Leading the Charge in China's Sporting Revolution
Learn how alumnus Adrian SIU, 1994 MBA, leverages consumer insight, agility, passion and purpose-driven leadership to redefine success at adidas Greater China.
When Adrian Siu returned to adidas in 2022 to lead Greater China, the business was navigating one of its most challenging periods. Revenues had declined, competition was intensifying, and the market was evolving at remarkable speed.
For Siu, however, the decision to step back into the arena was guided by convictions formed decades earlier in the classrooms of HKUST Business School.
“I have very deep and high confidence in adidas,” he says. “Tough time never lasts, but tough people do.”
Today, as Managing Director of Greater China, overseeing more than 1,500 employees from Shanghai, Siu draws daily on principles first shaped during his MBA experience: consumer focus, strategic agility, and people-centered leadership.
From Social Sciences to Strategic Leadership
Before HKUST, Siu’s academic background was in social work, sociology, and psychology. The MBA marked his first immersion into formal business education and a turning point in his career.
“At HKUST, I was first exposed to very in-depth business school education — completely different to what I had done,” he recalls.
Two principles from that experience continue to anchor his leadership.
“Number one is consumer centricity. Whatever we do, our decision should be based on our consumers, what they need.”
That mindset is evident in how adidas has evolved in China. Two decades ago, global designs were simply imported into the market. Today, the company invests heavily in local consumer insight and localised creation. More than 65% of products sold in China are now designed by the Shanghai team he explains.
“In the past, global designs were brought directly into the China market. But today… brands must understand the consumer and create through localized design,” he says.
The shift reflects not just strategy, but a disciplined application of consumer-centric thinking — a lesson rooted in his MBA training.
Strategic Agility in Action
The second enduring lesson from the School was efficiency and value creation.
“We always can find ways to create more value with the same resources, or achieve the same result in a much faster and efficient way,” Siu says.
In China’s fast-changing market where every three months could spell dynamic changes — that mindset is critical. It informs adidas’ agile supply chain model, its acceleration of local manufacturing, and its responsiveness to shifting digital platforms such as Tmall, JD.com, and Douyin.
What once took months can now be executed in a fraction of the time. For Siu, this operational discipline is not abstract theory — it is applied MBA thinking in action.
From the friendships and leadership foundations built at HKUST Business School to a deep passion for sport, Adrian carries forward the spirit that is powering both his own path and adidas’ revival in China.
Making a Leader
Siu vividly remembers that the first MBA class he attended was Organizational Management, which required reading Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.
“It really shaped our leadership, managerial style — how you work with people,” he says.
That early exposure sharpened his understanding of the distinction between managing and leading.
“The manager focuses on P&L, KPI,” he explains. “But as a leader, it’s different.”
Leading adidas Greater China means guiding thousands of people as well as a senior team of top industry talents. His role is not simply to drive numbers, but to align strengths around a shared vision.
“How do you get everyone together to share the same objective, to steer them all in the same direction,” he says.
HKUST Business School’s diverse classroom environment also broadened his worldview. “It made me understand the world is vast and complicated,” he reflects. “I need to remain open-minded and curious.”
That openness now shapes how he navigates intense competition between global and local brands, rapid digital transformation, and evolving consumer identities.
Leading with Passion and Ownership
When Siu returned to adidas in 2022, he did so not only with strategy, but with personal conviction.
“If you love something, you will enjoy it every day,” he says. “But if you don’t have that love, then you only see it as work.”
He describes confidence, passion, and ownership as the core values driving both his career and adidas’ resurgence in China. Those qualities reinforced by rigorous training at the School allowed him to lead decisively during uncertainty.
For today’s HKUST students, his advice echoes his own journey: choose an industry you are passionate about, stay curious, and ground every decision in a deep understanding of people.
After all, leadership, like sport, is not a sprint. It is a marathon built on discipline, resilience, and clarity of purpose.
And as Siu reminds his team: “You got this.”
