What Is Competitive Advantage? And How Has Nike Achieved It?

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The aim of this investigation is to find out how Nike has achieved it’s competitive advantage, and to research into the company, to gain my own conclusion, and opinion of what I expect their future to hold.  

Competitive advantage is a distinctive feature about a business that makes it successful.  It can be gained through: -

Innovation (The introduction of new ideas, which change or create a                                                                                                        product)

Reputation

Relationship with suppliers

Relationship with customers

Prices

Advertising/Branding

To maintain competitive advantage it must be difficult for other firms to copy.  The business must carefully identify the people who will buy the product, and make it more appealing to them.

Nike are a sports-clothing and footwear company, employing 22,000 people worldwide, from Nike World Headquarters in Oregon and Nike European Headquarters in Hilversum, The Netherlands, to nearly every region around the globe, including Asia Pacific, the Americas, and Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Nike sells footwear, apparel, and equipment for men, women and kids, for a variety of sports.  They are famous for their quality, and science.  

 

The company first started in 1962 by a man called Bill Bowerman.

 Jeff Johnson (runner) joined Knight and Bowerman's “Blue Ribbon” Sports Company as its first full-time employee.  They sold shoes out of the back of his van at high school track meets in 1965.

 In 1966 Johnson opened the company's first retail outlet in a small building at

3107 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, California. Jeff Johnson is credited with giving Nike its name, as it came about one night via a dream he had. Prefontaine, the first major track athlete to wear Nike product had significant influence on the design of Nike's running shoes. His strong spirit and renowned competitive obsession left a permanent mark on the company.

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Nike’s mission is  “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”   Innovation is a particularly important part of Nike technology.  Their mission has always been to provide a competitive edge, to help athletes perform better. “We climb inside the athletic mind. We feel every beat of the athletic heart. We flex, bend, twist and torque every inch of athletic sinew and muscle. It's not easy, but it's natural for us. We are athletes.”  

Nike first achieved competitive advantage when they worked out the puzzle of modern science and sport. ...

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