Nike Research Paper

Essay by afabian260University, Master's August 2014

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Background of NIKE, Inc.

Nike was founded by two Oregonians, Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman. Bowerman and Knight had a unique relationship being that Bowerman was Phil Knight's running coach at the University of Oregon. After Knights running days were over he enrolled at the prestigious Stanford University for a master's degree in finance. While at Stanford, Knight wrote a term paper about the cost effectiveness of manufacturing shoes in Japan, thus sparking the idea of Nike. Knight sent the business proposal to multiple manufacturers in Asia but got no reply. A company named Tiger Shoes in Japan caught Knights attention because of the high quality shoe that was made but for a relatively low manufacturing cost. Knight began working as a distributor for Tiger Shoes and the first client Knight called was his former running coach Bill Bowerman. Bowerman had been creating his own prototypes for shoes that gave runners an advantage but was looking for a way to get it launched.

Knight and Bowerman decided to partner up and try to sell Bowerman's shoe concept to Tiger Shoes.

Knight and Bowerman opened a small business company called Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964. At BRS the two worked on making the shoes lighter and tested the prototypes on University of Oregon cross country team. Few years later in 1971 Bowerman and Knight made the change from distributor to shoe designer, a decision that would change sports. The partnership had developed a legitimate shoe and was ready to release their first line just in time for the 1972 U.S. Track and Field Trials. The stars were in line for Knight and Bowerman being that the trials were being held in Eugene, Oregon. With the release of the new line Nike's "Swoosh" logo was born, and later to become one...