Nike: The Creation, Growth, And Evolution Of Nike

Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight started Nike Inc. in 1971, formally known as Blue Ribbon Sports. Bill Bowerman was a former track and field coach at the University of Oregon, and Phil Knight was a student-athlete at the University of Oregon. After numerous years of supplying under Blue Ribbon Sports, the two decided to enter the athletic shoe manufacturing business. The first employee of the company was Jeff Johnson, who helped them with branding what is known today as NIKE Inc.

Nike is the leading and yet renowned supplier of athletic apparel and shoes. The company controls close to 33% of the global athletic shoe market (Dogiamis & Vijayashanker,2009).Nike was founded by Bill Power and Phil Knight in 1962 as a Blue Ribbon Support and then was later on renamed to Nike in the year 1968 (Patrow,2003).The company supplies very high quality product in close to 100 countries with major markets being located in the U.S,U,K, Asia Pacific as well as in the Americas. The company has managed to attain its lead and legendary position via the application of innovative and yet attractive product design which is backed by quality production as well as well crafted marketing strategies.

Nike tells a story because they inspire and motivate all kinds of athletes to get up, get moving, and accomplish their goals. Nike tells their story through advertising, which is based off of an old age tale where a hero is pitted against a great foe, and after a great struggle, emerges triumphant. The hero represents an athlete struggling to accomplish their goal, and when they do, they become victorious. Nike stands out because of their logo, products, catch phrase, and their sustainable business practices. Nike’s customizable shoe feature, Nike ID, and their sustainable business practice where they transform old shoes into materials is what makes Nike stand out. Not to mention, their iconic swoosh logo and their famous “Just do it” catchphrase

It wasn't an easy path towards success as the creator of Nike, Phil Knight, started as a sneaker distributor for Tiger Shoes (now Asics). He teamed up with his track coach from the University of Oregon, Bill Bowerman, to create Blue

Picture the Greek goddess Nike brave, muscular, and radiant. Who would have thought in a million years that one of the biggest brands in the world that sells footballs to underwear would be named after a Greek goddess? Greek Mythology has influenced our culture through company names, astronomy, and amazingly enough our government. One thing that all of these topics have in common is that over the thousands of years their meaning hasn’t changed.

Who created Nike? Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight introduced Nike in 1971. Bill Bowerman at the time was a head coach for the track team at University of Oregon. Retiring in 1972 from coaching the track team, Bowerman starts teaching and served The Board of Directors. Phil Knight was attending the University of Oregon majoring in Business as well as on the track team. Knight didn’t like the shoes they had for running. Knight today has a networth of $21.6 billion. Originally it was going to be called “Dimension 6”, it came from a Greek Goddess.

6). This strategy is a major component of Nike’s business strategic level plan. In applying this strategy, Nike has attained a great deal of consumer insight, which it uses to offer uniquely designed premium products to the athletes. Still on product differentiation, Nike focuses more on research and development at a greater level. These unique features to Nike, have transformed the competition levels in this competitive industry, leading to a trend of a paradigm shift in the market. Most consumers opt for Nike branded sports products and apparels, at the expense of the other brand names.

As the world’s leading athletic footwear, apparel and equipment company, NIKE, Inc. is dedicated to inspiring every athlete to reach their full potential. Nike was previously known as Blue Ribbon Sports (RBS) founded in 1964 by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman. Phil Knight was a middle distance runner from Portland who trained under track at the University of Oregon and field coach Bill Bowerman. It initially operated as a distributor for the Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger (now known as Asics). It officially became Nike Inc. in 1971 with just $1,200 in the bank. Over the last 10 years, Nike has more than doubled their revenue and also an impressive increasing amounts of employees. To see whether or not Nike is a fortune company to invest in, analyzing financial ratios will help us to make the choice better.

Phil Knight and his track-and-field coach Bill Bowerman found one of the world’s well-known sports brand, Nike in 1964. With the beginning of Nike first “office” being the laundry room of Knight’s family home it has now become the biggest sports and fitness company in the world with international recognition. The vision statement of Nike as an organization was to think ahead in the long term and not to simply focus and be content with the present as described by Tom Clarke, chief executive of Nike.

The company I am presenting is Nike which was founded in 1965 by the athlete Phil Knight. Nike is a well known brand which is selling its products worldwide and has 36% of the market share.

Nike Inc is an athletic footwear company founded in the United States, they also has athletic clothing and sporting goods. Nike dominates the sporting industry along side it's famous competitors; Adidas, Fila, Converse and Reebok (Locke, 2002). Regardless of it's competitors and the controversies‘ that rose from their success, Nike is currently the largest and most important athletic wear company in the world. They dominate the market and have a global presence all over the world. Significantly because they took advantage of globalization and outsourcing opportunities, it has allowed them to take over the market share for athletic footwear. But there was negative results from becoming a multinational corporation. We will be

NIKE, Inc. is a multinational corporation, found in 1965 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. It is headquartered at Beaverton, Oregon, US. Nike works to design, develop, manufacture, market and sell apparel, footwear, equipment, accessories and services. BRS was renamed Nike in 1971.

Nike, Inc. has been the world’s leading innovator and provider in athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for 50 years. Their mission has been to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world; if you have a body, you are an athlete. Arguably one of the most innovative companies in the world, Nike has built its brand into an iconic world-class powerhouse that continues to dominate the market with no signs of slowing up. Nike’s marketing and advertising have been breakthrough, aspirational, and legendary over the years, featuring high-profile athletes and heroes.

Nike began as Phil Knight’s semester-long project to develop a small business, which included a marketing plan. This project was part of Phil Knight’s MBA course at Stanford University in the early 1960s. Phil Knight had been a runner at the University of Oregon in the late 1950s. His idea for his project was to develop high quality running shoes. He thought that high quality/low cost products could be produced in Japan and then shipped to the United States to be sold at a profit. His professor thought that Knight’s idea was interesting, but not much more than a project.

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.”