Nike, Inc.: A Case Study Of Nike's Success

Nike, Inc., an American company that designs, produces, and sells footwear, apparels, sports equipments and sports accessories was founded by Bill Bowerman, a nationally respected track and field coach at the University of Oregon and Phil Knight, a talented middle-distance runner from Portland. Initially, Nike was started as ‘Blue Ribbon Sport’ on 25th of January, 1964 and officially became ‘Nike, Inc.’ on 30th of May, 1971. Nike, Inc. headquarter is located in Beaverton, United States (Nike, Inc. History & Heritage, 2014). Nike, Inc. is one of the world 's biggest supplier of sports shoes as well as apparels and a main producer of sports equipments, with total annual revenue in excess of US$24.1 billion as of May 31, 2012 (Sage, 2008). The

In fact, they were dissatisfied with their existing athletic shoes and this led them to set up Nike with the main objective of coming out with running shoes that are comfortable and durable. In the mid 1970s, the first running shoes with impact-absorbing sole were developed thanks to their knowledge of runners’ requirements and their explicit knowledge of the potentialities and properties of materials. This combination of implicit knowledge of customer needs and explicit knowledge of technology became one of Nike’s earliest selling success factors and gained Nike major competitive advantage. Furthermore, this combination of knowledge was translated into Nike’s knowledge based core competences in design and development. This proves that Nike is being responsive to its customers’ requirements and problems and innovative in products design and development. Later on, many well-known American athletes adopted Nike’s training shoes and the distinctive swoosh logo immediately and this made the shoes instantly recognizable to television audiences who watched their favorite athletes perform. For example, when a customer sees his or

Nike’s overall objective is to help build a fair and empowered labor force. To work toward this objective, Nike has been pioneering an array of approaches to create a positive supply chain. For example, Nike is working with contract factories to apply lean manufacturing processes. This approach is extremely important in delivering the highest quality product and helps eliminating all kinds of wastes such as time wastage and lost materials. A clear example of Nike’s deliberate approach to lean manufacturing is giving worker empowerment. This includes giving factory workers the skills and abilities needed to manage production and instantly address issues as they arise, such as process or quality