Why Nike Needs to Cut Colin Kaepernick Executive Summary

Nike’s decision to tap into “woke culture” and turn the out of work former NFL quarter Colin Kaepernick into a brand ambassador has been a controversial one since the sportswear company launched its Colin ad campaign in 2018. Nike needs to change the way it approaches its consumer base in America while simultaneously addressing the supply chain issues that have arisen as a result of COVID-19, which has caused major production problems for Nike in Asia. While Nike has been active in promoting the ultimate Trump antagonist in Colin Kaepernick, it is now time to bury the hatch and put America first but cutting ties with Kaepernick and opening up production in the US so as to 1) bring manufacturing back to America and solve the supply chain problems caused by the virus, and 2) to help put Americans back to work so that American consumers can get back to doing what they do best, which is buying. There may be resistance to change within Nike if this plan were to be implemented, so Kotter’s 8-Step model should be used to address and prevent potential resistance.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 1

Introduction 2

Literature Review 3

Application of the Theory to the Organization in Question 4

Conclusions 6

Recommendations 7

Bibliography and References 9

Introduction

Change management is about managing people and their reactions to change (Cameron & Green, 2015). However, the need for change is typically related to business issues and not necessarily to people. Thus for a company such as Nike to manage change internally it has to be able to cross that divide between business and people to make sure every stakeholder is on board with the change and that people are respected for their thoughts and feelings.

The problem that Nike faces today is twofold: 1) its use of Colin Kaepernick as an activist frontman for the brand has alienated conservative consumers; 2) its use of offshore labor has caused production nightmares now that COVID-19 has put nations in lockdown mode for the foreseeable future. Nike faces the problem of a dwindling consumer base in the US and a dwindling store of products. The solution is to bring jobs back to America and put laid-off Americans back to work so that they can go out and consume Nike products, which they will gladly do after seeing an about-face on Nike’s part.

This change is needed because the coronavirus has had a devastating effect on supply chains over the past three months since the outbreak of COVID-19 that started in China became a pandemic around the world. The current situation is untenable for companies like Nike that rely upon overseas labor for materials and production. It is understandable that some changes needed to be made for the foreseeable future as nations go into lockdown. But this is not a sustainable plan or strategy for companies that need laborers and supply chains. To maintain the livelihood of the nation at the same time that people are protected, changes need to be made. Transportation may be halted altogether in the coming months and years, which means Nike will need to ask major questions about how it plans to provide its products. The old way of relying on overseas labor or goods made overseas may have to come to an end. The US has been offshoring jobs for decades. Is it perhaps time for all jobs to return to the domestic labor market? Is it perhaps time for nations to become more isolationist...

The question is—what will be the costs and who will be willing to bear them? For Nike, the big change that has to be made is this: it must bring back labor to the US, and if it does the company will be hailed a hero for bringing jobs back to America at a time when millions of Americans are applying for unemployment as a result of the nation going into lockdown.
Literature Review

Managing change is not an easy process and it requires change managers to know their people so that they can foresee issues and stop problems from arising before they actually do. One of the ways to manage change is to monitor change. One mechanism for monitoring change is to have managers self-reporting progress every week using the Agile method, which is a highly effective method of working among managers where the goals are acknowledged and the progress made discussed daily (Balaji & Murugaiyan, 2012; Boehm, 2002; Boehm, 2007; Fernandez & Fernandez, 2008). Progress among social media Influencers should also be taken into consideration by looking at followers, who is clicking, and where traffic is coming from as this will show how well Nike’s new direction is gaining traction with the American public (Freberg, Graham, McGaughey & Freberg, 2011).

Managing resistance to change is another important aspect that has to be considered. Change management requires that managers implement the proper change management method. The one that will work best for Nike in this situation is the change management model developed by Kotter (2012). Kotter (2012) shows that change is best managed when managers involve employees in the change management process and obtain feedback from stakeholders. By inviting feedback from stakeholders, the stakeholders feel that they are part of the change management process and that their opinion matters and is important to managers. They feel valued which makes them drop their resistance to change and embrace the change. Managers can then go on to celebrate small victories and thus cement the changes so that it becomes the new norm and no one questions it from that point on (Kotter, 2012).

Application of the Theory to the Organization in Question

Kotter’s (2012) 8-Step change management model is one of the best change management models in use today. It is so helpful because it foresees the potential for problems and resistance and provides the solution through preventive maintenance. Prevention of resistance is literally written into the model. The 8 steps of the Kotter model are:

1) Create a sense of urgency

2) Create a guiding coalition

3) Create a vision for change

4) Communicate the vision

5) Remove obstacles

6) Create short-term wins

7) Consolidate improvements

8) Anchor the changes

This model works because it shows exactly what needs to be done and why. It identifies the drivers of change and encourages the manager to build a sense of urgency around them so that stakeholders buy into the need for change. It is not about pushing change on others but rather getting others to begin calling for change themselves. In this case, with the COVID-19 pandemic spreading chaos and crisis…