Adidas Chair & CEO Herbert Hainer will retire this fall, but only after the company has "lifted its earnings guidance for this year four times since April and now forecasts net profit to rise almost 40% over last year," according to a Q&A with Ellen Emmerentze Jervell of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. After "blaming poor golf sales and Russia’s economic crisis" for poor sales performances in the past, Hainer "promised a turnaround and hung on." Asked what facilitated the change, Hainer said the company "gave much more power and responsibility" to its brand managers. He said, "We made them responsible, from design and development to end products. And we made them responsible for the whole supply chain." Hainer: "After a time ... we figured out what we had to do in America. Over the past 18 months, we’ve changed the complete management. We work a lot closer with the key retailers now. When you go to Dick’s (Sporting Goods), to Foot Locker, you now see our displays, not only individual products on the wall." As for the future, Hainer said, "Even if I’m not here then ... the double-digit growth rates we have right now in the U.S. will continue" (WSJ, 8/31).
