Nike's Sustainable Development Strategy

This assignment examines the impact of organizational structure, leadership, and culture on Nike's growth. It highlights how effective leadership transformed Nike from a brand into a dynamic company embracing innovation and sustainability. The report analyzes Nike's commitment to ethical practices, particularly its efforts in combating child labor and fair wages. It further explores their sustainable initiatives like Flyknit and Nike Grind, showcasing their dedication to reducing waste and environmental impact.

Introduction to Business and
Management (Nike)

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Brief about the company..................................................................................................................3
3 levels of an organisation and their responsibilities.......................................................................3
Roles and styles of leadership and management from theoretical perspective................................5
Relevant effects of globalisation facing the organisation................................................................6
Understanding of CSR and evaluate two responses adopted by the organisation...........................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
Companies depend on structures, organisational structure, its management, employees as well as
the values and beliefs it tries to express through its business and how it operates. There are a
number of factors that are associated with the existence of a company and how organisational
structure can affect its growth as well as how the leadership affects the company. There are a
number of reasons why it is clear why Nike makes such great products and is considered as
among the topmost companies throughout the world.
Brief about the company
Nike is a global brand specialising in sports merchandise, shoes and clothing made especially for
the sporty people. The brand that has been closely associated with top athletes and has been
responsible for being part of numerous sporting events is known for its innovative ideas, the
great business philosophy, the high sales and the great leadership. The company believes in
integrating change as an important factor in their lives with constant importance put into
innovation and making something new and unique. The brand is currently known for its various
innovative products, their extensive CSR activities and great relations with its buyers (Goldman,
2008).
3 levels of an organisation and their responsibilities
There are a number of sections and levels within a large company like Nike as there is constant
need of change and a systematic approach to works surely helps Nike stay ready for anything.
There are various levels of organisation and their own organisational culture. Along with this

there are a number of responsibilities that are associated with the designations and the levels also
provide certain roles and tasks to each person who is in a certain section or tier. The most
common three levels of an organisation are the top management, the employees and the leaders.
Today, businesses rely on a number of factors to become successful, especially for companies
like Nike, there is a lot at stake, the global business depends on innovation and new ideas to
boost its sales and become different from the competitors (DeChurch, 2015). The levels within
its organisation create the basis for the success and the great management skills shown by the
company. There are various tiers within the company, and each tier holds multiple people within
it. Each of the people are assigned special duties to make sure that these people know what they
are expected to do and stick to it. For example, the leader knows that their job is to make the
people within the organisation feel safe and also there is a need from the leader to constantly
innovate, motivate and drive the workforce towards better business. In the company setting, the
top management is the ultimate tier within the management of a company, as in this case- Nike.
The CEO, Mark Parker is known for his revolutionary designs and the dedicated inspirational
leadership that he provides through his very close knit leadership styles. The people within the
top management are provided the responsibilities to handle and segregate the duties of the mid
level and the low level management staff and provide them with duties and job roles, so that they
can have particular sections that they are responsible for (Murase, 2016). To exemplify, we
might say that the Top Management team can assign Kevin G. who is a marketing executive to
train the juniors or trainees and report with the result of his effort to the low level management.
There is also the organisational management section which is dependent on the factors that lead
to the other section which is the leadership sections which is an integral part of how the company
works and they re dependent on the leadership Skills. For leadership is the power which heads

the company in the right direction and it is required that people always value the company and
believe in their leaders, and the leadership style is also important in making sure that the
company evolves in the right way (Wake, 2009).
Roles and styles of leadership and management from theoretical
perspective
There is a need for good leadership skills in order to take a company to the next level. The leader
Mark Parker is a humble person who although really confident is not what normal people will
envision as a leader. The CEO, Mark Parker is a transformational leader, who derives pleasure
from the association with others and helping others transform into better people. The
transformational leaders are people who believe in other people and help them o break their own
limitation. These leaders are known to be taking ideas and inspirations and constantly motivating
change. In a changing world, Nike is a brand that has been changing its ways and views
including their working patterns and they have evolved despite being a large scale company
(Amanchukwu, 2015). The leader knows that transformation, and getting new ideas,
incorporating new cultures and inspiration only makes the company better so he allows
inspiration from even lower and freshers to be heard, as he values the raw and unique ideas
which are not restricted r changed with age and experience. There is a need to also make sure
that people in the Nike company is known to be innovative and are led by a person who is highly
motivated and creative and believes in creating something new and constantly innovating and
improving their knowledge. This ensures that they are always trying their best to create better
and innovative products, but not only is the great success of the company a result of the
thoughtful and carefully constructed leadership and the equally important organisational culture,

it is the fact that despite being the CEO of the company Mark has never lost his sight about what
the importance of change is and how it is important for the company. The role of a leader is quite
vital for the success of any company, as a leader helps the people in the company connect with
the company’s motives , align their wants and desires with the company’s and also makes them
become more enthusiastic about their work. A transformational leader enhances the skills of the
employees and encourages them to think out of the box, enhancing their styles. There is also the
fact that the inspirations provided by such leaders are important to help all members to envision
the company’s changes and work towards achieving them wholeheartedly. Since the chief
method that transformational leaders use is make every person accept change and make the
changes happen in the workplace, changing beliefs and accepting changes is a major aspect of a
transformational leader (Gosling, 2003).
Relevant effects of globalisation facing the organisation
When talking about globalisation, it is imperative to note that for large scale multinational
companies, globalisation has played an important part in shaping the way that Nike operates and
the way they do business. Today Nike develops new and innovative products that provide better
footwear and clothing for the people who are looking for sportswear as well as Nike is a large
manufacturer of clothing and other sports merchandise and is currently conducting business in a
number of counties which are possible through careful business planning and implementation.
Globalisation has been in favour of the company, enhancing the brand penetration and also
making people aware of the brand. Today it is one of the most coveted brands. The products such
as sports gear and sportswear are designed for the people who are athletes, are sports fans and
others too, these have been hugely adapted as a trend and today people consider Nike as a sports

merchandise producer (Macdonald, 2007). The globalisation has also helped Nike to incorporate
different ideas from across the globe into their marketing and business. The products are
constantly created with different inspirations; the workplace of Nike is a diverse one, which
helps the designers take inspiration from different sources. The globalisation has made it easier
to make products popular, TV has made is easier to reach people, marketing for products have
become easier. People today are always online, creating better scope for the company to reach
prospective buyers through marketing and other mediums. Promotions, tie ups with athletes, and
sports teams have helped spread awareness about the brand and made Nike a leader among
sports products manufacturers and sellers. But today, the company is facing some different
adverse effect of globalisation as well, such as the increase in brand awareness and product
selection can become difficult for Nike. It is now tougher for Nike to try their hands into new
products, although the leader Mark is really appreciating changes and is taking inspiration.
Although some believe that large scale companies are more at risk with changing time, it is not
true for Nike as it has embraced change and incorporated them in their organisational culture.
One of the reasons that Nike has been so successful is that they have been able to use
Globalisation and the benefits of globalisation to their favour, expanding their reach, being able
to influence more people, taking inspiration and growing their business. The company used
globalisation as their weapon to become more powerful and help it grow intro many more
markets (OECD, 2016).

Understanding of CSR and evaluate two responses adopted by the
organisation
CSR is today an integral part of the development of a company and its image within the business
sphere. Today, being part of a CSR activity is considered as a path that is essential for the
sustainable development of a company. There had been massive allegations from the society as
they had been sued by various social workers and human rights companies to be using child
labour and using low paid labour in third world countries to manufacture their products. But the
company made its efforts to rectify there mistake and became one of the first companies to
become totally transparent and exposed all of their relationship, dealers and other associations
with other companies that are associated with the company. This made it easier for the company
to get better trust from the followers. Earlier their choice of workers and their meagre wages
created a bad impression about the company and its operations. But with time and the assurance
of change, slowly Nike developed its own sustainable performance mission to create more
awareness about the brand and give back to the society. The aim of Nike is to create products
that help athletes and sports persons take their abilities to the next level and this has been
possible through the use of sustainable innovations to help extract the best results with the most
desired efforts. The Fly knit project by Nike is designed to create the moist sustainable footwear
that is great for the wearer, agile and helps them do more. There is also made to produce 60%
less waste as well as creating better performance. The Nike Grind is also a sustainable project by
Nike that helps use the waste and existing products and turns them into premium products and
transforming them into different state of materials to be used in apparel, footwear and other
materials. This helps to reduce the generation of waste, increase the use of materials that were
not being used before, and usage of previously considered waste products. This created for Nike

an image that it believes in the sustainability issues and incorporates it within its business
strategy which have provide Nike with the right reasons to become appreciated as a company
that favours the sustainable development model and thinks about giving it back to the society and
the world through its innovative and sustainable solutions (OECD, 2016).
Conclusion
The report provides evidence as to how organisational structure, leadership and it’s
organisational culture can impact the growth of any company such as Nike and how effective
leadership can take a company from being just a big brand to a dynamic company which is ready
to learn more from the world, implement changes, take on new ideas and try to revolutionise the
tried and tested formulas. This is the reason why Nike is a successful brand and is constantly
creating innovative products to attract better sales and is also performing their company and
products throughout the world.

References
Amanchukwu, R. N., 2015. A Review of Leadership Theories, Principles and Styles and Their
Relevance to Educational Management. Journal of Management, 5(1), pp. 1-6.
DeChurch, L. A., 2015. Leadership across Levels: Levels of Leaders and their Levels of Impact,
s.l.: University of Central Florida.
Goldman, R., 2008. Nike Culture: The Sign of the Swoosh. s.l.:SAGE.
Gosling, B. R., 2003. A REVIEW OF LEADERSHIP THEORY AND COMPETENCY
FRAMEWORKS, s.l.: University of Exeter .
Macdonald, D., 2007. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND GLOBALIZATION:CHALLENGES FOR
EMPLOYERS AND THEIR ORGANIZATIONS, s.l.: ILO Workshop on Employers'
Organizations.
Murase, T., 2016. Levels of Leaders and their Levels of Impact, s.l.: University of Central
Florida.
OECD, 2016. International Regulatory Co-operation The Role of International Organisations in
Fostering Better Rules of Globalisation: The Role of International Organisations in Fostering
Better Rules of Globalisation. s.l.:OECD Publishing.
Wake, M. H., 2009. Organisms and Organization, s.l.: Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution
and Cognition Research.