New Balance

Case Study: New Balance & Community Social Responsibility

Matthew Mrnak

Southern New Hampshire University

An American footwear manufacturer, New Balance, was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1906 by a 33-year old British emigrant William J. Riley. He started to design and build arch supports to ease the pain for consumers who spent a majority of their day on their feet. "It is believed that Riley came up with the name "New Balance" by observing chickens in his yard and demonstrated the way his arch supports worked by keeping a chicken foot on his office desk. He explained to customers that the chicken's three-clawed foot resulted in perfect balance" (New Balance, para. 3).

To this day New Balance shoes tend to be on the more expensive side than other manufacturers, but much like its history it differentiates themselves with features such as heel counters, gel inserts, and a wider selection of sizes that will cater to a variety of sizes, for example wide or narrow feet.

After being convinced of the high potential and trying the New Balance shoes himself James Davis purchased the company together with his wife Anne. Sports shoes remained to be the main focus for New Balance. The company continued to grow and experience a significant addition in the late 1990's with the aquisitions of branch such as Dunham, Warrior and Brine, as well as others. Although the company was mainly known to be American made, operations for apparel and other accessories lead the company to other countries like China and Taiwan.

Despite abstaining from expensive advertising campaigns and professional athletic sponsorships, unlike its' competitors, New Balance has grown to become one of the largest makers of sports footwear in the world. In fact, the company was ranked fourth worldwide in the athletic footwear department below leading competitors such as Nike, Adidas, and Sketchers (Dr. Vesela Veleva, New Balance: Developing An Integrated CSR Strategy, pg. 18).

A lean...