Strengths
The biggest strength of Nike is that it is an extremely competitive organization with its approach of “Just Do It” slogan for its brand epitomizing its attitude towards business. The company was founded on the principle that it would make shoes for anyone who could walk or run and this has been the guiding philosophy behind Nike. Coupled with its iconic “Swoosh” logo and its equally catchy tagline, Nike’s strength is that it has emerged as a “Can Do” company.
Strength of the company is that it has outsourced all aspects of its production to overseas facilities and thereby, does not have any manufacturing outlet of its own. This has helped the company focus on higher value adding activities like design and research and development and at the same time, it has saved the high labor costs that are part of the traditional manufacturing sector.
Apart from this, the other big strength of Nike is that it is a globally recognized brand that has top of the mind recall among consumers and the youth in particular. Further, the Nike brand is synonymous with quality and resilience as well as endurance and fitness, which makes it the brand of choice for athletes and anyone who wishes to run.
Finally, Nike stands to benefit from the current disarray among its competitors because of the fragmentation of the market wherein Nike with its USP or Unique Selling Proposition can standalone among them.
Weaknesses
Nike is almost exclusively driven by its footwear business and therefore, the footwear market contributes to a lion’s share of its revenues making it dependent on this segment for its survival. In these recessionary times, it is not a good business practice to be overly dependent on one segment and hence, Nike ought to diversify horizontally as well as vertically and include apparel and other accessories.
Though we have mentioned the fact that it has outsourced its manufacturing aspects completely as strength, the negative...