Nike - just do it

进出口财务工作室

Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area. It is the world’s leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipement with revenue in excess of $18.6 billion USD in its fiscal year 2008(ending May 31st,2008). As of 2008, it employed more than 30,000 people worldwide. Nike and Precision Castparts are the only Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the state of Oregon, according to The Oregonian.

The company was founded on Jan 25th,1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Philip Knight, and officially became Nike, Inc. In 1978. The company takes its name from Nike, the Greek Goddess of victory; it is also based on Egyptian usage of “strengh”, “”victory”. Nike markets its products under its own brand as well as Nike Golf. Nike Pro, Nike+, Air Jordan, Nike Skateboarding and subsidiaries including Cole Haan, 1995 and 2008. In addition to manufacturing sportwear and equipment, the company of opeates retail stores under the Niketown name. Nike sponsors many high profile athletes and sports teams around the world, with the highly recognized trademarks of “just do it “.

Nike produces a wide range of sports equipment. Their first products were track running shoes. They currently also make shoes, jerseys, shorts, baselayers etc. For a wide range of sports including track & field, baseball, ice hockey, tennis, association, football, Iacrosse, basketball and cricket. Nike Air Max is a line of shoes first released by Nike, Inc in 1978. In 2008, Nike introduced the Air Jordan XX3, a high performance basketball shoe designed with the environment in mind.

Nike has contracted with more than 700 shops around the world and has offices located in 45 countries outside the United States. Most of the factories are located in Asia, including Indonesia, China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Philippines, and Malaysia. Nike is hesitant to disclose information from some organizations like CorpWatch, Nike has disclosed information about its contract factories in its Corporate Governmence Report.

Nike’s marketing strategy is an important component of the company’s success. Nike is positioned as a premium-brand,selling well designed and expensive products. Nike lures customers with a marketing strategy centering around a brand image which is attained by distinctive logo and the advertising slogan: “just do it!”. Nike promotes its products by sponsorship agreements with celebrity athletes, professional teams and college athletics teams.However, Nike’s marketing mix contains many elements besides promotion.

As a sportswear maker, Nike is well known for its motto “just do it”. It can leverage its huge spending budget by recruiting top athletes and sportmen as their brand embassadors. Some of the notable faces in the world of sports wearing Nike’s gears including Tiger Woods, Micheal Jordan, Thierry Henry, Paula Radcliffe and many more.

Nike sells its product to more than 25000 retailers in the U.S.(including Nike town outlets and Niketown stores) and in approximately 160 countries in the world. The company also has a program called NIKEiD at nikeid.com, which allows customers to customize designs of some styles of Nike shoes and deliver them directly from manufacturer to the consumer. Nike sells its products in international markets through independent distributors, licensees and subsidiaries.