Political: Reebok can utilise areas of unemployment and reduced-cost labour to outsource product creation at a lower price in order to increase profit margin, areas such as China have been utilised previously. (China Labour Watch, 2002)
Economic: Reebok is one of the front runners as a sports apparel brand, and therefore has to be significantly competitive over its value for money. At one point Reebok didn’t take into consideration was the price of the shoe. At $170 per pair, they were a similar price to Nike’s Air Pressure, which retailed at $180 (Weinfuss, 2020). After a year, Nike lowered the price of the Air Pressures ($85-110), making them a much cheaper option than the Pumps. The Air Pressures became the much better option for customers, which Reebok failed to recognize. This helped lead to the fall of the Reebok Pumps.
Social: Reebok must keep up with social trends and ensure their designs are distinctive, ensuring they target all possible ages/cultures of people to maximise possible sales. This can be done through several product lines. The company aims to attract customers who are fashion or sport focused, producing a variety of product variations.
Technological: Reebok utilises its technological advantages to seek flaws in competitor products and create opportunities. The reason why Reebok was successful initially was because of their macro-analysis of Nike’s new shoe at the time, called the Air Pressure. Reebok noted the benefits of having an air pump, however the Air Pressure’s pump was handheld and therefore not practical for in-game use. This is where they came up with the Reebok Pump, which had the air pump on the actual shoe. This is the primary reason the shoe was so successful during it’s first couple of years on the market.
Legal: Reebok must abide by specific workers rights and regulations in order to produce their product legally. Reebok struggled with their human rights standard and the working conditions of Chinese workers. A recent report by China Labour Watch (2002) states that “Reebok suppliers are in constant violation of Chinese law and Reebok’s Human Rights Standard”. Questions are being raised as a result of this that negatively affect Reebok’s brand: “Can Reebok guarantee the quality of it’s products?”, “Why cannot Reebok do more to guarantee the quality of the implementation of its Human Rights Standard?” (China Labour Watch, 2002).
Environmental: Reebok consistently utilised recycled goods to produce their products in order to be sustainable, such as their “Better Cotton” production which they co-created with other organisations.
References
Acasestudy.com (2020). Reebok Marketing Plan. Available at: <https://acasestudy.com/reebok-marketing-plan/> (Accessed 12 March 2020).
Charisius, C. (2020). Sportswear Maker Adidas To Buy Reebok. [online] msnbc.com. Available at: <http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8805430/ns/business-world_business/t/sportswear-maker-adidas-buy-reebok/#.XmdxMkB2vIU> (Accessed 10 March 2020).
Chinalaborwatch.org. 2002. Reebok’S Human Rights Standard And Chinese Workers’ Working Conditions. [online] Available at: <http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/6> [Accessed 14 February 2020].
Ginter, P. and Jack Duncan, W. (1990). Macroenvironmental analysis for strategic management. Long Range Planning, 23(6), pp.91-100.
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G. (2018). Market analysis of reebok. Available at: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/market-analysis-of-reebok-marketing-essay.php?vref=1 (Accessed: 2 March 2020).
Weinfuss, J. (2020). Inside the rise and fall of the iconic Reebok Pump on its 30th birthday. ESPN.com. Available at: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28149048/inside-rise-fall-iconic-reebok-pump-30th-birthday (Accessed: 2 March 2020).
Understanding Reebok 