In Phil Knight’s memoir, Shoe Dog, Knight recounted his arduous journey in creating the notorious brand, Nike. He expressed the many hardships and accomplishments that he and his team went through to become a successful household name. Through his point of view, readers are able to see that adversity is necessary in order to triumph, and initiative is required to succeed. The chapters of this book are refreshingly categorized by years. Knight begins the memoir as a 24-year-old in 1962, a recent graduate of the University of Oregon and Stanford, and a drive to make an impact on the world. As a former college track athlete, Knight loved to run and continued to run in his neighborhood even after graduating from college. In fact, while still at Stanford, Knight took a seminar on entrepreneurship for which he wrote a research paper about creating running shoes. Upon graduation, Knight felt he could make his idea come to life. He thought …show more content…
This is meaningful because the people who were around him ended up making vital impacts on Nike. Knight was a strong believer in teamwork and even stated, “Two people of good talent working together will always beat two people of good talent who are not working together” (p.269). For instance, if it weren’t for Johnson, Nike never would have gotten its name. “Johnson had pointed out that seemingly all iconic brands...have short names. Two syllables or less. And they always have a strong sound in the name, a letter like “K” or “X,” that sticks in the mind. That all made sense. And that all described Nike” (p.230). Knight’s team was honest with him, and shared his passion with either shoes, running, or just business, which was very significant to me. This meant that if Knight were to lose his company, they would have something to lose as well, which make them work
In the history of business, there has been a clear record of industry heads finding something or someone as a mainstay and bedrock for their respective companies or corporations; there is often a chief product that keeps many businesses afloat, even in the rough times. Apple found it's own in 2001 with the iPod. McDonald's has had the Big Mac since the late 1960s. Nike, however, found their goldmine in a person with Michael Jordan. Walter LaFeber's Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism tells the paints the picture of the rise of young Michael Jordan from his middle-class family in racist North Carolina up through college and into the NBA where he becomes an international sports icon. It tells the story of how Jordan catches the eye of Nike's ambitious co-founder and CEO, Phil Knight, and how he was transformed from a young, rebellious black hoopster into the face of a multi-billion dollar transnational corporation while stretching its touch all of the way to the far reaches of Asia. LeFeber's book also delves into the darker issues and topics addressing Jordan and Nike, such as race and sports and how they played a part during scandals that surrounded MJ off of the court along with the growth of Nike abroad and their dealing with technological changes in manufacturing while facing criticism for their labor practices.
"Nike." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition 1. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 6, 2009).
Phil Knight was born in Portland in 1938 to Oregon's only billionaire, where he became interested in track in part because it "Allowed the people that trained the hardest to succeed." So in college, he studied shoe design while being coached by Bowerman. Knight was convinced that he could market the innovations developed by Bowerman. Knight successfully convinced star athletes to endorse his product, including Steve Prefontaine, a middle distance star racer, and four of the top seven American track Olympic qualifiers. This convinced other athletes to wear Nikes and it eventually trickled down to the ranks of Joe Jogger, who had just become part of the first running boom. Knight helped developed advertisements such as the famous Just Do It, and promoting the first ever cross-training shoe by getting famous two sport athlete Bo Jackson to endorse with the campaign “Bo Knows”. These slogans helped convince Americans to run and do other fitness activities.
In an increasingly competitive market with strong rivals such as Reebok, Adidas, Nike’s latest strategy is offering consumers the shoes they desire. This is done by providing customers with the option of designing their own shoes. At Nikeid.c...
In 1965 two men by the names of Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight started Blue Ribbon Sports, now known as Nike, the business almost instantly became a top competitor. In 2012 Nike was said to have a net worth of 67 billion dollars, and co-founder Phil Knight a net worth of 18.7 billion dollars. The amount of profit Nike has attained is eye- opening, which made individuals that much more infuriated when they discovered Nike was accused of having sweatshops internationally. The accusations began in 1991 when activist Jeff Ballinger published a report, documenting the harsh conditions workers were forced to work in. Acknowledging the fact that Nike’s business plan was more about making profit than treating employees with any dignity. Nike’s strategy seemed to be to enter into poor nations where individuals were desperate for work. In 1996 it has been ...
Nike has always been a company that's been questioned ethically. People have heard about the stories of the sweatshops in Southeast Asia exploiting adolescent employees for unreasonably small amounts of money. This had blemished Nike’s reputation several years ago, but since then, it has strived to become a truly respectable company. Located on Nike's website you can find Phil Knight's credo about ethics. It is as follows:
Nike is one of the biggest footwear and apparel manufacturing companies in the word. The company came into existence in 1964 by Bill Boweman and Phil Knight and named it as the Blue Ribbon Sports. The company changed the name to Nike, which is Greek word meaning victory, in 1972 after producing a good brand of shoes that became popular among the athletes (NIKE, Inc., 2001). Since then, the company has been successful, dominating the world market of athletic shoes. The company’s products are sold in more than 170 countries across the world. The company also sponsors various sports events at national and international levels. The company slogan “just do it” is catchy and attract many people tom buying its products. This makes the company to grow continuously due to wide and stable customer base.
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...
In Oregon, the legendary Bill Bowerman, who joined forces with him in 1964 to become the number one company selling athletic shoes, coached Knight. It was Knight’s idea to sell a low cost shoe with a very high quality.
Nike Inc. was founded in 1962 by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight as a partnership under the name, Blue Ribbon Sports. Our modest goal then was to distribute low-cost, high-quality Japanese athletic shoes to American consumers in an attempt to break Germany's domination of the domestic industry. In 2000 Nike Inc. not only manufactured and distributed athletic shoes at every marketable price point to a global market, but over 40% of our sales came from athletic apparel, sports equipment, and subsidiary ventures. Nike maintains traditional and non-traditional distribution channels in more than 100 countries targeting its primary market regions: United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas (not including the United States).
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)
Michael Jordan not only changed the game of basketball, but more importantly, he changed the sports industry. Because of his American values of motivation, dedication, and a hard work ethic, he has helped define the way society views the sports industry. When people think of Michael Jordan, the thoughts that come to mind are most likely something to do with his Jordan Brand. Jordan had endorsements ranging from food products, store products, and his own brand “Jordan.”
Nike is the number one innovator in the world in athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories. This worldwide company operates in an extremely different organizational structure than other companies, such as Reebok and Adidas. Nike operates tremendous marketing strategies and develops inventive designs to inspire athletes around the world. This company is one of the largest suppliers in the world in athletic footwear and apparel, main producer of sports equipment, and making Nike the most valuable brand among sports companies. The task for Nike is to join diversity and inclusion to encourage ideas and innovation. Around the world, this company is a popular brand.
America is a birthplace of NIKE Company. Nike’s workplace consists of a leader, visionaries and experienced employees who are very passionate to maintain the status ...