NIKE

Industry Designing and Manufacturing: Sportswear and Sports equipment Founded January 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports ; 1978 as Nike, Inc.Founders William J. "Bill" Bowerman and Philip H. KnightArea served WorldwideType PublicTraded as NYSE:NKE S&P 500 ComponentIndustry Apparel & accessoriesHeadquarters Washington County , Oregon, United StatesKey people Phil Knight (Chairman), Mark Parker (President and CEO)

Products Athletic footwear and apparel, sports equipments & accessories and other athletic and recreational productsRevenue US$ 24.128 billion (FY 2012)Operating Income US$ 3.040 billion (FY 2012)Net income US$ 2.223 billion (FY 2012)Total Assets US$ 15.465 billion (FY 2012)Total Equity US$ 10.381 billion (FY 2012)Employees 44,000 (2012)Website www.nikeinc.com

Starting steps of the ladder that led to a grand success…..

1950 - 1959: When Nike breathed its first breath, it inhaled the spirit of two men.

Bill Bowerman was a coach at the University of Oregon.

Firstly Bowerman began cobbling shoes for his runners to give them a competitive advantage.

Phil Knight was a talented middle-distance runner from Portland, who enrolled at Oregon in the fall of 1955 and competed for Bowerman’s track program.

Upon graduating from Oregon, Knight earned his MBA in finance from Stanford University,

But his letters to manufacturers in Japan and Asia went unanswered, so Knight took a chance.He made a cold-call on the Onitsuka Co. in Kobe, Japan, and persuaded the manufacturer of Tiger shoes to make Knight a distributor of Tiger running shoes in the United States.

1960 - 1969: Founded on a handshake, $500 and mutual trust

They shook hands to form Blue Ribbon Sports, pledged $500 each and placed their first order of 300 pairs of shoes in January 1964.

Knight sold the shoes out of the trunk of his green Plymouth Valiant, while Bowerman experimented on lighter Tiger Shoes.

In essence, the foundation for what would become Nike had been established.

But Bowerman and Knight each had full-time jobs - Bowerman at Oregon and Knight at a Portland accounting firm - so they needed someone to manage the growing requirements of Blue Ribbon Sports.

Enter Jeff Johnson became the first full-time employee of Blue Ribbon Sports in 1965, and quickly became an invaluable utility man for the start-up company.

1970 - 1979: The birth of the Nike brand, and company

From being a footwear distributor, they began designing and manufacturing their own brand of athletic shoes.

They selected a brand mark known as the “Swoosh,”. The new Nike line of footwear debuted in 1972.

Steve Prefontaine was the first athlete to endorse and elevate the new NIKE line.

He quickly gained national exposure thanks to cover stories on magazines and his fourth-place finish in 1972 in the 5,000m in Munich.

In turn, he became a powerful ambassador for BRS and Nike after he graduated from Oregon.

His tragic death at age 24 in 1975 cut short an unparalleled career in track. Knight has often said that Pre is the “soul of Nike.”

1980 - 1989:

A decade of transition and rededication

Nike entered the 1980s on a roll, thanks to the successful launch of Nike Air technology in the Tailwind running shoe in 1979.

Even Phil Knight stepped down as president for more than a year in 1983-1984, although he remained the chairman of the board and CEO.

By 1980, Nike had reached a 50% market share in the United States athletic shoe market, and the company went public in December of that year.

Fortunately, the debut of a new signature shoe for an NBA rookie by the name of Michael Jordan in 1985 helped bolster Nike’s bottom line.

1987:The focal point was the Air Max, the first Nike footwear to feature Nike Air bags that were visible.

A year later, Nike built on its momentum from the ‘Revolution’ campaign by launching a broad yet empowering series of ads with the tagline “Just do it”.

In 1989, Nike’s cross-training business exploded.

By the end of the decade, Nike had regained its position as the industry leader, the first and only time a company in the athletic footwear/apparel industry has accomplished such a feat.

Nike has never relinquished that position again.

1990 - 1999:Nike extends its reach

Nike entered the 1990s by christening its beautiful world headquarters in suburban Portland, Oregon.

In November of 1990, Portland became the first home to a new retail-as-theatre experience called Niketown.

While Nike had designed footwear and apparel for golf and soccer for a number of years, the mid-1990s signaled a deepening commitment to truly excel in these sports.

In 1994, Nike signed several individual players from what would be the World Cup-winning Brazilian National Team.

In 1995, Nike signed the entire team, and began designing the team’s distinctive uniform. Nike also signed the US men’s and women’s national soccer teams, as well as dozens of national teams around the world.

In 1996, Nike Golf landed a vastly talented but as-yet-unproven young golfer named Eldrick “Tiger” Woods for a reported $5 million per year.

2000 - Present: Leading a new generation

Nike introduced a new footwear cushioning system debuted as Nike Shox during Sydney in 2000. The result was a cushioning and stability system worthy of joining Nike Air as the industry’s gold standard.

The 2002 “Secret Tournament” campaign was Nike’s first truly integrated, global marketing effort.Nike created a multi-faceted consumer experience in support of the World Cup.

The company has continued to expand in new ways, including strong growth in China and a deal to become the official sponsor of the National Football League (NFL) beginning in 2012.

At an investor meeting at its world headquarters in June 2011, NIKE, Inc. announced an increase to its fiscal 2015 revenue target to a new range of $28-30 billion, up

from its previous target of $27 billion announced in May 2010. An increase in its fiscal 2015 revenue target for the NIKE Brand to $24-25 billion,

up from its previous target of $23 billion.

Nike Categories :-

Nike Action SportsNike Athletic TrainingNike BasketballNike FootballNike Football (Soccer)Nike RunningNike SportswearNike TennisNike Women'sDigital Sport

Affiliate BrandsCole HaanConverseHurleyJordan BrandNike GolfUmbro

By:- Mansi Khurana Himanshu Dixit F.P.Tech.