Nike Strategy

After Nike’s success in the US is inarguable, its intent to focus on the

international markets. The company wants to generate more than half of its revenue from overseas. In my opinion, Nike’s strategies and tactics are to seek on the opportunity to do the marketing on its radical, rebellious and anti-establishment images to the international markets and to benefit from its use of overseas factories to outsource manufacturing processes. For example,

• A Nike ad in Soccer America magazine that delivered the massage to Europe, Asia and Latin America. Part of its message mentioned to their local investors to better invest in some deodorant.

• A TV commercial featured a Manchester United player explaining how spitting at a fan and insulting a coach won him a Nike contract.

• A Nike advertising campaign at the Atlanta Olympic Games with the slogan “You don’t win silver, you lose gold.”

• A Nike’s factories in Vietnam, China and Indonesian.

For those marketing efforts, Nike does successful to promote itself with its not-quite-nice images and also generate some criticism that I think they are irresponsible as we can see from their ad that they does not create any positive effects to the society. For its use of overseas factories, it is great opportunity to expand the production base to the lower cost of labor, but it is totally irresponsible and unethical when labor practice does not meet the standard.

In my point of view, the most unethical Nike’s decision is not to take the responsibility to ensure at least minimum and humane standards that it should offer to its work force. For example, in Vietnam, Nike paid its workers less than the cost of three meals of rice and vegetables and tofu. It treated workers no better than in sweatshops with only two drinks of water and one bathroom break in an eight hour shift. Also Nike let its contractors in developing countries to use child labor under sub-standard conditions. On the other hand, the least unethical Nike’s decision is to have a TV commercial featured a Manchester United player explaining