Adidas definitely uses acquisitions to their advantage. They are extremely strategic with every acquisition they make, ensuring that they are not only getting rid of competition but that the new acquisition will actually benefit them as well. Attached are a few links of some Adidas acquisitions over the years. https://www.adidas-group.com/en/group/history/ https://nypost.com/2017/07/20/adidas-laces-up-100m-hockey-brand-sale/ https://techcrunch.com/2015/08/05/runtastic-acquired-by-adidas-for-240m/

Adidas has been really smart when referring to partnering with other companies and brands in order to reach as many people with their brand as possible. One of Adidas' biggest partnerships has been with FIFA. The World Cups recently reached 3.2 billion viewers which means that every last one of those people are being influenced by Adidas whether they realize it or not. Attached is a link to FIFAs extension to their contract with Adidas through the year 2030! http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2013/m=11/news=fifa-and-adidas-extend-partnership-until-2030-2227271.html

Adidas actively and successfully uses a multi-brand strategy. Within this particular strategy Adidas is able to take advantage of the opportunities in the industry as well as provide diverse and relevant products to an extremely wide range of customers. The strategy directly relates to diversification because all products under Adidas group's brands are related to one another which allows the sharing of different recourses as well as capabilities between the variety of brands.

Vertical integration is all about a company's strategy to create more economic value by owning its own supply chain as opposed to paying for someone else to produce the product for them. As a company produces more and more of its product from beginning to end, that company becomes more vertical.  Adidas has currently switched from its past vertical integration strategy to the outsourcing in production and manufacturing. Most products of the company such as sporting shoes, apparel, accessories and equip,eat are manufactured in the Asian countries. The reason behind outsourcing the manufacturing is the lower cost of raw goods and labor in those countries. Adidas moved production to Asia in the early 1990's to remain competitive in the industry. Although Adidas outsourced its production and manufacturing, the design and development of their products remains in Germany.