When people think Nike, the first thing that comes to mind is a swoosh. The iconic symbol of the clothing brand can be seen as a way of life in sports clothing, stylish clothing and pop culture. Nike is a highly successful company, with all competitors, like Addidas or Converse, constantly working toward being on the same plane as Nike.
The success of this company is due to it’s focus on communities and their environments. In fact, Nike looks at the community and the environment as the company’s external stakeholders (Wallace).As a result, Nike caters to the environment. This influences Nike’s goals.
Nike wants to provide quality and innovative services and products internally and externally(Nike Repository). Another goal of the company is to invest in community-based initiatives that use the power of sport to unleash potential and improve the lives of youth (Nike Repository). Nike can successfully achieve these goals through different types of planning. To provide high quality service, Nike can create an approach using operational planning in order to achieve this goal.
First off, Nike would have to look at the type of employees they are bringing into the company, as well as the satisfaction of the workers within their company. Nike is a sports-based clothing company. It would be a detriment to Nike to hiring someone not interested in sports or fashion. Also, Nike has to be aware of the responses by it’s employees of each product, for the initial response of the employees should inform Nike on the expected response of the consumers.
Nike does consider their employees as the internal stakeholders of the company (Wallace) so it should be a priority to gage their responses to products. This can be an indicator of how to market and advertise their products. Maybe the employees sense a hip-hop type of feeling toward a new sweatshirt, which could lead the marketing team to present it in that fashion. Listening to its stakeholders can appear to be an indicator to Nike as to how they can approach their work.Nike also wanted to invest in community-based initiatives that use the power of sport to unleash potential and improve the lives of youth (Nike Repository). A strategic plan can be set to achieve this goal.
One of the strengths of Nike, as indicated in the SWOT analysis on Tech Analysis Blog’s website, is their endless appeal to celebrities and athletes. Having super stars like LeBron James or Kanye West have their own shoes under the Nike umbrella can cause huge sells and high interest by multiple demographics.Nike can also use that celebrity appeal toward this goal. One strategic plan for Nike is to have sports related tournaments or contests in multiple communities and have athletes and celebrities take part.
This exposes the brand in public, to keep the allure and the appeal relevant. This allows for famous people to be involved in the promotion of the company, thus drawing the ire of fans of said celebrity. This also can allow for interactivity with fans of the Nike brand and getting them involved in sports.This could exhibit it’s effectiveness through younger generations the best, which can lead to Nike reaching it’s goal of changing young people’s lives for the betterment of their futures. There’s no denying that Nike, Inc. is a powerful brand with worldwide recognizability.
Anyone could see the Nike logo and know exactly where it came from. But the reasons why Nike is so successful is due to the companies’ willingness to continue improving. Nike still has goals to reach. I believe my ideas involving operational and strategic planning can allow the company to reach those achievements.
