Robert Louis-Dreyfus

Adidas turnaround: 'It didn't take a genius, just copy Nike and Reebok'

Robert Dreyfus bought a near-bankrupt Adidas (3% market share), moved manufacturing to Asia, cut two-thirds of jobs, and poured the savings into marketing. He took it back to the #2 brand and retired a billionaire, telling Time it was just easier for an outsider to copy what Nike and Reebok were obviously doing.

“The quote is, it didn't take a genius. You just had to look at what Nike and Reebok were doing and do that. He goes, it was just easier for somebody outside the company to see what was obvious than somebody inside the company who had all this baggage and they couldn't do it. So he turns it around, retires a billionaire in his 50s, I think.”

Steal thisCut costs ruthlessly, redirect the savings to marketing, and copy what the obvious leaders are already doing.