Strategic Fit

NIKE, Inc., is a company that was founded in by William Jay Bowerman and Philip H. Knight in 1964, and was originally called Blue Ribbon Sports, Inc. It’s name was changed to Nike, Inc. in 1971. It’s base of operation is located in Beaverton, Oregon. NIKE, Inc., is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities worldwide. Entirely owned Nike subsidiaries include Converse Inc., a brand that develops, advertises, and sells athletic apparel and accessories; and also Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and sells surf and youth lifestyle clothing and many different accessories. Its athletic footwear products are designed primarily for specific athletic use, although a large percentage of the products are worn for casual or leisure purposes. Nike offers products in many different categories such as men’s/women’s training, running, basketball, golf, and more. The company also sells products designed for children and youth athletic activities such as baseball, cricket, lacrosse, outdoor activities, football, tennis, volleyball, walking, and wrestling. Also, Nike sells sports apparel and accessories; and markets apparel with licensed college and professional team and league logos. Further, it sells a line of performance equipment and accessories, including sports bags, balls, eyewear, digital devices, bats, gloves, protective equipment, golf

Nike, Inc or Nike is a very popular and successful business that originated in the early 70s. This business firstly began, known as Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964, however, 7 years later saw them changing their name into what we know them today as; Nike Inc.

NIKE Inc., known for its athletic shoes, apparel, and it wide variety of sporting goods is located in the state of Oregon. NIKE Inc. previously known as Blue Ribbon Sports was originated in 1964 with the idea of importing shoes from Japan and sells them locally. Once successful, the founders, Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, decided to market their own brand of athletic shoes. As a result, NIKE Inc. was established. From there, NIKE Inc. has a long history of success in producing quality, durable athletic merchandise that focuses on the athlete. In

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

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 is the English version of the name of the Greek goddess Nike, which, according to legend, helped the Greeks to win on the battlefield. The American company Nike has transferred this meaning to their products - shoes, which help to achieve great sporting achievements. History of the brand had started with a search for the founders of the niche of sports footwear in the US market, which was free that time. In the early 60-is of Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight founded the company, the initial capital of it was $ 1,000. Phil Knight decided to develop high quality sports shoes in the United States, produced in Asia and sold in the United States. The company originally existed under the name Blue Ribbon Sports, but in 1971

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 subcontracts the production process of its footwear to 900 contract factories located worldwide with Asian developing countries such as China, Indonesia and Vietnam accounting for the bulk of total world production. Production of the footwear is based on a vertically integrated model. In the primary stage, raw materials such as rubber, leather and plastic are extracted from places located in close proximity from the factories. In the secondary stage, the extracted resources are sent to the factories or “Sweatshops” for manufacturing. It should be noted that the whole production process of Nike footwear are being carried out by independent private contractors.

Nike Inc. is a very successful publicly traded sportswear and equipment company based in the United States. Nike is a multi-national and Fortune 500 company. It has reached achievements in their innovation in products that Nike has become one of the most recognized companies today and companies dream to have what Nike has created. The main headquarters for the company is in the Portland metropolitan area near Beaverton, Oregon. Nike leads the world in supplying athletic apparel and shoes. Nike shows how devoted they are in the satisfaction of their customer’s needs that it shines upon their mission statement and encompasses their vision. Nike ensures to go far and beyond expectations so that their customers receive quality products and services. Nike was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports, but goes back to the 1950’s, and with their extensive history it only adds up to its impressive reputation in the Sports industry.

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.

Nike is a United States based sports company in Beaverton, Oregon. Nike’s original name was Blue Ribbon Sports and its mission is to be the world’s leading sports and fitness company (Nikebiz, 2010). Nike had two options for

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.

Nike was founded under the name Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964. In 1972 the first pair of sports shoes was sold and experienced enormous growth and achieved a 50% market share within the sports shoe market in the US only eight years later.

The Nike production system can be stratified into three classes; developed partners, volume producers and developing sources (Donaghu & Barff, 1990). Although Nike has developed different levels of supplier relationships with each class the production network is commonly classified as a ‘virtual enterprise’ where independent firms work together based on shared values and a common way of doing business to exploit a business opportunity through joint manufacturing (Pfohl & Buse, 2000).

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.