Some people at ASICS America Corp. thought Seiho Gohashi was a little crazy when he arrived at the company in 2005.
Gohashi, a lifelong employee of ASICS Corp. of Japan, the $1.4 billion worldwide sporting goods manufacturer, came to ASICS America
and set a high bar for the sports apparel company’s U.S. unit. Just one month after he arrived as the company’s chairman and CEO, he
challenged it to accomplish $500 million in sales and $50 million in profit in five years, a plan he dubbed 555.
While the plan’s name was catchy, the targets seemed like pie-in-the-sky to most at ASICS America. The incredulity was rooted in the
track record that the company had established in the United States. The company had demonstrated sluggish performance since it started doing business here in 1977, plodding along with sales leveling off around the $200 million mark for several years in a market where
demand for athletic footwear had been growing at a steady clip. Now, a company man who had never worked in the United States
planned to grow it at what seemed like an unrealistic pace.
To Gohashi, the goal was ambitious but reachable, while for the rank and file at ASICS America, it seemed like a pipedream. Nonetheless,
Gohashi has made believers out of the doubters by sprinting quickly toward the finish line he’s established for the company, bringing the
goal closer than even he first thought was possible.
He got the company out of the blocks with blinding speed. After just his first six months at ASICS America, sales had increased
by 30 percent.
At $440 million in sales for 2006, ASICS America is surging to win the 555 event. Gohashi says he expects to meet his goal of
$500 million in sales and $50 million in profit in 2009.
Here’s how Gohashi has put ASICS America on track to meet the ambitious goal.