Weaknesses And Strengths Of Nike : SWOT Analysis Of The Nike Company

Nike, Inc. is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development and worldwide marketing and selling of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area. It is the world 's leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, with revenue in excess of US$24.1 billion in its fiscal year 2012 (ending May 31, 2012). As of 2012, it employed more than 44,000 people worldwide. The brand alone is valued at $10.7 Billion making it the most valuable brand among sports businesses. Nike and Precision Castparts are the only Fortune

Nike started to open up manufacturing factories in countries like Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam. Due to the wants of Nike to increase their revenue they tried to outsource the labor of their products since labor work in the US is very high and expensive. This was a bad idea due to that Indonesia pays their workers extremely low wages. Pakistan doesn’t have an age limit for them to be able to legally to work so many children in Pakistan were making

Increasing international growth and commitment to the environment and their employees are major strengths for the company. Growth opportunities are present in the organic market, which is projected to grow 9% (Scott-Thomas, 2012), and the smoothie market, which will see a potential growth of 1.6% through 2013 (Technomic, 2012). Some of the weaknesses facing the company are its narrow target market in the organic product industry and lack of traditional advertising. Major competition from Odwalla and Naked Juice are threats to growth and the volatile market for fruit and other natural ingredients may cause unpredictable price increases and as well as an unpredictable future. Also, shifts in popularity of the trendy organic product movement may cause a decline in future revenues. However, both the smoothie and the organic/health food markets are growing rapidly and Clif Bar can secure a larger share in these markets with the introduction of Simply Clif.

As Nike is a multibillion dollar company, Nike has its own way of recruiting new potential employees. As the same time, there will be some weaknesses in its company’s recruitment and selection policies and procedures. Nike, Inc. has boundless chances to fuel beneficial development and further bolstering drive good fortune. Nike’s pioneers work consistently to guarantee Nike, Inc. understands its potential by rousing each one of its more than 40,000 workers to understand their potential. Human Resources experts at Nike, Inc. work as stewards of association adequacy, ability and change. The capacity attempts to guarantee that Nike, Inc. has capable, differing and comprehensive groups composed viably against Nike's greatest

Increasing international growth and commitment to the environment and their employees are major strengths for the company. Growth opportunities are present in the organic market, which is projected to grow 9% (Scott-Thomas, 2012), and the smoothie market, which will see a potential growth of 1.6% through 2013 (Technomic, 2012). Some of the weaknesses facing the company are its narrow target market in the organic product industry and lack of traditional advertising. Major competition from Odwalla and Naked Juice are threats to growth and the volatile market for fruit and other natural ingredients may cause unpredictable price increases and as well as an unpredictable future. Also, shifts in popularity of the trendy organic product movement may cause a decline in future revenues. However, both the smoothie and the organic/health food markets are growing rapidly and Clif Bar can secure a larger share in these markets with the introduction of Simply Clif.

The expansion of a new product line is an important growth strategy for a business that wants to increase their market share and revenue opportunities. Hamptonson is a midsized company that currently produces goods in the health food industry and will soon introduce a new line of health beverages on the market. Their decision is based on research and studies completed over time in the market and data obtained from various customer sources. Adding new products will enable Hamptonson to offer more to their existing customers and attract new customers who are unsatisfied with the limited options on the current market

SWOT analysis is an established instrument that helps to analyze company’s internal and external environment. This study analysis is based on internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. SWOT helps to identify priorities and create a common vision achieving the goals set.

Short-Term assets are one that is to be converted into cash or liquidated to pay for liabilities.

Nike invested in their brand by getting sports heroes to advertise for their brand such as Michael Jordon, Tiger Woods and the Brazilian football team. This further fuel the products appeal towards the consumers.

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.

Brands use different strategies to create competitive advantages to beat with their rivals. Some companies use “Overall Cost Leadership” to increase profit by reducing costs and increase market share by lowering price. Some companies use “Focus Strategies” to select a group of market and tailor its strategy to serve that group. The others use “Product Differentiation” as a strategy to obtain a premium price by making unique products. Nike, with its differentiation strategy, the company is continuing to separate its self from the competitors by using its superior technology and innovation. This paper mainly discusses on the company’s product differentiation and analysis how the company using this strategy to build its brand image and become a market leader in sportswear industry. A brief discuss about Nike competitive advantage which related to its broad differentiation aspect and the company product life cycle are also presented on this paper.

Discussion question 1: What are the benefits and costs of Cardinal Health’s product-related diversification strategy?

1. A decision to retain an in-house arm of agency Weiden & Kennedy by Nike exemplify the concept of organizational design by allowing Nike use the agency’s creative designers to focus solely on Nike work, giving them un-parallel access to executives, researchers and anyone else who might provide Nike advertisers with their next inspiration for marketing greatness before listening to any other organization. Having the agency in the building is having them at their disposal at anytime they need them and also the agency will have to consider them first incase of any new ad or good idea discovered by the agency or when Nike needs to salvage a problem with the help of the agency. Thus, the agency at their finger-tips serves great advantages

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.”