Under Armour History

Under Armour Inc. is an American sports apparel and accessories company. The company supplies innovative sportswear, footwear and casual apparel to consumers. The company is headquarters is located in Baltimore, Maryland. The company was founded in 1996 by 23-year old Kevin Plank, who was captain on the University of Maryland football team. Kevin saw a need for a more innovative training T-shit because he would have to change out of sweat-soaked ones during practice. So he decided to design a T-Shirt using a micro fiber that would regulate the amount of moisture in the shirt and keep the athlete cool, dry and light. Major competing brands such as Nike and Adidas followed in Kevin’s footsteps and began to manufacture their own version

Presently the company has opened several outlet stores and factory locations in North America and Asia. The company has from alliances with several individuals and organizations in order to in increase its market share. They are a major commercial sponsor of the popular reality TV show Duck Dynasty. It has signed a major contract to provide uniforms and athletic equipment for the University of Notre Dame. The company has managed to sign endorsement deals with superstar NBA player Stephen Curry and Superstar golfer Jordan Spieth. According to Michael Santoli of Yahoo Finance, as of 2014 Under Armour’s operating revenue and operating profit has accelerated more than 30% compared to 2013 and its share price has soared 62. 5%. The company has also been an active presence the world of philanthropy. The company in-house charity is called UA Give Back and it is a concerted effort for the company to become involved in various facets of the world community. It is then broken down into more specific organizations such as the UA Power in Pink, UA Freedom and UA Win Global. UA Power in Pink is involved in fighting breast Cancer through the use of exercise. UA Freedom provides support and generates awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project. UA Win Global is a program that focuses on providing athletic events for children in underprivileged

Majority of business fail in the first twelve months of its inception. Therefore for a company to have the slightest chance of succeeding its founders must formulate a cohesive strategic plan that will streamline the mission and objectives of the business. Strategic planning is a key component in the success of any business, because it provides the firm with a clear vision. Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or mission and making the necessary decisions to allocate available resources to accomplish this strategy. The strategic planning process can be broken down into four key steps. The first step entails conducting a thorough analysis of factors that affect the firm both internally and externally. A SWOP analysis can be used, to determine the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and treats. External factors such as, competition, reliability of suppliers, the needs of consumers, and whether there are any barriers to entry into new markets will be studied. The second step involves defining the future direction of the company. In this step management will develop and organizational vision and a mission statement that will define the values for which the firm stands. After the firm conveys its vision and mission a detailed strategy can be formulated to achieve them. In the third step the firm’s main objectives and