Community Relations Efforts Of Nike Inc. Essay

Despite past allegations of wrongdoings or controversy, Nike has continued to forge ahead in the market

Nike’s employment of the cultural relativism philosophical approach, used to justify ‘sweatshop’ labor practices in developing countries, had a detrimental effect on the reputation of the company. In 1998, Nike had to lay off staff amid lagging sales resulting from the backlash against the company. Today, Nike is recognized as the leader in athletic apparel, and one of the favorite brands among millennials and teens. A significant part of that success is attributed to the company’s dramatic change in social responsibility, initiated by its then CEO, Phil Knight, in 1998 (Lutz,

Nike is an American multinational corporation, which is primarily focused in the production of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and offering services. Over the past several years, Nike has raised many ethical concerns in the communities in which they operate. They have local, regional, national and global affects.

Nike is one of the most well established companies who sponsor famous athletes that impact their buyers in a more inspirational and positive way. Although Nike has been keeping their illegal sweatshops in hiding and not revealing the truth to its consumers. Nike could solve these problems of their illegal sweatshops and fix their business image and still be one of the biggest companies.

When people think about shoes most of them have one superior shoe company come to mind, Nike. This dominant company was founded by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman in 1964. Little do some know this company hasn’t always been on the top of shoe companies. When it first started off it was called Blue Ribbon Sports, but it was later changed to its iconic name Nike in 1973. Matter in fact it was started in the back of a car, and now it’s worth roughly around $15 million dollars. This change didn’t happen overnight. It took a lot of grit from Knight and Bowerman to achieve this elite status, which was obtained through two individuals with great ideas on how to reach it, and the grit to back their ideas up.

Hello Gregory! I liked your post about Nike and how they are involved with a lot of philanthropy. I did not realize they gave back to the community in these ways. I think it's important for a brand so huge to show support and gratitude to the people who helped it become the multi-billion dollar company it is today.

Nike is one of the most successful sporting goods companies across the world and a well-known brand that sells merchandise globally. NIKE, Inc. recognized an opportunity in the challenging economic environment, to rebuild the company strengths and pursue other potential by taking on partnerships with Cole Haan, Converse, Hurley, NIKE Golf and Umbro. This opportunity brought NIKE, Inc. more than:

Nike, Inc. is a world’s leading supplier and a major manufacturer of athletic shoes and sports apparel. It was founded on January 25th, 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Philip Knight and Bill Bowerman. It officially became Nike, Inc. in 1978. Currently their brands include Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Nike+, Air Jordan and Nike Skateboarding, while their subsidiaries are Cole Haan, Hurley International, Umbro and Converse. During this stage, the Nike brand has become so strong as to place it in the list of recession-proof consumer branded giants, in the company of Coca-Cola, Gillette and Proctor & Gamble.

Nike has flourished and become a leader of corporate responsibility. Although there is injustice within the system still today, Nike has taken steps to protect their company reputation.

NIKE denies some ethics of social responsibility and makes the company's reputation suffered, which forced the NIKE to change its

Nike has made great strides in increasing its local community impact both in the US and in foreign communities

Nike’s mission statement is “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete” (Nike, n.d.). In order to be successful in this, Nike’s business strategy will rely on the sustainable economy and the ability to challenge. The core strengths of Nike are to bring systemic changes in the footwear, apparel and sport equipment industry; create sustainable products and business models; and release potential energy through sports. Nike’s vision is clear: “to help all the customers thrive in a sustainable economy where people, profit and planet are in balance” (Nike).

Nike expresses The Heroic by making the world better through sustainability. They are using a new water-free dyeing process, turning recycled bottles into performance gear, reusing old shoes and shoeboxes and are using new technology that minimizes waste. Nike states: “To help achieve our own goals and priorities, NIKE, Inc. uses a robust corporate responsibility reporting process. Reporting pushes us to share information about our sustainability commitments and then measure and make public our progress toward meeting those commitments. Through reporting, we’ve come to better understand and address our environmental footprint, especially our use of water, our creation and reuse of waste and the toxicity of materials and processes used to make our products.”

They have created more sustainable products such as t-shirts made of recycled polyester and recycled plastic bottles. Recycling old shoes into new ones. Nike started numerous charities and has donated millions of dollars to organizations to help repair Nike's image. Nike must continuously work towards the enforcement of their corporate social responsibilities that they have presented to their suppliers at the same time they must remain competitive in the market place.

Nike’s management understands how important a relevant strategy is in the global environment, as Don Blair, Nike’s CFO, stated “...we are refocusing our efforts, increasing our investments in innovation, using our voice for stronger advocacy and looking at how we incubate new, scalable business models that enable us to thrive in a sustainable economy.”