Business Environment and Corporate Strategy of Nike: A Detailed Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Nike's corporate strategy within today's competitive business environment. It delves into Nike's focus on innovation, research and development, and its strategies to gain profitability, reduce injuries, and enhance athletic performance. The report highlights Nike's strong position in developed markets and its differentiation through innovative products and customer-centric strategies. It examines the company's value creation and destruction through marketing strategies, celebrity endorsements, and sponsorships. The report also provides strategic recommendations for Nike, including dominating emerging markets like India, diversifying its product line, disrupting the market, integrating 3D printing, pushing into digital sports, and leveraging manufacturing advancements to strengthen its corporate strategy. The analysis draws on academic references to support its claims.

Running Head: BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT 0
CORPORATE STRATEGY

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT 1
NIKE Corporate Strategy
In today’s competitive market, Nike has an intensive strategy to broaden its brand around the
world. The company focuses on innovation and undertake constant research and
development in order to be –
 Gain profitability in long run.
 Reduce or eliminate athletes’ injury.
 Help in athletic performance and maximise comfort.
At present, the company has a strong position in developed markets such as US, China, Japan
and Europe. Nike differentiates itself by providing highly innovative products that are made
in factories but built “in the mind and bought by the customer”. In addition, their corporate
strategy is also focused on giving value to their customers, shareholders, employees and
community. On their website, Nike adopts a strategy that emphasized on the word ‘free’ as it
name of the shoe, the significant competitive advantage which connect consumer with
positive thoughts.
One of their part of their corporate strategy is to find its target market for a specific product
as the company considering with most of its products tries to cater to all sorts of sports
enthusiasts or athletes. Various different types of celebrity athletes, professional athletic
teams and college sports teams combinedly used as product sponsorship for targeting the
particular segment by the company. Nike also conducts marketing differentiation with the
help of using diverse promotional and marketing campaigns to offer an exclusive and unique
image of the brand. Innovation always leads to value creation among the consumer and helps
an organisation to gain competitive advantage in the industry (Schot and Geels, 2008).
Value creation and value destruction
Nike marketing strategy is to assemble a capable brand and it reveals very different paths to
value creation and destruction. Nike has created superior value by utilizing celebrity
endorsers and sponsorship such as Roger Federefr and Bloomberg respectively. The idea

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT 2
behind is that celebrity image is embedded into the customer mind and will lead customer to
connect with the endorser to the company product and thus making the brand more valuable
and desirable. However, Nike was failed in acquiring Under Armour few years ago. In the
history of Nike, it was one if the biggest failure that affects the company growth and revenue
(Sun, 2018). Moreover, their advertisement on Raheem Sterling fronts new advertisement
after speaking out on racism also leads in the destruction of the value.
Recommendations towards corporate strategy
In terms of recommendations, Nike should dominate more to emerging markets like India and
diversify its product line. Rather than focusing on innovation, the company need to plan for
disrupting the market either by new consumer experience strategy or by coming up with
products at lower cost in comparison with top brands.
The company can also embed its internal process with the 3D printing techniques as it is
getting integrated into growing numbers of areas outside of prototyping (Campbell, Bourell
and Gibson, 2012). Nike should push into digital sports and focus on attaining a lead role in
almost every one of the upcoming worldwide sports events. In last, Nike can also earn more
value in terms of manufacturing revolution with various technological advancements and
innovations. All this will help in building their corporate strategy more stringent.

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT 3
References
Campbell, I., Bourell, D. and Gibson, I. (2012) Additive manufacturing: rapid prototyping
comes of age. Rapid prototyping journal, 18(4), pp.255-258.
Schot, J. and Geels, F.W. (2008) Strategic niche management and sustainable innovation
journeys: theory, findings, research agenda, and policy. Technology analysis & strategic
management, 20(5), pp.537-554.
Sun, L. (2018) Under Armour's 6 Biggest Blunders [ONLINE] Available from:
https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/01/21/under-armours-6-biggest-blunders.aspx
[Accessed 20/04/2019].