Nike company data

Introduction
The main purpose of this essay is to speak about Nike Inc. Doing that I’d like to touch a little upon the history of the company and how it first began its manufacturing and trading business.
Nike Inc. is one of the major companies-producers of sportswear, shoes and sports equipment that sells its products under the own brand “Nike”. The company started in 1962, and initially it was called Blue Ribbon Sports. The father of the company is Phil Knight, who was the first one to sell the athlete shoes out of his car trunk. Later the Blue Ribbon Sports Company became rather successful, but it wasn’t enough for Phil Knight. In 1964 Bill Bowerman decided to join the sports company, and in 1966 the first store to sell the sport products was opened. In 1973 the company was renamed, and the new name of it became Nike after the Greek goddess of victory. From that time till now the Nike Inc. is the best producer of sport shoes, which controls about 20 percent of American sport shoe market. The main function of the company is to design and sell the shoes for different kinds of sports (football, soccer, baseball, golf, volleyball, tennis and others). Among the goods offered by the company are casual shoes and other sport apparel and equipment. Nike manufactures the outfit for some of the most famous soccer teams, for example Manchester United, and national teams of Portugal and Brazil. The official address of the company is Beaverton, state Oregon.
Nowadays the Nike Inc. is one of the most popular brands in the world manufacturing athlete goods; it has large markets not only in the USA (184 stores), but also in many other countries of the world (190 stores). Estimated 160 countries have Nike sportswear being sold in the national markets.
Speaking about recent reports of the Nike Inc. it’s necessary to underline that the income of the company averages $13,739 million, which shows about 12 percent growth in comparison with the last year. It has 24.7 thousand employees with the growth of about 6 percent in comparison with the previous year.
The work of the company.
The first point of my essay I’d like to devote to the process of searching the data by the Nike Company. As any other company this one uses a very famous and widely known way of getting information about potential clients and market conditions with the help of marketing research. Marketing research is the way of providing information to the company which helps to develop the future strategies and outline the future possible results. Nike Inc. has a strong base for marketing research, which it uses to define what model of athlete shoes and outfits will be popular in the nearest future. This kind of research is based on the studying of customer needs and benefits. To make a marketing research the company has to pay attention not only on the future clients in the USA, but also take a global view of the potential customers in other countries. This happens, because recently there has been an increase in global demand for Nike sports shoes and also there’s a possibility for future growth. On the other hand, customer benefits can be seen only on the regional level (inside the country).
Despite of the fact that there’s a general demand for goods produced by Nike Inc. at the global level, customers see and estimate the goods in a different way, which demands the benefits to be based upon people’s age, cultural views and beliefs. The example for it is when a certain model of athlete shoes becomes extremely popular in the USA, while in Europe it’s not popular at all (e.g. Air Jordan basketball shoes). So, because of the regional differences in people’s demand for goods, marketing research becomes essential factor of having success at a global level. Due to the easiness in changing design of shoes, it’s possible for the company to expand and sell their goods beyond the country borders. Of course to do that it’s necessary to provide customers with effective advertisement that will attract them to buy more. Because we live in the era of information it’s very easy to do that with the help of mass media resources such as television, radio and World Wide Web.
Another important type of data that is necessary for the company is the competitive perspective research. Although being a very large company Nike is still facing competition at the global level. The competitors of it are such manufactures of athlete outfits and equipment as Adidas, Puma and Reebok. Unfortunately there are no means to protect the company from the competition from the side of other companies who may enter the Nike’s competitive areas (at a local, regional or global level). As the preferences of the customers vary from area to area, it’s necessary for the company to develop a special strategy that will allow is to adjust to the local environment.
Another key point in marketing research is the research and management of inventory. This kind of industry relies very much on fashion and that’s why the risk in inventory is very high here in comparison with other kinds of industry. Being popular in one season the same shoes may not be popular at all in the following one. In this case to make the customers buy these shoes the company will have to reduce the price of them, which of course will do certain harm to the profits of the company. Another risky possibility here is that the reduction of prices for some kinds of shoes of course will make the customers choose them, while they won’t pay attention and buy the shoes being sold at the full price.
Among the informational systems the use is Business Metabolics that easily allows comfortable collecting and keeping track of data together with its productive usage.
Being such an expert in human body, and especially in the way it moves in order to create sport equipment that will meet the requirements of many customers, the company still continues to hold different researches in order to discover the ways to improve the quality of the goods that are being produced and their performance ability. Doing that the company makes the customers see that the main focus of it is a customer with his or hers demands and wishes. Also Nike always makes plans how to increase the company’s availability to the vast layers of population, so it opens new retail outlets and issues Nike catalogue which will help people to choose necessary products being at home. There are some benefits from using Nike catalogues, such as getting a free present in case of buying certain goods (from my point of view this is a good mean of attracting people, because we all like unexpected presents even thought all of them are unnecessary trifles).
Also Nike Inc. gives its customers a possibility to design their own shoe, which I consider to be rather advanced idea about which only a few people heard. This will definitely attract new customers to the company, because designing of own shoe involves people with internet. They’ll have to enter the official Nike website where there’s an option to create a new and very special design of shoe like nobody else will have. This will allow the customers to watch over the process of production of their creation and wear with the feeling that these shoes are the only ones of the kind in the world. I don’t think any other company has offered such an option to the customers before, Nike was the first one creative enough to offer it to the public, which will help it to get to know more information about customer’s demands and wishes. The only thing it has to do is to advertise it widely for everybody to know about this creative idea.
Speaking about some peculiarities of the company I’d like to pay attention to the way of organizing labor in the company and human resources which the company uses. From my point of view this is a rather controversial thing about the company. Some economists believe that the company uses so-called sweatshop labor in the process of production. They name several countries where this type of labor is possibly used, it is Mexico and Indonesia. A sweatshop, which was previously known as the “sweating system”, is a plant or a factory that is situated on the territory of developing countries. Usually it’s very hard to find the exact location of this factory, but it’s very easy to get to know about the working conditions there. Very often people who work there receive very low payment for manufacturing clothes, shoes or other consumer goods. This term is often used to describe a factory, a plant or other place of work, where the workers of it have to produce the goods in a very dangerous for their health environment with improper ventilation and other working conditions. Some believe that people are also abused there (physically or mentally). The companies that have been accused of using sweatshop labor sometimes are accused of the use of children’s labor. Although a lot of people criticize and accuse the company in poor working conditions, this is not so.
Nike cares very much for every worker involved in the process of manufacturing sportswear and equipment. Working conditions are a very important aspect of the reputation of the company, so it does its best in improving working conditions at the factories producing sports goods. The company has realized the fact that it’s their responsibility to guarantee the workers equal rights and treat them with appropriate respect and fairness. That’s why Nike Inc. forbids children’s labor. Only people who are 18 years old or older are allowed to work in footwear factories. This condition is the same for the USA and other countries that agreed to produce Nike sportswear goods. Also Nike Inc has increased payments for employees in Indonesia and other countries (approximately by 70 percent). A good example of care for good working conditions of the company is that it developed some water-based manufacturing process that will help to improve the quality of air at the factories. So, to make a conclusion on this point I’d like to say, that of course it’s impossible to create absolutely harmless production, because it always involves working with substances that pollute the air and thus affect people’s lives. But from my point of view Nike Inc. cares enough about it, otherwise it wouldn’t have so successful after all.
The next point of my essay I’d like to devote to the Nike Inc. marketing. Ironically some people call the company not the goddess of victory (as Nike is the name for the Greek goddess of victory), but the goddess of marketing, because its sports shoes have become the standard in the world of sports. How did the company manage to do it? Since 1980s and till now the company have been using very sensible and skillfully produced advertisement that made thousands of customers just fall in love with the products the company offered. Just look at the advertisement! It shows common people who are involved in physical activity (running, jumping etc.), famous basketball players throwing balls into the basket, which means that the ordinary people and the sport stars are similar, and everyone who wishes can be a famous athlete. This kind of ads inspired people and they started to buy the good produced by the company.
Speaking about the sales of the company, since it went on the market more than 25 years ago, it has been showing a constant growth in sales. As it was mentioned above the general revenue of the company in 2005 comprises 13739.70 million dollars, which shows a revenue growth comparing with the previous year by 12.1 percent.
So, why is the company so successful? Working globally Nike always has an opportunity to enter new markets with new customers willing to buy its products. The reason for sales being at such a high level is that the company is able to place the production in retail. It’s well known that the company has received support from some famous sportsmen, which helped the company to get further promotion among the population. Nike has an ability to play the role of a sponsor at various sports competitions, which helps to provide more brand advertisement. Production facilities are used very effectively in the company, which of course helps to have lower costs. Among the negative influences on companies sales are the influence of such negative activities as sweatshops, though it’s not proved yet. Due to the high quality of the goods and successful reputation of the company, its products are rather expensive, that makes some customers refuse of choosing this brand. Nike logo has been stolen by some other companies that now produce fake products, which of course causes in decreasing of customers satisfaction. Sometimes it’s difficult for the company to advertise its production due to the language and culture barriers. And the last negative effect is that the development cycle of the Nike product is usually rather long.
Conclusion
Having studied the information about Nike Inc I must say that this company has made a great progress from the point it started and till now. The revenue of the company and the sales continue to grow throughout the years. The growth potential of the company is still increasing. Nike is currently doing some innovations that are difficult for competitors to imitate. This company is able to capture different markets because it always has a great product variety to offer. Because the company has a good reputation, it’s easy for the company to introduce new products that will be readily accepted by people. And the last idea that I’d like to emphasize is that the company is always ready to implement some innovations and improvements into its production process.