Nike - Human Resources

It all started with a simple handshake between two running geeks in Eugene, Oregon and now they own the world's most competitive sports and fitness company. The Pacific Northwest is Nike's hometown but like so many ambitious souls, they have expanded their horizons to every part of the world. Nike has two headquarters; it’s World Headquarters in Oregon and its European Headquarters in The Netherlands.

Those two running geeks are Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. The long lived business partnership began in 1962 as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS). Their first year sales were $8,000 and every year after proceeded to increase. In 1972 they changed their company name to Nike. The word Nike comes from the Greek winged goddess of victory. They have achieved victory over the past 30 years. Through those years Nike has remained focused on creating performance opportunities for everyone who would benefit and offered empowering messages for everyone who would listen. Nike has a great accomplishment of servicing human potential through sports.

Bill Bowerman was a legendary track and field coach at the University of Oregon. He was a teacher who showed athletes the secrets of achievement. From him Nike has derived their mission and through his eyes they see their future.

The Nike mission is "to bring innovation and inspiration to every athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete." As long as there are athletes, there will be Nike.

In achieving their mission Nike has a vision for their company. The Nike brand has three areas of focus in their vision of success for their company. The first one is to play a role in effecting positive, systemic change in working conditions within their industries. They believe that in order for market forces to have responsible competitiveness, consumers must be able to reward brands and suppliers using fact based information.

Their second vision is to create innovative and sustainable products. They apply this vision to their two long term aspirations: eliminating waste and eliminating toxics. Nike feels by achieving sustainable products they will be able to prevent a separation between the coolest athletic products and the environment. They have selected these two goals in the physical sciences because if they can achieve that then objectively they are moving toward sustainability. They are beginning to include the sustainability goal into their standard business practices by using a Sustainability Index to assess each footwear category and the progress made toward reaching the sustainability goal. They review the index in seasonal planning, which takes place three times a year. They regularly gauge their progress and compete with one another (as well as work with one another) on sustainability issues.

Their third vision is to support young people with their rights to sports and physical activity. They see real value in physical fitness, and see its impact on mental and physical health. Their efforts to engage young people in sport and physical activity will push them in new directions and will help to view sports as a tool for positive social change. This can be a method of breaking down cultural barriers and bringing people together on the level of the playing field.

Nike’s organizational structure consists of Chairman, Philip H. Knight, President, CEO, and Director William D. Perez, VP and CFO Donald W. Blair. They have employed Nike employees, around 23,000 people worldwide. If you include manufacturers, retailers, shippers and service providers, nearly one million people help bring Nike to athletes everywhere

Nike has established a very “campus” like environment for their employees. It is very likely to see soccer games, runners or any other type of sports occurring outside of the Nike headquarters building. Nike encourages its employees to work out during their shift and provides sports activities throughout the day. It allows employees to mix their career interest with their personal lifestyle of health and fitness. This helps employees to better relate to the athletic market. As a result, this will create more of a relaxed and pleasant workplace.

Nike’s nature of the business is enthusiastic, a can-do spirit, and a specific desire to work. Though you probably shouldn't wear running shorts to the interview being athletic is good. People who are athletic seem to advance faster. Speaking another language is also a benefit.

The company accepts resumes by mail or fax, but does not post entry-level openings nationally. The company posts job openings on their websites. Nike has an automated