Nike: the largest and most influential sportswear industry in the globe. Heading back to Nike’s earliest years, involved in the events, the ‘Nike case study’ to discover out almost all the successful occurrences.

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Nike Case Study
The World’s Biggest & The Most Popular Sportswear Organization; Nike. One man’s hope of better shoes has grown into such a multinational company worth over $100 billion in just over 50 years. We’re heading back to the days when all this have started, discovering the journey Nike to figure out how that magic happened and what were the ingredients that leads to their success.
History of Nike
It was indeed 1962, and Phil Knight has now graduated from Stanford. Like any business graduate will tell you, if you do not have any bright ideas, becoming an entrepreneur is tough, but Phil had one. He was indeed a track athlete back in college and had published a paper suggesting the following proposal in one of his business courses.
Phil would have seen how the powerful German cameras had been replaced by Japanese cameras on the American market, and he thought if Japanese sneakers could do something with Puma and Adidas, who were incredibly successful in America at that time. And this is exactly how they approach Adidas, even by way. But back to Phil, After writing that paper and graduating, Phil became obsessed with his idea about bringing Japanese shoes to the USA. He did not really purchase any Japanese running shoes, of course, and the handful he ever saw were introduced to the country by soldiers who’d been posted in Japan mostly during Second World War during the conquest.
Yet Phil was only convinced by this loss of visibility that he had come upon a fantastic chance. He knew that to take advantage of it he’d have to establish contact with a Japanese company and negotiate to import their goods to America, both of which were actions he had exactly zero experience with. But, as is befitting of the man who’d later create Nike, he went ahead and just did it.
In November 1962, as a traveler, he traveled over to Japan and began discovering. In the wonderful city of Kobe, he managed to stumble across a shoe store which really caught his attention. This happened to a business called Onitsuka Tiger as well as the shoes they manufactured were of very excellent quality, and that’s because Phil was willing to bring them home. He introduced himself as an American shoe salesman and scheduled a meet with owner of the firm.
Phil made a business named on the spot and proposed to be Onitsuka’s dealer in America, a suggestion that perhaps to his delight, the owner immediately approved. Phil had been the sole distributor for Onitsuka Tiger in the USA with little more than his confidence. In 1963, he got his initial delivery of twelve pairs of Tiger sneakers, and he began selling them out from the back of his car on any road he would ride to.
Undoubtedly, his plan was not portable, thus he moved to the only guy he met who learned much about shoes then he could do; his previous coach at the University of Oregon, Bill Bowerman. Today, at that point, Bill became undoubtedly one of the most renowned coaches in America. In reality, he has trained many Olympic athletes. He loved Tiger’s shoes so much that he decided to do partnership.
Thus, Bill and Phil founded Blue Ribbon Sports in January 1964, each spending $500 in it. They invested all the cash during their first shipment, that contributed to 300 pairs of shoes at $ 3.33 a pair. In April 1964, the delivery went across but it was sold out by July because of Bill’s contacts. During their first year, BRS sold shoes worth $8,000 and Phil began recruiting salespersons for his business with that money.
Beginning of Innovation in Shoe Designing
Their profits soared to $20,000 in 1965, and they soon opened their very own store in Santa Monica. But when Phil was doing the corporate side of the operation, the true breakthrough came from Bill.He was the guy who single-handedly brought jogging to America. He published a book about it in 1966 that sold over a million copies, and his business was of course, one of the first to begin selling the jogging Tiger shoes.
Bowerman was all for creativity and he’d cut open several shoes and see how they were designed for any new shipment from Onitsuka, and he’d still want to change them by contributing to the cushion or using more flexible fabrics, for example. He frequently sent his reports to Japan demanding modifications; he designed Onitsuka’s footwear for them efficiently.
That was one of Bill’s creations that propelled BRS into the masses: the Cortez, as he labeled it, has become one of the best-selling footwear in 1968, undeniably due to the 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City. Thanks to the Cortez, BRS sold $300,000 worth of shoes in 1969. But they do have a massive issue: the Cortez had been so good that they just can not ramp up production. Every new shipment they received sold out faster than the one before, but Onitsuka kept sending them at the same glacial pace.
What Onitsuka were actually doing was satisfying their local demand in Japan first and then sending whatever was left to America. Phil and Bill recognized that just to grow, they’d have to grow into being just a mere supplier. Then they realized that they held all the cards: the Cortez was Bowerman’s design so as soon as their contract with Onitsuka expired, they were free to start making it for themselves. Fortunately for both, their deal will expire in 1972, right well before Munich Olympics.
The Name of Nike
So, Phil had more than enough time to plan for his big transfer. In 1971, he began focusing on the marketing, that his first employee proposed naming the Nike brand after Greek goddess of triumph. After which Phil required a logo, as such he went to the nearby university, grabbed the very first student he can find in graphic design, and advised her to create a logo for him. In hindsight that was money well spent and with his branding now complete, Phil was ready for the Olympics. This time, Phil developed a network of subcontractors all over Japan rather than holding himself into an exclusive contracts.
With expansion under his influence, Phil was eventually able to stretch his wings. One can notice the growth in Nike’s profits precisely when Phil began buying sneakers from his Japanese subcontractors, and indeed they began until his deal had ended in 1971. The tale of Nike has been one of achievement from that day forward. In 1989, on the basis of smart advertising such as the “Just Do It” initiative and by recruiting rookie athletes who would soon became popular around the globe, they also became largest sportswear business in America.
Hope you like the Case Study of Nike; ‘Nike Case Study- Shoe Designing Innovation’. Stay Updated with us for more Classical Case Studies, and amazing Post.
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