Of all the major fads and trends surging through popular culture, none is more prevalent than flashy footwear. Mainly with athletic sneakers, the footwear industry has experienced a major influx in the demand for the output of iconic shoes. The current manufacturing practices of the sneaker industry, in particular companies such as Nike, Reebok, Adidas, and New Balance, takes place all over the globe. With the industry experiencing severe competition and the product requiring intensive labor, firms are facing extreme pressure to increase their profit margins through their sourcing practices. No competing sports brand is more eminent and internationally established than Nike, Incorporated. Introduced to the world in 1964, Nike has made its way to the pinnacle of notable fashion and athletic brands with the acquisition of major subsidiary brands such as Hurley, Converse, and Jordan. Nike is now the world's leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment. Due to the brand’s association with legendary Athletes and futuristically designed sneakers, Nike has fueled fervor among consumers, in which many will result to desperate measures just to own a pair of Nike’s iconic footwear. Aware of the risks and danger associated with the releasing of these highly sought-after sneakers, Nike has become infatuated with consumers’ overwhelming desire to purchase their product and has begun to release their most highly demanded sneakers in limited quantities to generate even more chaos and increase their profit margin. Due to the fervor that Nike has instigated over their product and the danger that it has brought upon shipment transporters, retailers, and the dedicated customers, Nike’s new-release sne... ... middle of paper ... ... Jordan Brand. Works Cited Akuon, Timmhotep. “Concords, Christmas and the Marketing Genius of Nike’s Jordan Brand.” Black Enterprise. Black Enterprise Magazine, 28 December, 2011. Web. 29 March 2012. Mattioli, Dana. “Nike's Footwork Yields Long Lines.” The Wall Street Journal (2011) Web. 29 March 2012 “Nike Foamposite Galaxy Release Cancelled, Riots Ensue in Orlando.” International Business Times. The International Business Times, 24 February 2012. Web. 29 March 2012. Ruiz, Mariapaz D. “Supply Chain: Nike, Inc.” University of Phoenix (2009) Web. 29 March 2012. Van Dusen, Steven. “The Manufacturing Practices of the Footwear Industry: Nike vs. the Competition.” UNC-Chapel Hill (1998) Web. 29 March 2012. Williams, Timothy. “Rush to Buy New Sneakers Leads to Arrests.” The New York Times. New York ed. The New York Times, 24 December 2011. Web. 29 March 2012
"Nike." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition 1. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 6, 2009).
Since its creation, Nike has proven itself as a popular brand and it has created niches by selling products such as footwear, apparels and various types of sports equipment. This paper will attempt to trace the product development of Nike shoes from its origins in conception and design to the manufacturing and production process located in contract factories in developing countries to advertising and marketing of Nike as a cultural commodity and finally, the retailing of the footwear around the world.
Stepp, W. (2001) ‘Nike is Right’, Mises daily, 14 March. Available at: http://mises.org/daily/628. [1 April 2014]
... strongly suggest that awareness of sweatshop abuses is turning consumers away from Nike.” (International Nike Mobilization - www.haleokala.com).
Only a week earlier, on June 28, 2001, Nike had held an analysts' meeting to disclose its fiscal-year 2001 results.1 The meeting, however, had another purpose: Nike management wanted to communicate a strategy for revitalizing the company. Since 1997, its revenues had plateaued at around $9 billion, while net income had fallen from almost $800 million to $580 million (see Exhibit 1). Nike's market share in U.S. athletic shoes had fallen from 48%, in 1997, to 42% in 2000.2 In addition, recent supply-chain issues and the adverse effect of a strong dollar had negatively affected revenue.
Pittman, B. (2012, September 14). Nike sweatshop history: Should action be taken?. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/americanlaborcrises/labor-crises/nike-sweatshop-action
First, we want Nike to play a role in effecting positive, systemic change in working conditions within our industries. If our efforts lead to a workplace oasis -- one solitary and shining example in a desert of poor conditions -- then we’ve not succeeded. Even if that single shining example were to exist (and we’re not claiming it does), we’ve learned that positive changes won’t last unless the landscape changes. Our challenge is to work with the industry and our contract manufacturers to collectively address these systemic non-compliance issues that our data so highlight. This is one of the key reasons we made the decision to disclose our supply base; we believe this could encourage other companies to do the same. Our belief is that in disclosing, the industry will find ways to better share knowledge and learnings. This, in turn, will facilitate the building of further partnership approaches that are built on best practice and gradually lead us to standard codes, standard approaches to monitoring, standard reporting and standard parameters for transparency. It’s our belief that for market forces to enable responsible competitiveness, consumers must be able to reward brands and suppliers using fact-based information. Compliance efforts need to be optimized, made affordable and demonstrate real return if better working conditions are to become widespread. Disclosure of our supply chain is done in an effort to jump-start disclosure and collaboration throughout the industry and support efforts towards that final goal of market forces, providing the tipping point for the mainstreaming of best practice.
Nike’s goal is to remain unique and different from others in terms of the items offered on the market. Arguably, Nike belongs to a monopolistically competitive market as there only a few organizations with the ability to regulate the amount charged for their product which means they cannot make their prices high as this is likely to make customers move on to other available choices (Nike, Inc., 2012). However, Nike can find a balance between the prices to charge for their products and remaining competitive with other companies in the industry. Nike has formed a distinction between the appearance and performance of their footwear and that of their competitors. Although products are differentiated from other companies, they still influence each other because they are items of the same
Many global companies like Nike, Inc. are seen as role models both in the market place as well as in society in large. That is why they are expected to act responsibly in their dealings with humanity and the natural world. Nike benefits from the global sourcing opportunities, therefore areas such as production and logistics have been outsourced to partner companies in low-wage countries like China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. As a result the company is limited nowadays to its core competencies of Design and Marketing.
Phil Knight started his shoe company by selling shoes from the back of his car. As he became more successful in 1972 he branded the name Nike. In the 1980’s Nike Corporation quickly grew and established itself as a world leader in manufacturing and distributing athletic footwear and sports' attire. The Nike manufacturing model has followed is to outsource its manufacturing to developing nations in the Asia Pacific, Africa, South and Latin Americas; where labor is inexpensive. It quickly became known for its iconic “swoosh” and “Just do it” advertisements and products. Its highly successful advertising campaigns and brand developed its strong market share and consumer base. But, the road has not always been easy for Nike; in the late 1990’s they went through some challenging times when their brand become synonymous with slave wages and child labor abuses. During this period, Nike learned that it paramount that the company understands its stakeholders’ opinions and ensures their values are congruent with their stakeholders. Nike learned that their stakeholders were concerned with more than buying low cost products; their customers were also concerned with ethical and fair treatment of their workers. Because Nike was unwilling to face the ethical treatment of its employees, the company lost its loyal customers and damaged its reputation. Nike has bounced back since the late 1990’s and revived its reputation by focusing on its internal shortfalls and attacking its issues head on. Nike nearly collapsed from its missteps in the late 1990’s. They have learned from their mistakes and taken steps to quickly identify ethical issues before they become a crisis through ethics audits. This paper is based on the case study of Nike: From Sweatsh...
Nike’s Asian operations had previously continued to soar generating US$300 million in 1994 in revenues to a whopping US$1.2 billion in 1997. However based on the Asian economic crisis, this had adversely affected revenues, while regional layoffs were inevitable. Nike also performed well in the European market generating about US$2 billion in sales and a good growth momentum was expected, however, some parts of Europe were only slowly recovering from an economic downturn. In the Americas (Canada and the U.S.A.), Nike experienced a growth rate for several quarters. The U.S. alone generated approximately US$5 billion in sales. The Latin American market at this point was exposed to economic volatility; however Nike still saw them as a market with “great potential for the future”.
Main drivers for US profitability has been within women shoes, broken down in sub categories of casual (17%), dress (13%), and athletic (10%) shoes, composing roughly a 40% demand of the market. However, domestically men’s athletic shoes represent 20% of the market and show signs of increase, globally men’s athletic shoes make up 30% of the market. This increase in sales within the athletic sub-category can be lead by the increase in demand for shoes that allow easy, fast movement. Studies show that ages within 18 and 45 in the U.S. have increased physical fitness by 17% since 2006. According to the Outdoor Industry Association, outdoor footwear grew...
This project concentrates on the Nike Sports shoe; Nike is one of most significant shoe manufacturing company worldwide. Sportswear manufactured by Nike is known for quality and is most liked brand of athletes. (Daniel, 2011)
Nevertheless, Nike is an extremely diverse company with outstanding organizational structure, impressive marketing strategy, and innovative products. The organizational structure of the Nike Corporation helped them become a leading innovator for the world with creative apparels and shoes. Their intelligent marketing strategies assist them in advertising their products to motive their customers and sell them. Their innovative product motivates customers with great performance footwear and quality designs to take on any obstacles. The Nike Corporation discovers various ways to improve their organizational structure to inspire the world.
Nike has suffered attacks from a number of agencies and organizations throughout the world that claim that the workers who manufacture Nike shoes are denied the basic essentials of living—a fair wage and decent benefits. All that occurs while several sport megastars are reaping in multimillion dollar contracts to promote Nike shoes. Over the years, Nike formulated tactics to deal with the problems of working conditions and compensation in subcontractors. It hired a strong consultant (Andrew Young), commissioned an independent audit of its subcontractors, and spelled out initiatives to improve those working conditions. Still, Nike’s critics were not satisfied. They protested on university campuses and accused Nike of continuing to hide the conditions of workers.