Puma SE
Line
- Bjørn Gulden, Chairman of the Board
- Jean -François Palus, Chairman of the Board
Puma SE is a global, German sporting goods supplier and manufacturer of shoes, apparel and accessories based in Herzogenaurach. The Puma SE is majority owned by the French group Kering who owns 86 % of the shares.
Puma has around 3 billion euros in annual revenue, a net profit of 5.3 million euros and 10,982 employees in 2013 in addition to Adidas and Nike one of the world's biggest sporting goods producer. Since 1 July 2013, the Norwegian-born and former football player Bjorn Gulden leads the company.
On 23 October 2012, the Board of Directors of Puma SE has unanimously Jean -François Palus, Group Managing Director elected by majority shareholder Kering Pumas, as the new chairman of the Board with effect from 1 December 2012.
- 2.1 Overview
- 2.2 The Olympic Games 2008
- 2.3 Controversy over the equipment of the Cameroonian national football team
History
Foundation
The company was founded by Rudolf Dassler in 1948 as Puma Rudolf Dassler shoe company. Previously, he had performed with his brother Adolf " Adi " Dassler in 1924, the Joint Undertaking sports shoe company, Gebrüder Dassler in Herzogenaurach. Because of disagreements Rudolf Dassler started in 1948 but with the building their own business while his brother with the creation of Adidas went his own business way.
As a company Ruda was initially intended ( from Rudolf Dassler ). Because of the similar but better sound and association with the dynamics of the American puma the decision but then fell on Puma.
Conversion to a stock corporation
Puma is a public company since 1986 (previously it was a limited partnership). Since 2007 the company is majority owned by the French fashion and accessories Kering Group, which currently holds 86 % stake. The remaining 14 percent are in free float .. In July 2011, Puma has been converted into a European Company and has since been trading under PUMA SE.
Crisis and realignment in the 1990s
When the company came to a crisis in the mid -nineties, the company management decided on a realignment of the brand. This took place at the unusually young CEO Jochen Zeitz. Puma was the first athletic brand that consistently sat beside the pure sports articles on fashion and lifestyle products. The Puma brand gained thereby, especially among young people again greater popularity.
Markenneupositionierung 2013
After the company was suffering from stagnant sales and profit declines since 2012, presented PUMA CEO Björn Gulden in the fall of 2013 a new brand positioning of the company before. Under the heading "Forever Faster" Puma wants to be the "fastest sports brand in the world" and thereby concentrate on the core sport categories football, running and training, golf and motor sports. The product range will continue to include sportinspirierte lifestyle products.
As part of the restructuring and realignment of the Group ceased its sports categories sailing and rugby.
Fragrances under the name Puma are distributed by P & G Prestige Products, a subsidiary of the " Procter & Gamble " group.
Acquisition by PPR
The French company Pinault -Printemps Redoute, today Kering had taken an equity stake of 27.1 percent for 1.4 billion euros by the Tchibo heirs heart in April 2007. PPR was able to increase on 20 June 2007, only 33.2 percent of its stake to the end of the initial acceptance period. After extension of the acceptance period for another two weeks PPR could, however, increase its Puma share until July 17, 2007 to 62.1 percent.
The management board of PUMA AG has welcomed the outcome and success of the voluntary takeover offer of the French.
Chronicle
- 2010: For the first time replaced the Puma cat in its logo: For African Cup in 2010 and the Football World Cup 2010 we will introduce a logo with the outline of the African continent.
- 2011: Franz Koch replaces longtime CEO Jochen Zeitz and the legal form of Puma is changed to SE.
- 2011: Puma developed and released the world's first ecological profit and loss account (Environmental Profit & Loss Account, in short, E P & L) on the basis of environmental indicators, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, land use, air pollution and waste.
- 2013: With "Cougar Factory" Puma restarts a quote for personalized products ( Mass Customization ). As in the previous PUMA Mongolian Shoe BBQ three models can initially be designed and ordered in custom colors.
- 2013: The Norwegian Bjørn guilders, with effect 1 July 2013 as the new Chairman of the Management Board ( CEO).
Known models
In 2008, the Puma KING celebrates its 40th anniversary. The anniversary model KING XL (XL stands for the Roman numeral 40) is also a tribute to the Portuguese soccer star Eusebio. He had scored 42 goals in 1968 with the KING and so won the first ever " Golden Boot " as top scorer in European leagues. The outstanding feature of over the years constantly optimized soccer shoe is its particularly flat from the beginning section. This and the highly flexible structure should enable a particularly good ball contact. Among the most prominent carriers include football legends like Pele, Vogts, Bonhof, Netzer, Cruyff, Maradona, Völler and Matthew.
Sponsors activities
Overview
For the marketing of their products Puma includes sponsorship contracts with famous athletes and sports teams. So the company paid, for example, twelve of the 32 participants in the Football World Cup 2006, including the eventual champions Italy. At the final round of World Cup 2010 in South Africa participated in nine equipped by Puma teams. Here is a small selection of the teams that are equipped from Puma:
- League clubs: VfB Stuttgart, Olympiakos Piraeus, PAOK Thessaloniki and AEK Athens, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Sheffield Wednesday, Colchester United, Reading FC, Coventry City, Brentford FC, Bristol City, Leyton Orient, Feyenoord, Fortuna Dusseldorf, Slask Wroclaw, Lech Poznan, Sportfreunde Siegen, Newcastle United, Preston North end FC, Stade Rennes, sporting Lisbon, Club Brugge, Girondins Bordeaux, Levski Sofia, Borussia Dortmund, Dinamo Zagreb, SG Wattenscheid 09, SV Sandhausen
- Teams: Algeria, Bulgaria, Danish national handball team, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Iran, Italy, Cameroon, Morocco, Namibia, Austria, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, Uruguay.
Furthermore Puma supports the newly formed Athletics club LAZ Puma Troisdorf / Siegburg.
Olympic Games 2008
At the Beijing Games is Puma supplier of 15 Olympic teams: Botswana, Bulgaria, Burundi, Denmark, Ghana, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Cameroon, Morocco, Rwanda, Zambia, Sweden, Tanzania, Uganda and Venezuela. The case most impressive successes achieved Jamaican Usain Bolt with three gold medals, including two world records.
Controversy over the amenities of the Cameroonian national football team
As part of the new marketing strategy a completely new sports kit for the Men's National Soccer Team of Cameroon was designed. The national team appeared for the African Nations Cup in 2004 in a newly designed one piece ( the Cameroon UniQT ). The jersey is body contoured, the shorts are sewn to the skin-tight jersey.
FIFA saw these sportswear but as a violation of its own rules, which state that the sports clothing consists of a shirt and trousers. Against the Cameroon team a fine of 200,000 Swiss francs was imposed (about 125,000 euros ), also pulled one of the team for qualifying for the 2006 World Cup six points from. In response, Puma complained against FIFA. The point deduction was withdrawn from the FIFA again, and both parties agreed amicably. However, Puma reserves the right to bring his one piece again on the market.
Criticism
The Puma SE has been criticized by the Clean Clothes Campaign. The wages paid by Puma would not be sufficient in El Salvador for the basic need for food. Workers are therefore forced to renounce breaks and overtime work in order to increase their earnings via surcharges and bonuses. Workers in supplier companies would verbally and physically abused in part.