Under Armour

Integrating Relationships across the Supply Chain

Krystal Hoham

San Diego Christian College

BU 323

Date; (September 15, 2014)

Abstract

Under Armour, Inc. is a sporting line from America who sell clothing and accessories. Also is a supplier of not just sportswear but also some casual apparel. The company first started selling footwear in 2006, it also has global headquarters which are located in Baltimore, Maryland.

Introduction

Under Armour was founded 18 years ago in 1996 from a college athlete Kevin Plank. This is an American company that sells clothing, footwear, sporting equipment, and accessories. The company’s global headquarters is locaded in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. Under Armour is served Worldwide, also bringing

in $2.332 billion in revenue. $265.098 million in operating income, $162.33 million in net income, $1.577 billion total assets, $1.053 billion in total equity and also have 7,800 employees. I am going to tell you about their Customer management, Supply Management, and Logistic Management.
Customer Management must focus on three main parts of giving the customers the full experience, which are customor success, customer satisfaction, and basic service. The first one is customer success, which means to assist the customer in meeting their objective. The second is customer satisfaction, which means to meet or exceed customer expectations. Finally, the third is basic service, which means product availability, lead-time performance, and service reliability. Under Armour has a great core expectation when it comes to customer satisfaction. There are about ten words that easily describe this company’s customer satisfaction. They are, reliability, responsiveness, access, communication, credibility, security, courtesy, competence, tangibles, and knowing the customer. For example, I personally went to an Under Armour store, and their customer services are spectacular. They are low risk and confidential, polite, friendly, respectful, able to perform, their physical appearance was extremely professional, and also they were responsive to my unique customer needs. Also, their customer service is impeccable, if the product customer received is not up to Under Armour’s standard, or more importantly the customer’s standard then Under Armour is willing to give a full refund. Also, they do their best so that the customer is able to receive their package on time if they had ordered it online. Their order to delivery time depends on what kind of shipping the customer asks for. There are Standard, 2-Day, and Express. However Under Armour is willing to offer discounds on the shipping order method. Free Standard Shipping On US orders of $49+ which takes 1-2 weeks. Also, free 2-Day Shipping on US orders $125+, which should around 2 business days. Under Armour hires only the best so that they are able to stay within the time zone of what they have promised their customers.
Under Armour has a Manager of CRM which means, customer relationship marketing and their position requires many specific details. In summary, “The manager of CRM is responsible for developing customer lifecycle strategies and programs designed to increase customer retention, loyalty and Under Armour’s share of wallet. The marketing strategies will be built around a thorough understanding of: a; The Under Armour consumer, b; Under Armour Product and category objectives, c; Under Armour’s Strategic initiatives such as Mobile and Digital Sports.” (https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/6435229) In conclusion, basic customer service includes availability, lead-time performance and service reliability. Also, making the Order-to-Delivery lead-time is important, just like meeting or exceeding customer expectations for their satisfaction. The CRM involves data gathering and responding to the needs of specific customers.
Supply Management is the identification, acquisition and management of inputs and supplier relationships.

Under Armour’s job of the supply chain is to deliver to this model: ( speed + control + predictability ) x innovation = successful growth. This mathematic equation may not be 100 percent mathematically correct however it does make common sense nonetheless. According to VP of Global Merchandise & Sales Planning Bill Nienburg, the most difficult challenge is how you combine speed with control and predictability is however the key point. A challenge apparel companies have is the different seasons, therefore making it difficult to always plan in detailed each supply and the planning process, from Spring/Summer to Fall/Winter, however they are planning for five such seasons. Nienburg also made a remarkable 4D Collaboration graphic, having data in its center. This is because internal nor external is able to fully work without accurate, timely and granular dad. Therefore that is where Under Armour started from, first by researching all about data. Involving master data management, data governance, etc., along with tools to leverage the data. This model is shown

below:
I believe Under Armour does everything they can do to deliever the best supply management out there, and to hire the best that knows what they are doing. This is because successful supply management improves performance, and in and or outsourcing must involve with both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Also they must be able to be involved always and having great communication and coordination is key.
Finally Logistics Management is the movement and storage of materials to met customer needs and organizational objectives with will include forward and reverse flow, flow of materials and information, and also load, offload, move, sort and select material.

It is pretty much everything that happens behind the scenes that no one really thinks about who is buying this product. Integrated Logistics Management consists of about 6 differenc activities. They are, inventory management, order processing, transportation managemnent, network design, material handling and packaging, and warehouse management. Ever activity that goes on with logistics is extremely important to the company because even without just one of them the consumer satisfaction can go down the drain. With Under Armour the Logistics Coordinator has a deent set of key respoonsibilites and critical skills they must require. One responsibility is that they are the central point between Customer Service/ Sales and Under Armour’s 3PL for any daily business, as in daily priorities, express shipments, waving, quality issues, and complaints. I really love how in order to get jobs here Under Armour main expectations are to be a team player, proactive and pragmatic, able to perform under stress/peaktimes, also is capable of handling several tasks simultaneously and set priorites, and my favorite one of all the ability to influence people in the right direction or the right way. In my opinion, being in team sports

really prepares you for the real world and especially in jobs like this. Everything that I just explained that is the qualifications for most of Under Armour’s jobs, is pretty much the exact definition of being a team player. If I were to be the one to hire someone to this company I would of course see if the person is qualified with his education and experience but then see if he/she played on any sports teams and see how he/she was like.

References

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