Anta Group is a well-known domestic apparel company specializing in sportswear, with sports footwear and apparel being a niche market within the sports goods industry. Influenced by the upgrading of consumption in China and supported by national policies, the sports industry is experiencing a very positive growth trend. According to the General Administration of Sport’s Document No. 46, the total output value of the sports goods industry is expected to reach 5 trillion RMB, with the domestic sports footwear and apparel market currently valued at around 160 billion RMB, and expected to grow to 360 billion RMB by 2025.
Anta is the No. 1 sports goods company in China, with competitors including Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Li Ning, Xtep, Peak, and others. Currently, Anta has a market value approaching 100 billion RMB, making it the third-largest sports goods company globally by market capitalization, following Adidas and Nike. Anta is a comprehensive sports goods enterprise integrating branding, research and development, manufacturing, and marketing. It owns multiple brands, including Anta, Anta Kids, Fila, Fila Kids, Descente, and others, covering a broad range of consumers, from mass-market to high-end and from functional to casual sports products.
Founded as Anta (Fujian) Footwear Co., Ltd. in 1991, the company has undergone four major strategic transformations over more than 20 years, evolving from a traditional private enterprise into a publicly listed company with international competitiveness and a modern governance structure.
In addition to its business model innovation, Anta has heavily invested in branding, being the first privately owned company in China to use sports stars (such as Kong Linghui) in market advertisements. Currently, it is the top sponsor of the Chinese Olympic Games, CBA sponsor, and has signed numerous celebrities, including Kong Linghui, Zou Shiming, Sun Li, Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, and NBA stars such as Kevin Garnett, Luis Scola, Francis, and Klay Thompson.
In 2017, Ding Shizhong, Chairman and CEO of Anta Group, was named to the "2017 Top 100 CEOs of China" list published by Harvard Business Review, ranking 47th, making him the only CEO in the sports goods industry to be included.
As a major national brand, Anta is embarking on a new journey toward a 100-billion RMB goal and is committed to becoming a world-class sports brand.
After proposing the 4.0 Trillion Strategy, Anta Group realized that its human resources were insufficient to support the achievement of its strategic goals. Key challenges included:
Organizational inefficiencies (e.g., excessive size and fragmented departments).
Talent shortages (e.g., lack of key positions such as brand presidents, product directors, and R&D directors).
Inadequate management capabilities (e.g., lack of sufficient management skills at the director and manager levels).
Weak mechanisms (e.g., underdeveloped performance evaluation and incentive mechanisms).
Cultural inconsistencies (e.g., lack of unified brand culture and low employee enthusiasm).
The company urgently needed to build a human resources system that could support the 4.0 trillion strategic goal and foster a company culture that motivates employees.
Through external benchmarking, Anta learned that Huawei, a well-known private enterprise in China, has excellent practices in human resources and corporate culture. Anta hoped to learn from Huawei to find a path to achieve its 4.0 trillion strategy, particularly in building a human resources system capable of supporting such a large-scale transformation.
The project focused on addressing the implementation and execution of Anta’s 4.0 strategy from the perspective of human resources. Based on the understanding and evaluation of the strategy, the project aimed to solve the following issues:
Identifying Gaps: Identified gaps in achieving the 4.0 strategy related to organizational structure, talent, and cultural atmosphere, and formulated strategic alignment strategies and pathways to unify organizational thinking.
Organization and Talent Management:
Defined organizational evolution strategies under Anta’s 100 billion goal, conducting workshops on business structure and designing a three-tiered business structure for Anta Group.
Defined key talent and evaluation standards, providing scientific tools for identifying core talent and supporting Anta in effectively conducting talent reviews.
Developed core talent management strategies, covering talent planning (including quantity and structure), talent development (including career paths for core talent), and talent incentives.
Built a management platform and mechanism for Anta’s employees, addressing issues such as staff selection, succession, elimination, and activation.
Established a basic efficiency platform and administrative system for Anta.
Cultural Upgrades:
Developed a cultural management framework and strategy, addressing issues such as brand culture and subculture management.
Analyzed and upgraded Anta’s cultural values, aligning the new values with the company’s 4.0 strategy.
Developed a strategy, framework, and detailed plan for the implementation of the new corporate culture, ensuring it was integrated into recruitment, employee management, and performance evaluation.
Introduced organizational climate survey tools to enhance employee engagement and support the creation of a high-performance team.
Based on Anta Group’s 4.0 strategy transformation needs, Best Practice Consulting restructured Anta’s human resources strategy, reshaped its corporate culture, and distilled the group’s core cultural symbols, “The Anta Way.” This created a unified strategic direction and organizational foundation.
One year after the consulting project, Anta Group’s performance was as follows:
2017 Mid-Year Report: Achieved record revenue of 7.3 billion RMB, a 19% growth, and a profit of 1.4 billion RMB, a 27% increase, outperforming its second-largest competitor, Li Ning, by 2 and 7 times, respectively.
Stock Market Milestone: Anta’s market value exceeded 100 billion HKD for the first time, and its e-commerce platform set a record of nearly 700 million RMB during Double 11.
Brand Acquisition: Acquired two brands, Kolon and Little Smiling Cow, expanding its portfolio to eight brands.
These achievements marked a significant step in Anta’s journey toward becoming a global sports brand.
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