Introduction, Mission, and Vision
Nike is an American multinational company that deals in sportswear and sports equipment of all kinds. The company designs, develops, manufactures, conducts, and sells all its wears in approved stores (Wedekind, 2008). In particular, the firm deals in costumes including footwear, shirts, shorts, and balls among other equipment. The headquarters of Nike are located in Oregon in the metropolitan area of Portland.
The reason, which made me choose to discuss Nike is that it is one of the largest sports companies in the world. As a matter of fact, the company has one rival at the top of the hierarchy in the sports business: Adidas. Fundamentally, these two firms are the largest sports companies in the world (Wedekind, 2008). In fact, people argue that there is no clear distinction as to which one of the two is larger or makes more sales. Apart from that, the revenue of Nike is usually over 24 billion per year. It also employs a lot of people as currently having employed more than 44,000 across the world. Further, Nike is one of the most valued brands in the globe. Experts place the value of the brand at $19 billion. Essentially, this makes it the most valuable brand in the sports industry.
The mission of Nike is helping athletes across the world become innovative and be inspired (DeLong, 2009). However, the company does not have a clear vision statement as none has been documented so far. Nevertheless, the corporate vision for the organization is to assist customers resides in a balanced economy. In this vision, the company is clearly committed to practice sustainable business methods where the environment is taken care of, and the profits are also maximized. Apart from that, the customers are at the center of all the operations of the company. In this case, the main customers are sports people and teams all across the world.
Impact of the Mission and Vision on the Organization’s Culture
The vision and mission statements of any company have significance impact not only on the operations of a firm but also on the culture of the employees and the entire company fraternity. Therefore, the mission and vision statements of Nike have influence the culture practiced both inside and outside the enterprise. Indeed the brand has grown to be loved by all people, especially in America, where it has always been associated with success. In fact, great sportspeople like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods have been associated with the brand for quite a long time (DeLong, 2009). It means, therefore, that the organization lives up to the demands of the mission statement as it inspires the users of its products to achieve like the way these two achieved in their respective sports. In fact, many athletes look up to the two to make it great in their respective fields.
Further, the company comes up with new and unique products as it strives to stay ahead of the competition in the business. Again, this is motivated by the mission statement where the firm aims at achieving innovation for its athletes. Some of its unique products include basketball shoes, soccer boots, and sports jerseys that are durable. As a matter of fact, the innovative culture of Nike is the leading in the world. The mission statement has motivated the approach.
Apart from that, the vision statement of Nike has led to the immense corporate social responsibility initiatives carried out by the organization all over the world (Valjakka, 2013). Nike engages in projects worth millions of dollars in an aim of giving back to the society. Some of the projects in corporate social responsibility that it gets into include providing sports equipment to teams for free helping in setting up stadiums and other sports facilities and sponsoring individual athletes in competitions. Notably, the culture is clearly motivated by the vision statement.
Diversity within Nike
Indeed, has much diversity due to the range of products that it offers (Homburg, Klarmann & Schmitt, 2010). Some sports franchises only deal with specific sports products. For instance, one may find a sports company only producing equipment to be used for basketball. Similarly, a firm may also decide to concentrate on production of jerseys and sports attire only. However, Nike deals in all kinds of sports and sports equipment. Apart from that, the company has interests in all the sports, including the extreme sports like diving and gliding. The company has endorsements from players in all these kinds of games. As a result of this, Nike has become the most successful sports company in the world. Most national teams in the world prefer having Nike manufactured jerseys due to the diversity that the firm offers to the teams as well as the players.
References
DeLong, M. (2009). Innovation and sustainability at Nike. Fashion Practice, 1(1), 109-113.
Homburg, C., Klarmann, M., & Schmitt, J. (2010). Brand awareness in business markets: When is it related to firm performance? International Journal of Research in Marketing, 27(3), 201-212.
Valjakka, M. (2013). CSR and company reputation-case study of Nike. Fashion Practice, 5(3), 46-78.
Wedekind, J. (2008). The commercial games: Selling off the Olympic ideals. Multinational Monitor, 29(2), 47.
