Nike’s incredibly successful story

NIKE — previously known as Blue Ribbon Sports (RBS) — was founded in 1964 by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman.

Phil Knight was a middle-distance runner hailing from Portland (US) who trained under track and field coach Bill Bowerman.

Bowerman was looking for ways to enhance his student’s performance and tried improving their shoes in his free time.

He tried many different combinations but they were not very successful.

In the meantime, his student Phil Knight went on to complete his MBA in Finance from Stanford University.

There, he wrote an assignment suggesting the manufacturing of shoes in Japan, which would help retailers compete with the well-established German brands.

Founders

His suggestions fell on deaf years, so he decided to import shoes from Japan and sell them in his local area. He tried to sell his initial stock of shoes to his previous coach, Bowerman, but he was interested to join him and so they decided to become equal partners.

Though the business started slow, by 1965 sales had reached an impressive US$20 000.

Nike Success

As their business was established by now, they tried to launch their own line of shoes.

After years of struggle, in 1971 they came up with lighter weight training shoes that had an outsole with waffle-type nubs for traction.

They debuted their training shoes in the 1972 US Track and Field Trials.

Nike’s First Shoe

Their first brand ambassador was Steve Prefontaine, who during his college career from 1969 to 1972 set seven American records from the 2 000 metres to the 10 000m. Soon they launched the Nike Air technology in 1979.

This was able to further strengthen their status as a successful competitor to the competition that existed.

The growth that Nike experienced was tremendous during this stage, which led them to go for Initial Public Offering by the end of 1980.

Soon their brand had grown very popular with the fitness aficionados.

By 1982 they had become the number one supplier for athletic/training shoes in America.

Nike Logo

Nike’s brand logo “Swoosh” and tagline “Just Do It” had become a commonly recognisable symbol in American households.

In 1985, they went on to design signature shoes for an NBA rookie named Michael Jordan and his increasing popularity took Nike’s sales to break new records.

Soon Nike moved in to designing apparel and other cross-training accessories.

They signed various international teams like the Brazil football team, US men’s and women’s soccer team.

In 1996, again they signed up a rookie golfer Tiger Woods for a sum of US$5 million per year.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Milestones

Nike kept launching new editions of their landmark training shoes.

They developed Nike Shoe in 2000, which was very well-received worldwide.

Today, Nike is a vast empire which incorporates various sports like tennis, baseball, soccer, cricket and athletics.

Bill Bowerman’s desire for finding a better solution and Phil Knight’s business innovation have led to making Nike one of the most profitable and recognisable companies on the planet.

In 2012, its annual revenue was more than US$24 billion.

Nike acquired companies on its way to success, and they have also sold off most of them.

One such company is Umbro. Right now, Nike has two subsidiaries, Converse Incorporated and Hurley International. Nike sponsors several football, tennis and basketball players.

They also have a special line of shoes for athletes.

Nike employs more than 44 000 people and its brand alone is valued at nearly US$10 billion.

Nike’s success has been the result of the constant innovation and timely investments that have resulted in Nike making profits worth hundreds of million dollars every year.

By the early 21st century, Nike had retail outlets and distributors in more than 170 countries, and its logo — a curved check mark called the “swoosh” — was recognised throughout the world.

From the late 1980s, Nike steadily expanded its business and diversified its product line through numerous acquisitions, including the shoe companies Cole Haan (1988; sold in 2012) and Converse, Inc (2003), the sports-equipment producer Canstar Sports, Inc (1994; later called Bauer and sold in 2008), and the athletic apparel and equipment company Umbro (2008; sold in 2012).

In 1996 the company created Nike ACG (“all-conditions gear”), which markets products for extreme sports such as snowboarding and mountain biking.

In the early 21st century, Nike began selling sports-technology accessories, including portable heart-rate monitors and high-altitude wrist compasses.

Part of Nike’s success is owed to endorsements by such athletes as Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods.

The Nike Town chain stores, the first of which opened in 1990, pay tribute to these and other company spokespersons while offering consumers a full range of Nike products.

In the 1990s, the company’s image briefly suffered from revelations about poor working conditions in its overseas factories. — Successstory.com