Internal Alignment and External Competitiveness for Adidas’ and Nike Essay Example

system because it creates a clear link between the job and pay. It also enhances employee performance and commitment. Pay level is the financial return for employment. There is a close relationship in pay levels of Nike and Adidas, but Nike pays slightly higher.

For example, a sales associate is paid at the rate of £8.93/hr in Nike, while Adidas pays at £8.70/hr, a product manager in Nike is paid £77,455 and Adidas pays £64,333. Nike uses higher pay levels to attract professionals to the organization when they are recruiting. This method is efficient in acquiring the right people to carry out jobs for the organization. In the past, Nike has been criticized of poor pay for factory workers in the Asian countries where they operate. Nike has been working towards making changes by slightly improving the wages, but this has not been successful because employees continue to carry out strikes in these countries (Beder 24).

Adidas on the hand is working on a structure, to retain and attract more employees who will bring their experience and boost production. Both organizations should improve the pay levels of their employees so that they can be committed and dedicated to their work/job.    Nike is the leader among the shoe manufacturers in the world and is closely followed by Adidas. In terms of external competitiveness Nike still leads the pack because it combines both internal alignment and external competitiveness strategies to stay at the top.

It is extremely important for both organizations, to pay employees at the rate that other organizations in the same industry are paying so as to meet its objectives, and

avoid high employee turnover. Nike closed its US factories by 1984 and moved to Asia for cheap labor. When South Korea and Taiwan developed unions they moved to China, Vietnam and Indonesia which were still undeveloped. The same applies to Adidas which was based at Germany now has factories in Asia because of the availability of cheap labour.

These organizations target the countries where there are no strict labor laws and that are less developed. To achieve this, they have to carry out pay surveys to find out how much other industries are paying for similar jobs (Beder, 24). The strategies Nike Inc. uses to stay on top are used by the other companies to challenge it. Nike combines both internal alignment and external competitiveness strategy in employment, and Adidas uses the same strategy to keep up with the competition. The strategy is good; however, Nike as the leader should change its employment policies and improve wages of its employees. This in-turn reflects in other organizations such as Adidas.