Question

Discuss your COE: NIKE

Please discuss your Company of Expertise (COE) using the sections outlined in these guidelines.

Here are the sections of your COE assignment:

1.0 Introduction of your COE.

2.0 COE SW Analyses:

2.1 COE Strengths (3 strengths in order of importance)

2.2 COE Weaknesses (3 weaknesses in order of importance)

3.0 Competition Analysis.

3.1 Primary competitor at your COS: Discuss the primary competitor of your COE. Compare your COE with their primary competitor. Use a table to summarize and compare the strengths and weaknesses of your COE and its main competitor.

4.0 COE target market analysis. Discuss the consumers that your COE is targeting in your COS.

5.0 References

Use 1-3 scholar references for your COE. Your references should be APA formatted. Your APA references should appear in the body of your discussion.

Please, do not use more than 5 scholarly references in your COE analysis (maximum).

Page limit: 1 page including your references. 2 pages at maximum with references.

Answer 1

Company of Expertise Analysis : NIKE

Introduction: Nike is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon. The firm manufactures high quality durable sports shoes, athletic components. The SWOOSH logo is a signature logo of the firm is a one of the signature logo and makes it's products different from the league. The most popular products that are named under the firm are Nike Air Jordan,Nike Blazers, Air Force 1 and many more. The firm is among the top leading firms that manufacture sports items.

Strengths:

1. Huge market capturing: Nike has captured the global footwear market by a whopping 30% due to it's global presence.
2. Huge Customer base: Nike has proven it's mettle in the internationale footwear industry and has customer presence acrocss the globe.
3. Low manufacturing cost: Nike as a firm makes use of cheap labour and has set up it's manufacturing plants in countries like Vietnam and Indonesia where the labor is cheap and easy to exploit.

Weakness:

1. Poor condition of the labor: The condition of the labour which Nike employs is bad and not upto the standards of Corporate Social Responsibility.
2. Increasing Debt: The debt to equity ratio of Nike is on the higher side which is not good an international firm. Increased amount of Debt pose a threat of financial stability at the international level.
3. Focusing on US market: Max customer presence of Nike is in the US. No mattter it's an international firm but it's maximum amount of users come from US.

Competitor Analysis:

The Primary Competitor of Nike is mainly Adidas. Adidas is also an international firm in the field of footwear. It operates both as a single brand and also have it's subsidiary Reebok in the field. Hence it's a Double whammy for Nike to tackle these two global competitors.

Brand Name	Strengths	Weakness
Nike	Huge market capturing Huge Customer base of 30% Low Manufacturing cost	Poor working environment for labour Increased Debt to equity ratio Focus mainly on US customers
Adidas	Strong online Presence Good association with football clubs Strong international operations	Expensive Products Advertising Issues

The target market in my COE analysis would be customers of age group 15-30. Since 95% of the customers of this age band are more fashion conscious and brand freaky. Now in order to capture this market properly and to the fullest I would try to innovate the footwear by changing design and looks and try to keep it more upto date and different from the league.

The price would also play an important role. Price skimming technique would be very useful in order to capture the target market. Initially i would keep a lower price so that it attracts the customers and once the product has positioned itself well in the market I would slightly increase the price without affecting my customer base and thereby satisfying the demands and needs of the target group.