When it comes to sports shoes and clothing, there is no doubt that Nike is one of the first brands that come to mind. For several years now, Nike has been the leading name not only in sportswear but also in sporting accessories and equipment. Its logo is one of the most recognizable symbols in the last century, which is a clear testament to the effectiveness of the company's marketing and advertising efforts.
Founded on January 25, 1964, Nike is an American-owned company based in Beaverton, Oregon. For the first 14 years, the sporting goods company was known as Blue Ribbon Sports until it was rebranded as Nike Inc. in 1978, after the Greek goddess of victory. This rebranding turned out to be rather propitious because since then, Nike just skyrocketed to success. The company currently has 1000+ retail stores around the world, including 380+ stores in the US.
The massive success of Nike is in large part due to the company's very well-crafted mission and vision statements, which they have consistently and effectively applied in all the different aspects of the business. In the mission statement, Nike clearly indicates its unwavering support for athletes. In the vision statement, Nike declares its intention of constantly improving its products and establishing a solid presence in the industry.
Do you know what’s helping to retain Nike’s position as the leading athletic shoes and apparel company worldwide? It’s primarily Nike’s mission and vision statements. A company’s corporate statement determines the long-term objectives of the business, mainly its purpose. In this company analysis case, you will come to know how Nike’s mission and vision statements focus on brand strength and development.
Nike Mission and Vision Statement Analysis Mind Map
An extensive discussion of the Nike mission and vision statements are vital to gaining a deeper understanding of the company's goals and strategies. But for the purpose of more effectively recalling the key points of these statements, a mind map is highly recommended. You can also create a mind map with EdrawMind, such as the one below.
A company's mission statement represents its short-term goals and draws attention to what it intends to deliver in order to achieve these goals. The Nike mission statement is “to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”
If we break this statement down, it is easy to see that the company's mission has three core components: bringing inspiration, creating innovation, and supporting every athlete in the world. To better comprehend the Nike mission statement, let us discuss what each of these components signifies.
Bringing Inspiration
Nike's slogan “Just Do It” embodies this component perfectly. With this very simple catchphrase, the company is able to inspire and motivate athletes of all levels to push themselves beyond their limits and achieve their bodies' maximum potential. The company also has a very efficient marketing strategy of using well-known role models in the sports community to empower the ordinary person, particularly the youth, inspiring them to go into sports and break outside their personal boundaries.
Creating Innovation
Nike is continually making groundbreaking innovations in all its products to enable people to constantly improve their fitness performance and earn accomplishments that it previously didn't even think possible. A clear example of this is when Nike readily took on the challenge of enabling a human to run a marathon in under 2 hours, a feat that has never been accomplished before. There was quite a lot of controversy about this challenge, with many skeptics saying it can't be done, but Nike's research and development team pummeled through. In the end, the highly innovative running shoes created by Nike proved instrumental in taking Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge across the finish line with a time of 1:59:40.
Supporting Every Athlete in the World
One of Nike's founders, Bill Bowerman, had released a statement saying that “if you have a body, you are an athlete.” This is an accurate reflection of the company's point of view that every single person is an athlete, not just professional players or those that have a natural talent for sports. With this in mind, Nike manufactures sports apparel, shoes, and equipment meant for a diverse market. The company embraces universality and provides a wide range of products to athletes of all skill levels, body types, and personal goals.
Vision Statement
A company's vision statement indicates how the founders foresee the company to be in the distant future. It presents a future image of the company upon the realization of its long-term goals. The Nike vision statement is “to remain the most authentic, connected, and distinctive brand.”
Take note of the explicit use of the term “remain” in the Nike vision statement. This indicates the company's self-recognition that it has already achieved the status of being the most authentic, connected, and distinctive brand in the global sporting goods industry and that its goal is to stay at this spot. No one would dare question this claim as any market data clearly verifies that Nike is indeed the top-performing company in the industry today. Thus, the Nike vision statement is targeted to keep the company in this top position.
Authenticity
Over the years, Nike has proven its authenticity in terms of product lines and services. Nike has always created products that deliver superior performance and exceed the customer's expectations. It do not simply sell products to generate revenue, but it exert insurmountable efforts to expand human potential at every possible opportunity.
Connectivity
The marketing strategies of Nike are geared towards creating and maintaining a strong personal connection between each of its consumers. Since the beginning, Nike Corporation has always been people-oriented and focused on the improvement of people's lives. Nike has several programs that support different sectors of society, making the company very relatable and keeping Nike positively connected to the market.
Distinction
The journey to the top entailed overcoming a lot of difficult challenges and required heavy investment, but it has all paid off because Nike is easily the most distinctive brand in athletic shoes and clothing today. Its logo and slogan are known all over the world. As of the latest 2021 reports, Nike has a brand value of $34.6 billion compared to its closest rival Adidas which is worth $16.5 billion.
Core Values
Nike's core values define what the company considers to be the most important. However, Nike consistently strives to become a bigger and better player in the sports industry. You can break down this point of Nike’s mission into further four aspects.
Community
Just like a team in any sport, Nike believes in the spirit of unity and community. Each member of the company is equally valuable, and individual contributions are always appreciated as everyone works together to achieve a common goal.
Sustainability
Not many people realize it, but Nike is heavily invested in environmental endeavors, like its extraordinary efforts in recycling plastic bottles to create sustainable footwear in the form of its Flyknit technology.
Diversity
Nike Corporation has built a very diverse and creative international team that has been very effective in making the company's compelling presence felt all over the world. Because of its impressive diversification strategies, Nike products appeal to people of all ages, races, walks of life, and athletic backgrounds.
Social Responsibility
Along with maintaining its corporate goals, which are depicted in Nike’s mission and vision statement, Nike never loses track of its social responsibility. In addition to its numerous programs for the awareness and promotion of environmental conservation, Nike also has a plethora of other programs that align with its core belief that sports can change the world for the better.
The Nike vision statement is clear, concise, very well put together, and effectively emphasizes the company's goal of maintaining the position of being the top brand in the global sportswear industry. Its mission statement is likewise excellent in that it is very clear in its intentions of bringing inspiration and innovation to athletes, although there was no specific mention of what products are exactly being offered. All in all, the Nike mission and vision statement are very well coordinated with each other and present a well-defined image of what the company hopes to achieve in the long term.
It is certainly difficult for any company to duplicate the level of success that has been attained by Nike, especially since Nike has already contributed so many unprecedented achievements in almost every aspect of the sports industry and athletic development. But if you are an aspiring business owner, Nike's corporate statements and business strategies would serve as an excellent model to emulate.
A further study of the Nike mission and vision statements can really help you create a solid foundation for your own venture. You can do this by using the versatile tools of mind map software like EdrawMind. There are even some pre-built templates for analyzing the Mission and Vision Statement that you can utilize to better visualize the goals and strategies and see how they can apply to your own business structure.
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