Nike, Inc Case Study

Nike, Inc.

Globally recognized as the number one sportswear brand in the world, Nike Inc. has created an autonomous empire within the athletic industry (Kasi, para. 1). The vision of the brand stemmed from a respected track and field coach, Bill Bowerman along with his most prominent track contender Phil Knight. According to Nike, Inc.’s official website, the two men combined experiences and joined in partnership to create Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964 (History & Heritage 1950-59). The company was renamed Nike after the Greek goddess of victory while the "swoosh" is intended to depict the wing of the goddess (Vann 2012). Nike attests their overall mission is “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world” (About Nike, Inc.). It is imperative for the survival of an organization to clearly define and monitor the internal and external environments. According to Keller and Kotler (2009), “The overall evaluation of a business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is known as a SWOT analysis” (p. 30). It is the intent of this paper to provide depth and background into the four aforementioned aspects of Nike, Inc. SWOT analysis.

Strengths

The positive, internal factors reveal the strengths within an organization. According to Mishra (2011), “The brand recognition of NIKE is the biggest strength for the company” (p. 26). Datamonitor (2011) attests, “Nike (“the company”) is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a range of sports and fitness activities” (p. 5). Global Exchange 2011 asserts in the beginning, Nike shoes were manufactured in South Korea and Taiwan (para. 1). According to Kasi (2009), “Nike has no factories; rather it uses contract factories to get the work done which makes it quite a lean organization. It has contracts with above 700 shops globally in approximately 45 different countries” (Strengths, para. 3). Nike, Inc.’s. global brand allows for significant revenue and profitability. According to Lancellotti and Ruiz (2010), Nike management focuses on significant payouts to shareholders, totaling an average 79% of earnings since 2005, in the form of dividends and repurchases, which makes its stock quite desirable (p. 15).

Weaknesses

As a globally marketed brand, Nike has weaknesses within the organization that are consistently monitored. According to Mishra (2011), the heavy reliance of manufacturing overseas is a major weakness for the organization, which results in a decrease in the U.S market share (p. 3). Lancellotti and Ruiz (2010) attest, “The United States is the largest and most saturated market that Nike operates in. The company has been directing efforts on expanding into emerging markets, and as a result is losing U.S market share”

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