed the Theseus II, the ultimate running shoe. Running both the 100m and 200m, the Jamaican sprinter needed a versatile shoe that provided support for power, as well as firmness to hold his foot in place around the turn. PUMA produced a gold version of the shoe for Beijing, which helped power him through the greatest sprints of his life so far.

At the World Athletics Championships 2009 in Berlin, Usain Bolt wrote sports history again when he smashed the 100m and 200m world records. The PUMA Yaam sprint spike that propelled him to victory was developed by a team of PUMA designers and technicians who studied and measured Bolts stride and foot form. The vibrant orange sprint spike, designed to contrast the Olympic Stadiums signature blue track and Usains way of achieving outstanding performances, mixing sport and style, caused a global stir.

Sailing At sea, PUMA participated with an own boat in one of the worlds toughest sailing races, the Volvo Ocean Race in 2008. As the first multi-category company, PUMA entered into sailing and combined high performance sports with cutting-edge technology, styling and adventure. The 11-men strong crew the PUMA Ocean Racing Team raced 10 legs and visited 10 countries in Africa, Asia, South and North America. During nine months, they covered 37,000 nautical miles (68,524 km) before finishing the race in second place in June 2009 in St. Petersburg. Over 5 million people visited the Volvo Ocean Race stopover villages and witnessed PUMAs il mostro, PUMA City and PUMAs innovative market initiatives. PUMA used the 11 port destinations of the Race to activate complex onshore marketing strategies. Such activities set a new marketing benchmark in the growing sport of sailing. At the same time, while the sport of sailing is often perceived to be very exclusive, PUMA aimed to break down this misconception. PUMAs retail expertise manifested itself by providing a unique shopping experience in PUMA City, a mobile architecture at the stop-over ports. Retail expectations were exceeded, after sales in PUMA City on a single day in Boston topped daily sales in any PUMA store ever worldwide. PUMA City is an innovative, mobile container building and has accompanied the sailing crew during parts of the Race, being shipped to and assembled at the stop-over ports in Alicante and Boston to host celebrations, press events, entertainment and in-port race viewing. Motorsport In Motorsports, PUMA underpinned its excellent competence to combine top performance sports with lifestyle when it developed highly functional Formula 1 collections as the first sports brand ever. With the support of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher as well as a strong portfolio of other racing teams, PUMA successfully established Motorsports as a new segment within a short time and became the leading Formula 1 sponsor. Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel caused a sensation in 2008 when the 21-year old won the race in Monza, wearing golden PUMA shoes, and became the youngest Formula 1 champion in history. Tennis On the international tennis courts, PUMA caused a stir in 2002, when the company dressed the top player Serena Williams in a skin-tight black catsuit at the US Open in New York and changed the fashion in a

sport that had seen players traditionally dress in white. In 1998, PUMA took the then 16-year old American tennis player under contract and went together with her all the way from rank 42 to number one in the world tennis ranking list. Adding performances of PUMA athletes and teams have strongly influenced international sports through innovative PUMA products and creative marketing initiatives for more than 60 years. Milestones in PUMAs sports history were the development of the first football boot with screwin studs in 1952 by the companys founder Rudolf Dassler, the legendary two-stripe jersey of Johan Cruyff at the world championship in 1974, the PUMA contact lenses of Linford Christie in 1996, the skin-tight Catsuit tennis dress of Serena Williams at the US Open 2002, the revolutionary one-piece Cameroon football shirt in 2004, the Italian national team winning the Football World Cup in 2006, Ferrari with its seven-times world champion, most successful Formula 1 pilot and PUMA partner Michael Schumacher, who dominated the sports for years, the world records of sprint hero Usain Bolt as well as the Volvo Ocean Race, the Everest of Sailing that PUMAs eye-catching sailing yacht il mostro finished in second place in 2009.Through creativity and innovative products PUMA has always set standards in sports and style. Partnerships with federations such as Jamaica, Italy and in Africa provided the brand with the opportunity to lead the way in creative and innovative global sports marketing. PUMA was not only able to strengthen its positioning as a sportlifestyle brand, but created a whole new market by establishing the segment sportlifestyle. Football As early as in 1952, PUMA set the first milestone on the pitch by developing the Super Atom, the first mass-produced football boot with screw-in studs. Eight players of German premier league club Hannover 96 sported the new mass-produced boots during the final of the German Premier League Championship in May 1954 and heralded a new era of football boot development - well before Germanys famous World Cup win in Bern in July that year. A story to remember is the legendary TwoStripe Jersey that the captain of the Dutch national team Johan Cruyff created at the World Cup 1974. The Dutch player refused to play in a threestripe shirt because he felt closely connected to his sponsor PUMA. He created a unique Dutch two-stripe jersey which debuted in the final of the World Cup in Munich. When Jochen Zeitz took the helm in 1993, he launched a new brand strategy which turned PUMA into the most desirable sportlifestyle brand through successfully fusing influences from sports, lifestyle and fashion. The epitome of the new sportlifestyle segment was PUMAs cooperation with designer Jil Sander in 1998 when PUMA combined - as the first sports brand ever - sports and style. The newly introduced trend found its way onto the international catwalks and especially onto the football pitches where PUMA set new standards for sports fashion and established the sportlifestyle segment. Legendary examples of PUMAs sports fashion were the coloured football boots at the World Cup in France in 1998 and the sleeveless jerseys, sported by the Cameroon national team at the African Cup of Nations and the World Cup in 2002. The football fashion was further revolutionized, when the Cameroon team played in one-piece jerseys for the first time ever at the African Cup of Nations in 2004. The onepiece kits caused a worldwide media stir and the international football federation FIFA sued PUMA, trying to ban the sensational jerseys. PUMAs successful fusion of sports and style within the realm of football was crowned when the Italian national team won the World Cup in 2006: The Squadra Azzurra represents the perfect combination of athletic world class and fashionable flair, further extending PUMAs position as one of the three leading football brands. As the partner of 13 African football federations, PUMA has not only been the leading sponsor in Africa for many years, but has also used the continent to launch its most innovative products. The joy of the game, aesthetics, passion and culture are African values that PUMA also stands for. The World Cup offers a unique platform for PUMA to demonstrate its long-term commitment to African football and the

continent. While Africa has been carrying the stigma of conflicts and poverty in the global press, PUMA has always emphasized the positives of the prospects and uniqueness of the continent. In January 2010, PUMA entered into a partnership with the Environment Programme of the United Nations (UNEP) to protect biodiversity. The joint Play for Life campaign was launched to support projects in Africa and elsewhere. To fund this initiative, PUMA launched the Africa Unity Kit, the worlds first continental football kit designed to be worn by the 13 African football national teams that PUMA sponsors.

Types of Puma Shoes

Puma cat shoes Made me a little crazy in a good way! More and more brands appear, and more and more people are choosing product brands. As we known, we would like to select brands, if not much difference between the famous brand products and the total price. Why? The reason is that the quality of the products between the brand name products and the total is different, the famous brand of quality can be guaranteed. As we worked with the factory, so you can get a discount Puma shoes now we will do our best to meet your need to maintain a long term business relationship with your shoes! And we have Puma pruduct all shapes and colors, from casual sports shoes puma puma. Our Men's Puma Speed Cat shoes are good for all. Puma is the design and development, clothing and footwear and accessories from the world's leading sports lifestyle one. Any questions, please contact us and we will give you an answer as soon as possible to contribute. Puma speed cat sd Shoes are worn mainly used in the Puma, and the companies that spend millions of their products through the world of sports, in particular, and Puma is one of the companies. Some manufacturers create better shoes than others, and Puma shoes are definitely tops, because their shoes are not only worn by athletes, but billions around the world, this popular brand name speaks for itself. Puma ferrari sf pace cat Shoes are good durable shoes that can be used for many different applications and the company has met with great success in recent decades. The top product and a product that they are well known, is a series of running shoes and golf shoes, and those who participate in various motor sports, as well as sailing and as a result the company has acquired knowledge of what is necessary to a good shoe. Replica Puma shoes are most definitely got the fame of the athletes wearing them, and the company has grown long, and by providing, for the average consumer good reason to buy puma feet and wear shoes in general is a fashion label attached to the brand in more ways than one. There are different Puma line of foot wear to suit all occasions, such as the Black Label line, which is perfect for formal occasions, and customers are as pleased as athletes. Several years of hard work and relentless efforts have made a Prada shoes are today. Puma ferrari shoes Men are known for their style, clear lines, simple colors, luscious leather. It has become a famous brand tits unique design and innovative style. A very positive thing for Prada shoes is that it is suitable for all walks of life and all ages. Are you really interested, or know about the men Prada, do not hesitate, just buy it and enjoy the beauty of the world beneath the beautiful feet.

The History of Reebok Shoes

While raw talent and hard work make up the majority of a good athlete, quality sporting equipment makes up the rest of the equation. Reebok has been providing athletes with quality goods since 1895, when it began with running shoes. Since that time Reebok has changed owners, expanded their brand and made some key partnerships, all while still providing athletes with quality products. Reebok was formed from a company in the UK that was started by Joseph William Foster. Foster is credited with making some of the first running shoes that had spikes attached to their soles to help runners shave down their times. Foster's company, J.W. Foster and Sons, was in business by 1895, making running shoes for some of the top runners at the time, all by hand. His shoes were even worn by athletes competing in the 1924 Summer Games and being celebrated in the film "Chariots of Fire." Two of Joseph William Foster's grandsons started a company that they named after an African gazelle, Reebok. Reebok shoes became one of the most expensive running shoes sold in the U.S., at $60 a pair, after being noticed by Paul Fireman, a partner of an outdoor sporting goods distributor at a trade show. Fireman released three running shoes into the U.S. market after negotiating the distribution license. Explosive Growth 1982 marked the year that the first athletic shoe designed with women in mind was introduced to the market by Reebok. The shoe was called the Freestyle, and it was designed for the latest exercise craze, aerobic dance. Reebok's sales had already surpassed the $1.5 million point when the Freestyle caused the company to explode. Reebok rode the wave of popularity by continuing to introduce new products and becoming a leader in their industry. In 1985 Reebok went public and then in 1986 they bought The Rockport Company, a leader in the development of comfortable casual and dress shoes. Reebok invaded the international market in the late 1980s and is currently sold in over 170 countries. Partnering Reebok shifted from a focusing solely on exercise to a company focused on exercise as well as sports in 1992, when they created new clothing and shoes designed for all different types of sports. The Greg Norman Collection was also birthed in 1992 when the golfer partnered with Reebok. Greg Norman was just the beginning though, as Reebok continued to partner with top athletes in the late 1990s. Recently In 2000 Reebok partnered up with the NFL. According to the corporate Reebok website, "The license includes on-field uniforms, sideline apparel, practice apparel and an NFL-branded footwear and apparel collection." Reebok went on to partner with the NBA, WNBA and the NBDL, gaining the exclusive right to provide all on-court apparel. 2002 marked the year when Reebok designed clothing and shoes inspired by street fashion, these items were launched as the Rbk collection. In 2003 Jay-Z and Reebok partnered to create the S. Carter Collection by Rbk. In 2004 Reebok acquired The Hockey Company, snagging an

agreement that gives them the exclusive rights to make all on-ice jerseys for all the NHL teams. The marketing campaign, "I Am What I Am," in 2005, which encouraged youth to appreciate their individuality, and featured many celebrities. Reebok was acquired by Adidas in 2006, and Paul Fireman, the CEO, left the company, allowing for Paul Harrington to become President and CEO of Reebok. The "Your Move" marketing campaign was launched in 2008, and set Reebok apart from other sporting goods manufacturers as a company that celebrates individuality.

Marketing Strategy of Reebok Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German sportswear giant adidas, is a producer of athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle. In 1890 in Holcombe Brook, a small village 6 miles from the town Bolton, England, Joseph William Foster was making a living producing regular running shoes when he came up with the idea to create a novelty spiked running shoe. After his ideas progressed he joined with his sons, and founded a shoe company named J.W. Foster and Sons in 1895.[2] In 1960, two of the founder's grandsons Joe and Jeff Foster renamed the company Reebok in England, having found the name in a dictionary won in a race by Joe Foster as a boy; the dictionary was South African edition hence the spelling.[3] The company lived up to the J.W. Foster legacy, manufacturing first-class footwear for customers throughout the UK. In 1979, Paul Fireman, a US sporting goods distributor, saw a pair of Reeboks at an international trade show and negotiated to sell them in North America

The purpose of this research is to perform a marketing analysis on Reebok International. The company is an American-based firm, that sources products in South Korea, and markets products both in the United States and internationally. In 1979, BC Recreational acquired the North American license to sell a running shoe produced by Reebok, Ltd., a small British firm The shoe did not sell well in the United States, and, in 1982, the company developed its own shoe, and marketed it under the name Reebok (by this time, BC Recreational had ceased to exist, and the surviving company was Reebok International, Ltd.). In 1985, Reebok International bought the original British firm This strategy was given huge boosts by Cybill Shepherd's wearing of Reeboks to the Emmy Award Ceremony, and by Mick Jagger's wearing Reeboks in a rock video. The company also displayed marketing creativity in 1986, when one order received from a Korean source arrived with shoes made of wrinkled leather. In 1986, wrinkled leather became the fashion look in athletic/casual shoes . MARKETING MIX STRATEGY A company's marketing mix is the combination of factors employed with respect to the Four Ps of marketing - product, price, place, and promotion. Reebok's application of the Four Ps is considered separately for each factor. Product Strategies Consumers typically recognize five distinctive product characteristics - quality level, features, styling, brand name, and packaging. Depending upon the type of product involved - physical, service, and so forth, not all of these characteristics will be applicable in each instance. While Reebok has made a point of designing shoes of high quality, the company has relied on style more heavily than other product characteristics. In 2009, the Reebok brand has continued to execute its strategy, positioning itself as a premium sports and lifestyle brand focused on fitness and training. Based on its roots and heritage in fitness/training, consumer insights and positioning within the adidas Group, Reebok developed a clear roadmap for its key businesses going forward: Own Womens Fitness, Challenge in Mens Training/Sport and Revive Classics. Central to Reeboks brand heritage is the courage to challenge convention. Unlike many other

brands, Reebok is committed to make fitness fun again challenging men and women to fulfil their potential in sport and in life by providing them with the opportunity, the products and the inspiration to have fun staying in shape. Own womens fitness Reebok is on a mission to make fitness fun again for women. The brands commitment to womens fitness is long-standing. It introduced Step Reebok in 1989 and was at the forefront of the aerobics movement of the 1980s. ... Reebok is on a mission to make fitness fun again for women. The brands commitment to womens fitness is long-standing. It introduced Step Reebok in 1989 and was at the forefront of the aerobics movement of the 1980s. This heritage and credibility has connected women to Reebok in a powerful way, and serves as the cornerstone for the brands business expansion. In 2009, the brand has accelerated its womens programmes, introducing new partnerships and products and once again reaffirming its support of womens health and fitness whether its out of the gym, in the gym or for a cause. * ReeTone: Women are busy and dont always find the time to fit in their daily workout. Based on this relevant consumer need, in 2009, Reebok launched the EasyTone footwear collection that allows consumers to take the gym with them. EasyTone is based on Reeboks proprietary moving air technology. It involves two balance pods under the heel and forefoot of the shoes that create natural instability with every step, forcing the muscles to adapt and develop tone. Building on the huge success of EasyTone in 2009, Reebok will launch an integrated marketing campaign around the world in 2010 under the motto of ReeTone. Reebok is also expanding its footwear offering into the running and training category, launching RunTone and TrainTone in 2010. * ReeGym: Through Reeboks partnership with Cirque du Soleil, the brand will continue to develop new inspiring workout experiences and product collections to strengthen its position in the gym. The overriding aim of this collaboration is not just to create physically demanding workout routines, but to create exercises that are fun, unique and enjoyable. In spring 2009, Reebok and Cirque du Soleil launched JUKARI Fit to Fly, taking inspiration from the theatrical and physically demanding artistry of Cirque du Soleil. Building on this, in 2010 Reebok and Cirque du Soleil are launching JUKARI Fit to Flex a workout that enhances flexibility and muscle tone with the help of a specifically designed JUKARI band. The JUKARI training experience is accompanied by a fully integrated womens fitness range, the Reebok Cirque du Soleil collection, which combines the performance demands of the workout with the creativity of Cirque du Soleil. In addition, Reebok launched the On The Move collection of apparel and footwear, created for the needs of a womans busy lifestyle. The collection is versatile and able to be mixed and matched in or out of the gym. Reebok is also a well-recognised mens sports and training brand, a result of its innovative products and its long-standing partnerships with several of the worlds top athletes, professional leagues and teams. Reebok is also a well-recognised mens sports and training brand, a result of its innovative products and its long-standing partnerships with several of the worlds top athletes, professional leagues and teams. Given Reeboks close collaboration with athletes, the brand has a clear understanding of athletes training needs. The primary focus is on creating versatile products that help athletes prepare for their sport irrespective of the discipline. For 2010, the brand is accelerating its mens training efforts, introducing two key initiatives. * ReeZig: In spring 2010, Reebok will introduce ZigTech, a completely new training shoe for endurance sports like running and agility sports. In product testing, a host of enthusiastic athletes and consumers confirm that ZigTech is not only visually striking, but more importantly it addresses an

unmet need of fitness runners and athletes. This need is to get more out of their workout and reduce wear and tear thus allowing them to enhance their lifetime as an athlete. By maximising energy transfer through its zigzag geometry back to the actual running stride, this shoe allows the wearer to train longer, faster and healthier. This is achieved as the unique energy and cushioning system reduces stress on muscles by up to 20%, therefore reducing wear and tear on the runners body. The introduction of ZigTech will be supported by an integrated global marketing campaign ReeZig featuring key athletes from Reeboks roster with major launches planned to coincide with global event milestones such as the Super Bowl. * ReeTrain: In 2010, Reebok will introduce a complete range of strength training products for men based on its muscle toning platform of moving air. Air-filled pods under the heel and forefoot of the shoes create a natural instability with every step, forcing the muscles to adapt and work harder. This allows the consumer to get more out of their workout. The offering includes EasyTone for walking and casual wear, TrainTone for training exercises and the gym, RunTone for running and JumpTone, helping to strengthen key leg muscles and thus allowing athletes to improve their vertical leap. The introduction of these products is supported by an integrated global marketing campaign, ReeTrain. Key Reebok athletes such as Lewis Hamilton will again bear testimony to Reeboks training products. On the apparel side, Reebok will launch a versatile collection of apparel called Training Day. Designed for the athletes training needs, fusing sport and style influences, this collection is able to be worn on and off the pitch. In addition, Reeboks global mens focus on training and running will be complemented by a select set of regional category priorities, for example American football, baseball and lacrosse in North America, or cricket in India. To drive future growth in these categories, Reebok continues to develop a product and innovation strategy concentrating on fit. In 2010, Reebok is expanding its portfolio of fit technologies with the introduction of U-Form. Adapted from a Reebok-CCM Hockey skate technology, U-Form is a heat-activated customised fit system. The athlete heats the shoes (either in-store or at home) at around 200F/90C for 3.5 minutes. He then laces the shoe tight and relaxes for about 8 minutes as the shoe forms to the exact shape of his foot. By contouring the shoe to the shape of the foot, potential skin irritation is eliminated and, because of its proper fit, the performance of the underfoot technologies are optimised. U-Form will be available in select American football, basketball, baseball and running shoes starting in May 2010.