Puma's turnaround strategy under Jochen Zeitz's leadership

Players in the case study are Puma and Adidas. At the start of 2007 -- Jochen Zeitz, the founder of Puma could think about the significant turnover of the corporation and, most significantly, to reflect about the future. After the company, could reinvent themselves, setting up a new marketplace section and displays that the corporation could not contest with its big brother, Adidas, Puma was a crisis. The company turned out to be extremely lucrative in the last ten years, and the share price is also in good shape. Therefore, it is not surprising that the real rumors began circulating in the industry that the two firms have been flirting with the idea of buying the company,

2.What challenges did Puma face?

The challenges hit Puma right after 1980. Before that time, they were doing very well. One of the challenges it faced was that it was not able to keep up with the changing trends and quickly lost its place as the top sportswear company. Another challenge was that the shoes could only be found at discount prices and because of that, they started writing losses. They also had to file for bankruptcy which was a huge challenge for them. Puma was 100 million in debt.

4.Were these strategies successful?

Yes, the strategies were successful. For example, following the Market busting move in Phase 2, growth at Puma was extraordinary, with sales growing 30% every single year from 1997 all through 2003 and would be projected to carry on in years to come. The company\'s earnings in 2004 were 257 million euro on sales of 1.53 billion. This was a remarkable increase from the losses understood in 1993 before Zeitz took charge of the business. Everything was successful because the corporation persisted its charge forward through applying the third phase of its plan starting in 2002 wherein it aspired to become the most wanted \"Sports lifestyle\" product on the marketplace. Puma continued investigating the ability of its brand by growing the brand\'s appeal and turning this increased attractiveness into growth in a multitude of global markets and stays useful in its placing in the present day. With all of its success, Puma now plans to have 50 concept stores in the process by 2006 and is aggressively using the launch of these impression stores to enlarge into marketplaces in Asia and Eastern Europe, actually allowing the corporation to escape the mature life cycle of the Western European and American marketplaces.

5.Should Puma stay independent sell or join? Why?

Because Puma has been able to make such an active combat after the bankruptcy, they should stay independent. It appears that they can manage on their own so far and that the earlier strategies involving phase I and II were successful. Also, the company is keeping its products in high-margin, high-end channels for example concept stores, boutiques, and department stores, lending to the popular image of the product and allowing the corporation to command a more promising bottom line.