Nike's Strategic And Financial Position Analysis
Nike is a globally recognized multinational corporation founded by the Stanford Graduate School of Business graduate, Phil Knight, and Bill Bowerman who was the track and field coach at the University of Oregon. The two appear to be a natural fit as each hailed from a background that would appreciate the underlying design that goes into creating a quality running shoe.
Nike's global operations in aggregate employ a number greater than 30,000 employees throughout a range of services and job functions. A fraction of that aggregate is employed at the company headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. According to www.nikebiz.com, "Nike employes more than 36,000 people globally. Our Nike World Headquarters located in Beaverton, Oregon is home to more than 7,000 employees. For the fiscal year ending May 31, 2010, we reported revenues of $19.0 billion." (www.nikebiz.com/company_overview/facts.html)
The Nike Mission Statement
"To bring inspiration and innovation to ever athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete." -- Bill Bowerman
According to www.nikebiz.com, "Bill Bowerman was a nationally respected track and field coach at the University of Oregon, who was constantly seeking ways to give his athletes a competitive advantage. He experimented with different track surfaces, re-hydration drinks and most importantly -- innovations in running shoes. But the established footwear manufacturers of the 1950s ignored the ideas he tried to offer them, so Bowerman began cobbling shoes for his runners." (www.nikebiz.com/company_overview/history/1950s.html)
The mission statement is clearly reflective of Bowerman's past as a track & field coach. This innate ability to see the athlete in all humans is what came naturally to Bowerman. To see an ability where others would consider no ability exists, or perhaps not as much as what Bowerman sees. Tiger Woods is an example of the talent Bowerman saw in an unproven individual prior to Tiger's opportunity to 'wow' the world in his first Masters Tournament.
Additionally, according to www.nikebiz.com, "Phil Knight was a talented middle-distance runner from Portland, who enrolled at Oregon in the fall of 1955 and competed for Bowerman's track program. Upon graduating from Oregon, Knight earned his MBA in finance from Stanford University, where he wrote a paper that proposed quality running shoes could be manufactured in Japan that would compete with more established German brands." (www.nikebiz.com/company_overview/history/1950s.html)
In accordance to the mission statement, the background of Knight and Bowerman would be critical to the emergence and subsequent dominance of the Nike brand in the running shoe industry. The sneaker design set Nike apart early on to the point where a brilliant marketing scheme would catapult the brand beyond the popular Converse and Puma brands.
The strategy of Nike ostensibly may be summed up on one word, innovation. Nike's inherent success is attributable to its ability to innovate at every corner to create a strategic advantage between its operations and that of the competition. Although some of its innovative ideas and advertising promotions did not work to the successes of previous ideas, the Nike strategy remained geared toward innovation.
According to www.nikebiz.com, "Innovation is at the heart of NIKE, Inc.'s business growth strategy. Our relentless focus to be better helps us create the world's most innovative products for consumers across the globe. This same philosophy and determination is driving change in how we approach corporate responsibility in today's marketplace. Years ago, when we started working to improve the labor, environmental and social impacts of our business model, we were largely driven by a need to manage risk. Today, our corporate responsibility approach has evolved from focusing on risk management, philanthropy and compliance to one that utilizes our natural focus on innovation to transition NIKE, Inc. into a business that is more sustainable, by which we mean that it brings people, planet and profits into balance for lasting success." (www.nikebiz.com/crreport/content/strategy/2-1-1-corporate-responsibility-strategy-overview.php?cat=cr-strategy)
Additionally, according to www.nikebiz.com, "To fulfill these demands, we must succeed in a world where natural and human resources are constrained. In the future, issues ranging from peaking oil prices, climate change mitigation and population growth to the decreasing availability of natural resources could impact our consumers and our business. As the world moves to a low-carbon economy, we see potential impact to labor forces, working conditions, communities, development, youth, sport, supply chains, products and more." (www.nikebiz.com/crreport/content/strategy/2-1-1corporate-responsibility-strategy-overview.php?cat=cr-strategy)
Nike has "defined three core strategic questions." (www.nikebiz.com/crreport/content/strategy/2-1-2-changing-world-urgent-challenges.php?cat=cr-strategy These three questions are...
For any strategic planning activity to be effective there must be the ability to quickly define process-level changes to increase competitive advantage. Mintzberg's critique of the strategic planning process is illustrated in the shortcomings of the Ashoff Matrix in this regard. Lack of strategic prioritization of projects within the context of the Ansoff Matrix - the Ansoff Matrix does not provide for strategic criteria to be applied to specific projects.
This strategy of customization increases sales and profits per pair of shoes produced. Successful Acquisitions and Partnerships Nike acquired Official Starter Properties and Official Starter in later 2004. These two entities were the sole owners and licensors of the Starter, Team Starter and Asphalt brand names as well as master licensee of the Shaq and Dunkman brands (a line of athletic apparel, footwear and accessory products for the value retail channel).
Nike Women's Case Nike's Global Women's Fitness Business: Driving Strategic Integration Case Study Need for Organizational Change Business Case Kotter's 8 Step Model for Change Create Urgency Build the Change Team Create a Vision for the Change Communicate the Vision Remove Obstacles Create Short-Term Wins Build on the Change and Anchor the Changes in the Corporate Culture Other conditions for change. Need for Organizational Change It became evident to many executives at Nike that women had evolving needs that were not being met under
Customer Analysis The customers to which Nike will be marketing its new product are women who are interested in the skinny jeans look and also who are interested in being athletic. Not all women are athletes, but many of them are interested in looking fit and trim. Because they want to maintain a healthy weight and look nice for themselves and others, and because they wish to remain hip and trendy,
NIKE The nerd globetrotting elite The NIKE Corporation website targets a new global movement in mind-body synergy through artificial intelligence, 'thinks for your feet.' In the last twenty years the multi-billion dollar corporation has mobilized its methodology in sales on the wings of a Greek goddess. Since 1988, when NIKE's 'Just Do It' slogan came on the scene, the company has been selling performance and style at a pace exceeding all competitors.
Aside the attraction of customers, the money invested in marketing have created the desired outcome of a strong and reputable brand. Another pivotal element in the financial strategies has been that of maximizing the efficiency of managing inventories. This was necessary in order to continually strengthen the brand as well as achieve the profitability goals. Alongside with operating principles, supply-chain renovation and inventory management, financial management represents the pillar
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now