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Under Armour

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Submitted By rogers45
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Principles of Management
31 October 2013
Under Armour Some of the main reason for Under Armour’s success has to do with the decision making, creativity, and great entrepreneurship from their founder and CEO, Kevin Plank. Plank was very business savvy from day one, while juggling school and football in college he also had his own business, selling flowers which allowed him to save nearly $20,000 to start Under Armour. Plank’s creativity with Under Armour is stemmed from the fact that he was a college athlete so he understands exactly what athletes want from his products. Plank still uses his athletic instincts in the workplace during meeting, rather than just sitting around a table he calls a huddle which allows for a more fun and relaxed environment in the workplace. When plank was a football player at The University of Maryland he was proclaimed as the sweatiest man on the field and his cotton shirts held too much water which made him very uncomfortable during practice and games, thus Plank decided to try and create a shirt that would not hold water which would make him faster and lighter on the field. Plank had an edge that most sports apparel CEO’s did not have and that was that he was a college athlete, which meant that many of teammates and close friends went on to play in the NFL, allowing Plank to send his teammates his product and share them with their new teammates in the NFL. Many college and professional equipment managers, got word of Under Armour, asking Plank for products and giving him ideas for new products. Under Armour’s creativity sparked a trend that many other companies followed, now many clothing companies have adopted the water resistant shirt concept, but Under Armour was the first to develop this very popular product.

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