Adidas' Stakeholders.

Adidas’ stakeholders are people or organisations whom have an effect on or are affected by the businesses operations. Adidas doesn’t work in separation from society and their stakeholders have a legitimate interest in the way they do business. Below, displays examples of Adidas’ diverse group of stakeholders…

·         Employees of the Adidas Group

·         Authorisers government, trade associations, shareholders, Board of Directors

·         Business partners unions, suppliers, service providers

·         Workers in our suppliers' factories

·         Opinion-formers journalists, community members, special interest groups

·         Customers professional sports people, distributors, retailers, consumer

Adidas try to involve themselves with their stakeholders in numerous amount of ways. For example, formal consultation meetings, called 'stakeholder dialogues' are held with workers, union representatives, NGOs and suppliers. Reports of the meetings can be downloaded from the Adidas corporatize website, allowing members to access what has been discussed. Adidas also respond to enquiries from consumers and the media, collaborate with other brands in joint initiatives and outreach to graduates and the academic community.

When Adidas are approached by their stakeholders they revert to their clear policy which states ‘we actively engage, we listen, we seek to understand their concerns and where it is within our ability, we act’.

Adidas claim that then when you have a well-developed sustainability programme, as they have; engagement is rarely a one-off event: ‘stakeholder relationships develop over time and along the way, the nature of the dialogue changes, and matures’.

In 2010, the Adidas Company continued to pursue many long-standing engagements, such as the International Worker Rights Consortium in the USA, as well as trade unions in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Indonesia. Concerns over forced child labour in Uzbekistan's cotton fields meant that Adidas needed to engage with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Germany and call for enforcement of the law related to minimum wages. In Cambodia, Adidas asked the government to support freedom of association for striking workers. In El Salvador Adidas called for a greater enforcement of the law to benefit their workers and in Indonesia asked for the government's support for a possible factory closure. This creates a positive image for Adidas, making their stakeholders more incline to invest.

Adidas sponsored the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ which raised concerns with many international stakeholders who voiced their concerns over labour rights in the football industry. As a result Adidas provided an International Labour Rights Forum enclosed with their views on research and supporting information on pay and conditions in the stitching centres and factories that make Adidas ball products in Sialkot.

Adistats,

Jasmine