Straight talk

Wolfgang Bentheimer is the managing director of adidas China. Since he began his career with the company in the late-1990s, Wolfgang has taken adidas to new heights across several markets. This includes maintaining adidas China as one of the best performing subsidiaries in the adidas Group.

Growing with China in early times and sponsoring Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, adidas has been deeply rooted in the China market and aims to further develop in this fastest shaping market.

In an exclusive interview with China Business Weekly reporter Li Fangfang, Bentheimer shares his opinions on his company's development and China's economic reform and rapid growth.

Q: What's the biggest challenge for your company in the China market?

A: In the Chinese market, the "war for talent" is probably among the toughest worldwide. For us, getting the right people for our organization in order to support our fast growth is a key challenge. However, our involvement as official sportswear partner of the recent Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as well as other marketing activities we are rolling out nationwide will help us to further strengthen our employer branding in the eyes of external talent.

For our current employees, adidas Group China is running staff engagement programs in order to engage and motivate our employees. During the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, we brought all of our China-based staff to Beijing so that everybody working for the adidas Group in China got to experience the Olympic Games first-hand and truly felt as a part of this sponsorship.

Another challenge for our group in China is to expand and optimize the distribution network fast enough, in order to make our brands available and accessible to the relevant brand consumer all over China. Therefore we need to continuously focus our energy on further expansions.

Increased competition both from sport brands as well as from leisure and casual brands presents another challenge in the Chinese market, since the growth and size of this market makes it increasingly attractive for new players. However, adidas has an excellent position as a premium brand in the sports and sports lifestyle sectors in China and we will continue to put emphasis on further innovations, new products and exciting marketing campaigns to lead in this important market.

Q: In your view, what are the key elements driving your success in China?

A: The biggest success driver in our development here in the Chinese market has been to very closely connect with our consumers, to offer innovative products, to launch meaningful communication concepts and to create retail environments in which consumers can experience our brands at their very best.

At the adidas Group, we have a first class team in place around the globe with extensive experience, and we have used this experience to become one of the leaders in the sporting goods industry. Here in China, our team consists of very strong members with vast local and international experience, making sure that consumer needs are put first and that local executions of global concepts are adapted to local needs.

The recent adidas China Olympic Campaign is a great example of our local team taking over the initiative and coming up with a campaign specially tailored for the Chinese market. It is the biggest campaign that adidas ever rolled out in a single market and it was developed by our Chinese marketing team.

Q: What's your view of China's sports market post-Olympics? Will there be more competitions, challenges, or opportunities?

A: The importance of sports and the sporting goods industry will further increase in China. The adidas Group believes that the Olympic Games will support this development. Also, growing income will make sporting goods affordable for a bigger number of Chinese consumers.

For the adidas Group, China will continue to be an important manufacturing and sales market with nearly 50 percent of all our products being produced in China.

Q: As president of a multinational company's branch in China, what's your view on China's 30 years of reform and opening?

A: These past 30 years have seen some of the most incredible social and economic changes in history, as China has grown at an astonishing pace to become - in just a few short years - a major world power, a truly influential player on the global stage. This status was confirmed by the fantastic success of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, offering the world an opportunity to experience and better understand this new, confident China. And as the official sportswear partner of the Games the adidas brand was proud to be working alongside the people of China to make these Games successful.

Over the last 30 years, we have seen incredible economic growth in China, growth that has transformed the country since the reform and opening-up policy was launched.

Indeed, China is now seen as being one of the key strategic markets in the global economy. With that, the lives of people across the country have been transformed. Hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty, perhaps the most impressive victory in the battle against poverty that we have ever seen. People now enjoy a better standard of life and they have more choices available to them than ever before.

As these changes have been felt across the nation over the last few decades, the adidas Group too has grown together with the China market. China is now one of our most important markets globally, and we are experiencing sustained growth here, led by the adidas brand's association with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

This is a historic time for the adidas Group and for China, and while we look back over the successes of recent years we also look forward to decades of continued growth and prosperity for China.

(China Daily 11/10/2008 page6)