Nike as one of the pioneers in athletic brands is also one of the pioneers companies who have not only practised corporate responsibility (CR) but also created systems and process which in essence transcended Nike into moving beyond corporate responsibility to ‘Sustainable Business and Innovation (SB&I)’ (Nike Inc CR report, 2009).
The organizational focus on CR and beyond comes for the very top and Mark Parker the CEO and president of Nike in his letter published in Nike CR report (2011) reiterated the pledge with regards to a sustainable future in terms of achieving the organisational goal for the next decade of innovation in a responsible manner.
Just like Nike’s footwear help athletes break new barriers and achieve their personal best, similarly Nike strive for achieving a personal best in terms of value creation and innovation which positively affects both the business and the environment in view of Nike’s approach towards CR (Nike Sustainable Business, 2011).
Thinking far ahead in terms of the impact CR will create in business processes Nike in 2001 formed a committee in lieu with the committee structure of the Board of Directors which focused on the external issues with regards to sustainability, environmental, labor and corporate responsibilities (Nike Sustainability Strategy, 2012).
Nike in 2006 created a structure to account the CR practices across Nike, with structure being the VP for Sustainable Business and Innovation reporting to Mark Parker. Also structurally the VP also co-manages dedicated teams in lieu with executive’s o review and implements CR policies across Nike as per the vision of the company.
In the Nike corporate responsibility report (2009), Nike’s CFO, Don Blair stated in the strategy section that the systems and processes have evolved with the bigger picture of sustainability in focus as opposed to the old system of focusing on risk management, philanthropy and fulfilment, which in essence gives light to the aforementioned changes in organizational structure to support CR activities.
Nike’s mission is “to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world”, and it is aligned with the sustainable structure at Nike in a very efficient manner.
Nike’s pledge to its mission statement can be gauged from the fact that, the company challenge all facets of its process and culture at Nike with regards to serve the athlete, grow the company and most importantly inspire the world the Nike Way which is ‘Just Do It (Nike Inc Business Overview, 2012).
The focus on corporate responsibility and the reviews and checks has helped the company to innovate and consistently increase the revenue each year and thus Nike’s 2015 revenue target is $28-30 billion, which is up from the preceding target of $27 billion and is a result of shareholders taking key decisions aggressively (Nike Inc History & Heritage, 2014).
At Nike from an organizational viewpoint the SB&I team acts as the mechanism for global sustainable efforts. The structure has a team of 130 people and the hob description is to strategize, provide CR content and collaborate on a global level, integration of sustainable ideas and also alleviate risks with team Nike to lead the sustainability and CR efforts.
The discussed organizational structure in Figure.1 is given below to comprehend the focus of Nike to align its operations and also how systematically through a sequence of commands improve the social and environmental impacts and create significant value for the Nike value chain by dropping the expenditures on energy and water (Nike, Inc. Strategy, 2009).
On a concluding note, Nike recognize some challenges to its integrated, matrix organizational structure, however in view of the success it in essence do allow for clearer integration and combined responsibility of sustainability goals at Nike.
Figure 1: Our Sustainability Strategy (Nike, Inc, 2012).
References
Nike, Inc. 2009. Corporate Responsibility Report (CR). Available at: http://www.nikebiz.com/crreport/ [accessed 3 April 2014].
Nike Corporate Responsibility Report 2011. Letter from the CEO. Available at: http://www.nikeresponsibility.com/report/content/chapter/letter-from-the-ceo [accessed 3 April 2014].
Nike, Inc. 2011. Sustainable Business at Nike, Inc. Available at: http://nikeinc.com/pages/responsibility [accessed 4 April 2014].
Nike, Inc. 2012. Our Sustainability Strategy. Available at: http://www.nikeresponsibility.com/report/content/chapter/our-sustainability-strategy [accessed 4 April 2014].
Nike, Inc. 2009. Strategy: Innovation in the Offense. Available at: http://www.nikebiz.com/crreport/content/strategy/2-1-1-corporate-responsibility-strategy-overview.php?cat=cr-strategy [accessed 4 April 2014].
Nike, Inc. 2012. Business Overview. Available at: http://www.nikeresponsibility.com/report/content/chapter/our-sustainability-strategy [accessed 4 April 2014].
Nike, Inc. 2014. History & Heritage. Available at: http://nikeinc.com/pages/history-heritage [accessed 4 April 2014].
