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Nike: A Brief History
Philip Knight started ‘Blue Ribbon Sports’ (BRS) in 1962 and initially sold shoes out of the trunk of his
car. On a trip to Japan, Knight visited Onitsuka Tiger Company, a manufacturer of quality shoes. He
struck a deal with them and became the distributor of their Tiger brand shoes in U.S. In 1964, Bill
Bowerman, a track coach at the University of Oregon, joined the company and each of them contributed
$500 to BRS. As Knight did not have the finances to advertise the products, he marketed shoes by
speaking to the athletes and got their feedback. While Knight concentrated on marketing of shoes,
Bowerman experimented with shoe designs and manufactured new prototypes of Tiger models...
Growth of Nike
In 1973, based on Johnson’s idea, BRS was renamed NIKE, (Greek Goddess of victory) and the logo
‘Swoosh’ (wing of the Goddess) was adopted. In early 1970’s Nike concentrated on its worldwide market
expansion. In 1973, Nike opened its first international dealership in Canada. By late 1970s, it had
established its presence in Australia, Asia , South America, Japan and Europe. In 1978, under Knight’s
leadership, a Research and Development (R&D) center was started in Exeter, New Hampshire. In 1979,
Knight spearheaded the design, development and world wide marketing of apparel and accessory products
under the label Nike. By 2004, the apparel revenues reached $3.1 million (Annexure I). In 1980, Nike
surpassed Adidas3 as the number one athletic shoe company in the United States. In the same year it had
sales of $70 million and almost a 50% share in U.S. market and went to public...
Research and Development
In 1978, Nike opened a Research and Development (R&D) center comprising of three research divisions
and one design division. The R&D center tested new advanced materials based on parameters like
flexibility, cushioning and softness. The research division worked on athletes’ feedback from field tests of
prototype shoes. R&D center worked closely with the marketing department at Oregon to designed shoes
based on the current fashion trends as well as foot science9. Knight wanted to produce products that
reduced or eliminated injury and which aided athletic performance and maximized comfort...
Knight’s Management
Knight followed a “Matrix” structure where employees were shuffled between various departments. This
helped employees to acquire cross functional knowledge about all the departments and the overall
footwear industry. Knight motivated talented people and they were given freedom to come up with
innovative ideas which forced people to learn many things...
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