Chap12 Ais

Second, because of the current distribution network and infrastructure that Nike had in place for its high-end

Nike has a very sophisticated sustainability strategy. The strategy is based on company’s prospects for future, to ensure that the company remains profitable and reputable, taking into consideration the social responsibility of the company (NIKE 2013). For instance, the strategy is supposed to ensure that the company gains a stable supply for the raw materials for the product manufacturing that will ensure stable supply of the products in the market at favorable prices. The strategy also targets make the company responsive to environmental concerns, aiming at reducing environmental pollution through emissions to the atmosphere (Charter, 2001). The strategy outlines the company

For Nike's business model to continually flourish and stay profitable, the senior management team and strategic planners must continually monitor short, intermediate and long-term economic factors that will affect their operations. Nike's business model is heavily dependent on supply chains, as the majority of their products are manufactured in Asian nations, either in their own manufacturing centers or contract manufacturing partners. Sales forecasts for next-generation shoes, apparel and sporting equipment must be accurate to ensure the supply chain estimates and forecasts can meet product demand. The influence of economic factors on sales and marketing planning and strategy development is among the most immediate and significant for any enterprise operating in global markets (Cerullo, Avila, 1975). Strategic planners at Nike, working in conjunction with product development and product launch teams, must understand the price elasticity of demand for a given new product or an entirely new division before launching it. Economic data gives Nike senior management and strategic planners the insight necessary to determine which new products to launch or not, when, and in which specific regions of the world. Economic variables will in short tell Nike's senior management how to navigate risk and capitalize on opportunities as quickly as possible.

Our criteria were given weights of .41 for availability of information, .35 for scope of improvement, .1 for familiarity of the product, .08 for complexity of the process, and .06 for personal interest. Under these criteria out alternatives returned values of .47, .4 and .125 for Dell, Herr’s, and Nike respectively with an inconsistency of .017. Prior to conducting the analysis, we felt Herr’s would be the best company for the project due to our familiarity with the company’s products, its nearby headquarters and the availability of a tour of the manufacturing process. However, Dell made a much larger amount of information more easily accessible to the general public which we determined would be more beneficial for us during this project.

Quality: Nike’s places strong emphasis on the quality of their products by reinforcing their tight measurement on their supplier’s performance. The company has long been known for their superior quality, reliability, and excellent designs. Furthermore, they capitalized on their high quality by investing heavily in marketing initiatives to increase brand loyalty and strengthen consumer confidence, which ultimately increases the consumer utility of their products. Creating a team of Nike Scientists devoted to continuously improving the quality of their products was only one part of their strategy. They also invested heavily in a quality control system known as the InfinityQS, which helps them identify areas of issue and monitor the overall quality of their products. (InfinityQS)

1. Discussion: What factors drive Nike’s decision to stick with some form of network organizational structure rather than own its manufacturing operations?

The forces of Nike’s customer-supplier relationship is based on joint efforts of improved quality, mutually beneficial partnerships, reduced costs, and increased market share for both parties. According to Nike building customer-supplier relationship is one of the most important goals because it is the analysis of the value chain which is defined as the collection of all activities involved in designing, marketing, manufacturing, delivering and supporting Nike’s products. Having strong relationship with both parties helps Nike to predict and notice any problem at might rise in the supply chain; as a result Nike will be able to develop better solutions to avoid it (Wankel, 2009). The first tier supplier of Nike is located mainly in Taiwan and South Korea, which work closely with R&D personnel in Oreon making the most expensive footwear. Strategies have shown that Nike implements include the vertical integration strategy. In general, the vertical integration strategy allows a firm to gain control over distributors, suppliers and competitors (Nike report, 2015). Nike has implemented forward integration by having its own retail locations throughout the United States, foreign countries & online stores. Every partner has a hugely significant

Nike executed an upgraded variant of their stock administration programming. The thought of this recently executed stock control programming was to anticipate which items they would offer the most, and along these lines set up the appropriate measure of supply to take care of the demand. To begin with they would deliver an interest measuring and taking into account that estimates, they would set up an assembling arrangement. That is the way most huge enterprises (and some little organizations) settle on their operational business choices. Here is the procedure:-

b) the nature of takeover (it can be considered as “Insider Trading”, and to avoid litigation by shareholders, an acquirer may need to pay premium)

Clearly, Nike has the responsibility to hold suppliers to those conditions that prevail only in the supplying

Nike has seldom manufactured products own premises, except their air bladders. The shoes are manufactured through outsourcing and alliances with other companies. A successful company like Nike formed its organization on the customer values that have the MOST impact on the consumers mind – Design/R&D, Marketing and Distribution. Even though manufacturing is a vital function to perform, Nike realized that there were other ways to go about this function and thereby save both cost and maintain its focus on the critical customer value areas.

Further on the subject of customization, Nike had great difficulties balancing customization with speed-to-market. I believe the external factors of significant competition, changing market place and resulting disappointing financial performance in growth markets lead Nike to rush the implementation and interfered with normal OBB. The rushing meant that a guideline, templates and implementation methodology was discarded by Nike with the argument that the i2 provided material was too rigid. In general I would argue that Nike required technology that was not sufficiently available at the time. This pushed i2 to enter unknown software-territory and program-to-order disabling sufficient time for vendor/developer testing. The criticality of this was further boosted due to lack of testing from Nike, which clearly illustrates faults in phase 4 of the implementation as well. (Appendix 3)

In order to succeed today, organizations that are competing in global markets are increasing rapidly. The increased use of technologies such as the Internet, intranets, and extranets will definitely revolutionize how businesses will operate and how they will use computers to compete. The Internet and related technologies and applications have changed the ways companies operate their businesses processes and activities. For example, companies can network their offices and share data to be more effective and efficient. However, excessive use of the Internet, intranets, and extranets also create intense

Nike took responsibility and created stringent benchmarks for production associations - the Code of Conduct (CoC). While CoC became a need and necessity as it was evident that there still was more to be carried out to direct and deal with the inventory network. Nike constituted the CR Board. It also disclosed the locations of the source factories and manufacturing plants. Nike took measures to match the expectations and published its progress reports. This signalled Nike’s tough stand against these issues and that Nike takes is very seriously to strictly adhere to the best practices and find the solutions. This has resulted into transparency. It has empowered Nike to better fathom the issues and shape more fitting

4.3 Extended Problem Solving This decision making process would be apparent on consumers who's purpose for purchasing a Nike product is controlled by whether or not it suits their needs. This type of consumer would not be as concerned with branding, but whether it meets their requirements. The making process would be longer. 4.4