An organization is a group of people who have agreed to work together in order to achieve a collective goal. The purpose or the objectives of the organisation form the basis of the institution. The purpose of the assignment is to understand the difference in between a business organisation and a sports organisation. A management framework in any organisation applies irrespective of the objectives. Strategic management is essential in the organisation to deal with the changes in the industry of operation as well as improve the process o business in the long run. Achieving the goals and objectives is also one of the major reasons for employing strategic management decisions and policies. In order to conduct the study the company that has been chosen is Nike Inc.
A sports organisation can be defined as an institution that is operates in the sports industry in order to achieve specific objectives (Covell, Walker, Siciliano & Hess, 2007). Depending on the nature of the company the regulatory operations of the business vary from one another (Shilbury & Moore, 2006). It is a social entity which is involved in the sports industry which is goal directed with a consciously structured activity system and a relatively identifiable boundary (Slack & Parent, 2006). Like any other business organisation strategic management is essential for the successful achievement of the objectives of the business. The organisation that has been selected to conduct the study is Nike Inc. Nike Inc, is an American multinational organisation that can be deemed to be a sports organization based on the following elements that has been achieved from the definitions above. The company is a social entity as it is a legally established institution that operates in several functional areas around the world. The company operates in the sports industry, the organisation is the leader in manufacturing sportswear and designing sportswear. Goal oriented is another feature of that explains why Nike Inc is a sports organization; the company has strategic goals and objectives. Consciously structured system of Nike has a matrix organizational structure (Brenner, Schlegelmilch & Ambos, 2013)
According to Smith & Stewart (2010), there are two traditional perspectives of a sports organisation and these perspectives are very contrasting with one another. One of these perspectives showcase that if traditional business practices are performed in a sports organisation it leads to the downfall and the integrity of the spirit of sports. Traditional business method practices will not lead to a successful sports organisation that rather sports management has its ways of using the traditional methods and practices. In case there is poor management decisions taken by the company based on traditional business management decisions then there is a possibility of losing out on the rich heritage, history, culture, societal relevance that a sport stands for. On the other hand, the other perspective showcases the industry to be like any other business organization that is operating in the entertainment industry and every other traditional and contemporary business methods and practices impact the sports organisation as it will impact any other business organisation. The business organisation are impacted by the internal and external environmental factors, hence a sports organisation will also be impacted equality by the dynamics of the micro and macro environmental factors of the business environment. The above perspectives of a sports organisation provide a unique approach towards the industry. Over the years the industry has developed a position where it is not extreme cases. Sports management has acquired place in academics as well establishing the commercialization of the industry even further. But there is still uniqueness in the industry as it contains the best of both the situations that has been discussed above.
Emotions like passion and loyalty among the players and the fans is one of the greatest features of the industry. It is one of the products that are capable of making collective memories and engaging experiences of lifetime. But with time the characteristics of the most devoted fans have also evolved and they have started enjoying the value added aspect of the industry like aesthetic appeal, sports related products and merchandise, entertainment plays a significant role etc. This is where the uniqueness of the industry impacts an organisation like Nike Inc who is associated with the value added aspect of sports products and merchandise. The company has rights to produce products with logos and mottos of several sports organisation or teams making the process of watching a game even more entertaining for the spectators (Doherty, 2013).
Organisational theory is the approach in management that deals with the systematic working of a company and the strategic decisions that are made by the organisation. Organizational theory seeks to elucidate the constitution and method that is prevalent in organizations. It also assists to evaluate their impact on accomplishing the purpose or meeting the need. With the help of the organisational theories the management of a company can device policies and make arrangements to achieve the objectives of the business. Thus the theories based on which Nike runs the functions and business operations are the organisational theory. For example: having a mission and vision statement, having an organisational structure etc.
On the other hand, organisational behavior explains the process by which the people associated with an organization behave and the effects of their actions on achieving the objectives (Porter, 1996). It establishes or represents the human interaction in a company, thereby helping the company to establish a culture that will help the people to be more efficient and productive. The corporate culture, the work environment, the enthusiasm for sports and the excitement for innovation are the underlying attitude of the company that explains the Organsiational behavior (Coccia, 2014) .
Being critical is only possible for an individual when he or she is fully aware of the dynamics of the situation. Knowledge regarding the circumstance will help the individual develop a correct (positive or negative) perspective or argument which can be back up by logic and references. Therefore it is important to gather relevant and logical information regarding the subject in order to be critically analytical.
Critically thinking or critically analyzing a situation is the process which has to undertaken with the help of a series of actions. In order to critically analyze the first step is to understand and break every variable of the situation. Define the variable and associate it with the situation or the subject. Then it is essential to understand the previous work that authors have published regarding the situation, this can be in a textual from, audiovisual from or any other way of communication. Collecting the information that is already available helps the get a good insight of the topic, it also provides the person to be aware of the all the dynamics that can be associated with the situation. After getting all the relevant information a person has the ability to evaluate the situation critically. Another major aspect of being critical is having an argumentative approach and looks at the perspective from both positive as well as negative side. In order to take even a step further a person can choose to undertake primary research and find out new information regarding the problem based on the information that is received from the secondary analysis. This is will help the person to have a personal opinion based on the information and the analysis of the data. In academic there is a certain methodology that has to be followed by the researcher in order to be analytical and research regarding a problem.
Interdisciplinary approaches will help a person evaluating a problem critically understand various perspectives which will back up the arguments and the statements better. For example while evaluating the strategic management approach of a company, organisational theory will give a perspective and organisational behavioral theory will give another perspective, these can be linked in order to arrive at a decision which is critical and is holistic therefore making the point the individual is try to make more relevant and true.
Nike is a popular multinational company and the company uses strategic management decisions based on the various attribute that impact the business directly or indirectly. The management focuses on the needs and requirements of the customers or target market and uses innovation and creativity to meet the caters to the same. The goal of Nike is to serve the athlete. A more simplified version of the statement is that it strives to cater to the needs and requirements of the target market with a vision of a sustainable future (Porter, 1996).
There are goals set for the various departments of the company based on their function to reach the goal of the company.
Product development: to produce innovative products to meet the needs of the athletes keeping up with the changes in the micro and macro environmental factors.
Customer relation: to reach out to the customers’ better and easier way and to streamline the process of distribution of the products.
Brand management team: to reach out to the target market and tell the right story at the right time (Porter, 1996).
Having a goal is important for an individual, business organisation or any other institution. A goal helps an organisation to stay focused an also have a clear path in order to achieve the goal. A goal helps the company to develop small objectives that support in achieving the all over goal of the organisation. A company has one goal and this goal is based on the values, principles and philosophy that drive the underlying framework of the company. The goal of the company defines the culture and the stakeholders of the organisation to remain confident about the company. The goal of the company also defines the aspirations and helps the management figure out ways and means to achieve the goal. For Nike, which is a manufacturing company the products and the customers are the prime focuses, they want to serve the customers the best quality product with the price that they associate with the same. The goal helps the company innovate both the process as well as product in order to severe the customer better.
Nike is a successful company generating hefty revenues every financial year, but if the resources of the company are scarce then that would not mean that the company will deviate from the goal that has been set. When the resources are limited the company requires prioritizing where the resources have to be allocated in order to stay true to the original goal of the company.
Effectiveness is the way in which the strategic decisions of the company impact the growth and development of the company and in the long run help the company to achieve the goals. The effectiveness of the company establishes with the success of the organisation, the decisions that the company has made have mostly been successfully implemented. In 2017, the revenue of the company has grown 6 percent indicating the effectiveness of the decisions made by the management. Not only that the revenue of the shareholders have also increased 16 percent. One of the strategic management decisions of the company to focus on innovation in the process of product development. Another is to have a sustainable approach towards growth and development of the company.
On the other hand, efficiency is the performance of the company is the efficiency, the performance of the resources is collectively the efficiency of the organisation. All the internal environmental factors that impact the business are the ones responsible for the efficiency of the company. The management of Nike, the employees of various departments, the manufacturing units etc have to optimize their performance in order say that the company is efficient.
The two concepts are not independent in case of management; a decision that is made by the company will be effective when the resources work efficiently to achieve the objective of the decision.
The decision of the company to reduce waste is a part of Nike’s sustainability project and with the implementation of the Flyknit technology the company has been able to reduced nearly 3.5 million pounds of waste.
The company’s decision of focusing on the product innovation and maintaining valuable relation with the customers has led the company to achieve 6 percent growth in the financial year 2017.
Channelizing significant resource to adaptive performance, has been also effective as the company has come up with the new product HyperAdapt 1.0 in 2016, which is a revolutionary item as the product is suppose to synchronies with the body as it moves (Bartuševi?ien? & Šakalyt?, 2013).
The brand team has successfully established the company to be a passionate sport oriented company that understands the requirements of a sports person.
The VaporFly 4% features a proprietary carbon fiber plate
The technology that has been developed by the research and development team named Air VaporMax fulfills the vision of the company of providing a product that makes one feel like they are walking on nothing but Air.
The information that has been collected are form the annual report of the company as well as form the sustainability report that Nike issues at the end of each financial year. The information in these company documents is authentic as they are authorized by the higher management of the company (Bartuševi?ien? & Šakalyt?, 2013).
Nike follows a hierarchal matrix organisation structure and the level of complexities is minimal in order to keep the process of communication simple within the organisation. The organisation structure of Nike is as follows.
Figure: Nike’s organization structure
Source: Author’s creation (About.nike.com, 2016)
This explains that the complexity of the structure is symmetric.
To manage the complexity in the organisation it is important to build a harmonious culture which is inclusive of all the stakeholders of the company and is also make the process of internal communication easy and simple to avoid internal conflict. Keeping innovation at the center of the strategy.
Effective communication requires training which the trade off of this is time and cost investment. The inclusive strategy is also a time consuming aspect of the process as it makes a decision too long to implement (Narasimhan & Carter, 1990).
The design that best describes Nike is matrix structure this is because; there are cross-functional teams within the organisation to fulfill the function of the business. Again there is one or more assigned specialists to a project and people may have more than one boss as the function or operations manager and the project manager have similar power in the organisation (Narasimhan & Carter, 1990).
Figure: Matrix structure of organization
Source : (Narasimhan & Carter, 1990)
As a multinational company Nike operates in the global environment and in order to maintain the competitive advantage in the intensely competitive industry of sportswear the company uses the strategy of product development (Sigalas & Papadakis, 2018).
Figure: Ansoff matrix
Source: (Hussain et al., 2013)
With the help of innovation and the vision of providing the customers with new and improved products that can live up to their claims is the way the company strives in the intense competition. With the help of the macro environmental factors like technology and societal trends they develop ideas for the maintaining the edge over the direct competitions like Adidas and Reebok. The company has selected this approach as the company has the provision of resources and they are dedicated to provide the consumers with the best possible outcome as they consider the athletes as the most important stakeholder.
The strategy that is already prevalent in the company as a part of ensuring competitive advantage is Platform strategy. Nike has a digital platform that allows other organisations to operate in the platform the name of the platform is Nike+ Accelerator. This strategy of the company is unlike any strategies of the competitors. Therefore making the company set a foot ahead of the competition. The Nike+ community is set to connect the athletes with prospective organisations in order to provide the user with more compelling and personalized offerings (Dyer & Singh, 1998).
List of considerations before entering into a strategic alliance are:
Partnering with Google is a good proposition as the company not only has goodwill but also has experience with such alliances. Both the companies have similar approaches of management where they prioritize the customer and the innovation process in the business. As the company shares similar views in their management approach the alliance will be helpful for both the companies. Another important aspect of the alliance is the media attention and coverage both the organisations are popular in the global front therefore such an alliance will garner attention from the global media which will acts as a promotional tool for the product that can be developed.
On the other hand, Tata group is a reputed organisation which has experience in distribution which is the objective of the venture therefore it may be a good idea but once a company associates with another organisation especially while distribution they lose their identity. Nike has the potential to distribute on their own and the company should not get in to this alliance (Lin & Darnall, 2015).
Dimaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983), coined the concept of isomorphism where globalization plays an important role. They explain the due to imitation or similarity in the micro and macro environments that impact the business organisation develop similarities among each other. As the ideas from many realist theories suggest that changes that are implemented by organisation results in homogeneity therefore developing the concept of isomorphism. The completion of Nike are organizations like Adidas, Reebok, Puma have similarities among each other as the organisation operate in the same industry and the same kind of micro as well as macro factors influencing the strategic management decisions of the company. All these organisation have a niche market of sportswear which develops similarities despite of stark differences. Adidas and Nike also share the same color palette when it comes to the logo; on the other hand the tagline of both the organisation is also on the same line. Nike: Just do it; Adidas: impossible is nothing. Adidas is a German multinational organisation that operates in the same industry as Nike therefore the similarity in between the companies can be stated as normative as the companies compete with each other in the global front but has developed
Change in any business organisation is constant companies initiate change in order to keep up with the dynamics of the industry and cater to the requirement of the company. The strategies that an organisation develops are directed towards change in either process or product. Any strategy in business is directed towards change in the short or the long run. Business organisation run on the profit motive and growth and development is the underlying objective of the company (Amis & Slack,
In 2018, the Nike had announced a change in the strategic management decision in order to initiate the growth and development of the organisation in an increasing trend. The change was in the organisation structure and leadership. Amy Montagne is an experienced official in the organization and has been appointed as the VP, Gm of Global Categories (News.nike.com, 2018).
In 2016 also the CEO had announced several changes in the leadership. Existing people were provided different positions in order to initiate growth all around the world. The change in the leadership allows the company to have a fresh perspective to problems and solve them. Leaders in an organisation are responsible for guiding and supporting a group of people to achieve the objectives and goals of the organisation (News.nike.com, 2016).
The paradox of the change in the situation of Nike is that the company during that time was in the stage where the company was leaning from maturity towards decline. And a change in leadership in such situation might prove to be one of the most risky decisions as the position that is taken by so many people is new. So instead of improvement some wrong decision due to lack of experience in the position may lead to risk. But the leadership change has proven to be a fresh outlook
The company has always focused on the product development, innovation as the strategy that has helped the company make a mark in the industry and also develop loyal customer base. Nike has also strategically associated with only sports personalities in order to maintain their stand for being a company that is dedicated to athletes which is absent from the direct competitors Adidas. Adidas collaborates with music celebrities and people from the entertainment and film industry as well. Therefore, the tactics that is used by the company is brand promotion and product innovation in order to cater to the institutional pressure
Nike is a multinational organisation that focuses on the customers and the image of the brand associated with sports, the company strives to motivate and encourage sports and athletes by incorporating innovation in their process of their business operation. The global corporate leadership of the company comprises of the board of directors, the board contains 13 members and is lead by Mark Parker. He serves the company as the chairman of the board of directors and is also the CEO of the organization (Investors.nike.com 2018). The primary responsibilities that he has are in the department of product research, design and development as the company establishes that the growth strategy of the company is innovation. He is also involved in marketing, and brand management. As part of the executive committee and long time association with the company Parker as gathered widespread knowledge and experience about the Company operations, sports marketing, manufacturing, research, design, development, and management. The board of directors of any organization is responsible for taking any corporate decisions made by the company (Investors.nike.com 2018). In the board the members are segmented in various operational divisions thus looking after each of the aspects. As a global organisation the company has sub autonomous divisional committees which forms a major part of the organisation’s structure (About.nike.com 2018). The emphasis on team management and collaborative environment establishes the diffused power control in the company. The matrix organization structure assures that the team members report into two functional areas geography division and a global division. Therefore the Organsiational power is divided in the two categories. Furthermore, the other divisions of the subsidiary companies are responsible for their own board members and their decisions (Investors.nike.com 2018).
The power of the board is legitimized by the fact that all the members of the board are highly experienced individuals in their own specific areas. The experience and the understanding of the members regarding the company as well as the industry in which the company operates offer the people the right position. As a listed company, Nike has to follow the rules and regulations and the legal boundaries as well as amenities that are associated with the board of directors (About.nike.com 2018). The role and responsibilities of the board are listed in the charter and is available for public review in the official website. The board of directors in an organisation has a strict set of guidelines which are mentioned in the companies Act and the members are bound by the legal aspect of the country of operation. As Nike is a legally bound taxpaying organisation, the legitimate position of the power of the board of directors is also justified (About.nike.com 2018).
The role of a consultant is to advice the board according to the rational reasoning as well as the information which is back up with proper research and analysis of information. The board can ask for the service of a consultant when and if they are in need of an external person to advice upon a decision. The report that is submitted by the consultant has to have concrete conclusion based on the analysis of the research that is performed by the consultant thus, influencing the choice and the decisions made by the board members (Mol & Birkinshaw, 2014). The role of a consultant is much like an educator who provides information which guides the people in power to take certain decisions in the organisation. On the other hand the role of a consultant also acts like a catalyst for change as the decisions that are made by the people in power may also influence change in the company. The leadership of the process remains within the organization by as a consultant the primary idea is to provide expertise in the process of decision making. There are four segments by which the role of a consultant can be divided, which may influence the power and politics within the organisation:
Support and guidance: the board of directors and the inclusive committee of the company work with the consultant in order to plan and execute a decision or policy made for the development of the business process (Smith & Stewart, 2010).
Research: one of the major responsibilities of a consultant is to undertake research and provide the board members with information regarding the industry and the dynamics of the external as well as internal business environment. Without proper research and evidence of the information board does not take any decisions therefore this is one of the early stages of the role of a consultant. Collection of data is the key to this responsibility and based on the topic of research a consultant designs and undertakes tools and methods to conduct the assignment.
Monitoring: implementation of the policies and decisions in the right time and with the right group of people can be useful to the board.
Evaluation: the decision and the policies have to be evaluated in order to understand their viability and impact on the organization.
The above functions state the ways in which the role of a consultant may influence the power and politics of the company. The end decision is always made by the board in Nike, but as a consultant it is the job to provide rational outlook to the factors that will impact the decision (Smith & Stewart 2010).
Organizational politics can be defined as the range of activities whichare connected with the use of manipulation and influence strategy to develop personal or organizational interests. The structure, cognition and the power play in theorganisation forms the political landscape (Saleem, 2015). The matrix structure of the company diffuses the power and does not centralize the impact. This makes the political play in the organisation weak, as the influence and the manipulation which is the characteristic format of politics cannot work efficiently as one person cannot take a decision solely. The company leverages the political network by using it to lead in to invention and research development (About.nike.com, 2018).
When the companyinitially understood the opportunities and the scope of business that e-commerce had, decision was made to bring changes in thebusiness model and incorporate e-commerce in the process. This incident manifested in several channel conflict within the organisation (Gsb.stanford.edu, 2018).
The source o conflict was among the transition from the traditionalbusiness model to the new technology driven business model. The team was lead by a few people and rapid decisions were taken in the process making most of the decision remain closely knit within the team. This is in contrast to the collaborative culture which is prevalent in the company (Gsb.stanford.edu, 2018).
The collaborative approachof the company was used as a strategyto strive and make the endeavor a success (Gsb.stanford.edu, 2018). The initial success of the e-commerce model helped the people to realize the opportunities the approach have. The sales, manufacturing as well as the marketing department worked collaboratively in order to streamline the process (Gsb.stanford.edu, 2018).
Decision making is the process by which the rational justification is used to come to a conclusion of a problem and recommended solutions are provided in order to overcome the issue. The conditions under which decisions are made are when: it is back by rational explanation, caters to the need and requirement of the customers or any other stakeholder associated with the company. Strategic management of a company includes corporate and business level strategic decision making which helps the company stay true to the mission and vision of Nike. These corporate level decisions are taken by the board of directors thus the power of control is diffused among a number of people (Alstyne, Parker & Choudary, 2016).
The decision of any innovation or product development is taken with the help of rational decision making model as it starts by defining the problem and ends with the best alternative in the process. On the other hand, the decision of initiating the e-commerce as a part of the business model is based on bounded rational decision making (Alstyne, Parker & Choudary, 2016).
Organisation culture is the aspect which defines the company as it is the values and the principles of the company and the individuals associated with the company (Huhtala, Feldt, Hyvönen & Mauno, 2013). Culture manifests in Nike based on the decisions and policies made by the management, for example: the collaborative culture in Nike is based on the value of the company and its leaders to have an inclusive approach in the decision making process. The matrix structure of the company also helps in the manifestation of the culture (Al-Bahussin & El-Garaihy, 2013).
It is also important to strategies in order to keep up the culture of the organization and manifest in the process. Yes, strategies are associated with culture as based on the values and the principles of the decisions and strategies are formulated. The values and principles form the base of the decisions that are taken by the company.
Culture is managed by the people in power, the policies and the decisions that these people take ensure that the culture is upheld. The way the company behaves with the stakeholders also help in maintaining the culture of the organisation and in the process makes values and principles important in the business function. Culture can expand depending upon the changing dynamics of the company but it cannot change. If the culture of the company changes it will develop a different personality and image which makes it difficult for the customers or other stakeholders to connect (Al-Bahussin & El-Garaihy, 2013).
One important behavioral approach to leadership is far-sightedness, it offers the leader to be prepared of the dynamics of the industry and help the organisation adapt to the changes without facing any hassle. Mark Parker is a far-sighted leader who encourages changes and improvement in the product line as he understands the changing needs and requirements of the customers (About.nike.com, 2018).
This approach of leadership facilitates the innovative culture and the approach of change in the organisation. As the mission of the company is to bring inspiration and invention to every athlete in the world, the far-sighted approach helps in providing the best products for the customers (About.nike.com, 2018).
Educate the customers: the goal of the company is to provide athletes with the best possible products in order to aid them with their sport. The idea is to promote sports and help athletes to be successful in their career. The company has a number of people in the research and development sector which is also headed by the CEO of Nike. Nike develops equipments, gears and sportswear garments in innovative design which suit the need and requirement of the customer. In the process of promotion the company should have proper educational content as to how the innovation is going to provide the customers with better utility than any other product of the same line form the competitors. There are some aspects of the innovation which the people do not understand the value of; this is the gap that has to be bridged in the communication with the people. The end customers do not understand the technical aspect of designing and innovations hence the explanation should be in terms of what is incorporated and how it is going to help suit the need and requirement of the customers must be stated (Rai, 2013).
For example: Nike Flyknit technology, the idea of the technology is to provide the athlete with a firm grip in order to have controlled movements when necessary, the technology helps in wrapping the foot completely so that it is more secure for the movement (News.nike.com, 2018). The technology uses a more complex knitting constitution to create a closed anatomical form that mimics the shape of the foot. The benefits of the products are as follows`; it locks in the feet and provides secured controlled movement, it also provides the athlete agility and swiftness by allowing the shoe to move with the person wearing it as it reduces the space between the foot and the ground. Apart from that sustainability is also another important aspect of the design as the construction of the design provides 60 percent less wastage. These aspects of the products are not highlighted in the promotional feature of the product. The detail of the technology will help the target market to understand the benefits and will help them decide to buy footwear from this range or form any other range. Moreover, for instance if an athlete is specifically looking for a shoe that would provided controlled movement then they will not understand the utility of the product until it is communicated properly. The campaign was endorsed by Kobe Bryant, Ashton Eaton, Richard Sherman, Allyson Felix, and Mo Farah (Youtube.com, 2018). But in the advertisement the product is featured in the way the athletes use it but there is no information provided regarding the utility or the ergonomic nature of the innovation of the technology (News.nike.com, 2018). The product features the agility and the swiftness of the athletes but it does not state the innovative aspects of the products which are providing this features (Youtube.com, 2018). Thus while making the decision of choosing footwear the target market will be unaware of the new technology and the purpose of the design for the product and thus may end up choosing another product that promotes speed and agility as well (News.nike.com, 2018).
By implementing this recommendation the company can engage and gather interest of the customers even more, there are several advantages of effective communication which will be incorporated in the content of the promotional process as well. The customers will know what they need and what exactly they are looking for and in turn improve the sales figure as well. The AIDA model of communication focuses on the improvement of interest as well as development of desire among the people thus giving rise to better communication (Rai, 2013).
Reduction of time in the process of decision making: the inclusive and the collaborative culture of the company make the process of decision making lengthy as a number of people are involved in the process. Sometimes in business there are situations where there is hardly any time to waste and in that case a lot of people cannot be involved in the decision, at this time due to the culture of the company there may be conflict situation in the internal business environment. Nike must take strategic management decisions in order to fast track their collaborative approach and reduce the time taken for decision.
The effectiveness and the impact of the decision can be only understood after it is implementation is in time and the right people are impacted by the decision. If the time taken increases in the process it makes the impact of the decision low (Oshima Lee & Emanuel 2013). Therefore it is required to streamline the process of decision making. During the launch of the e-commerce model the rapid decision making of the business process could take place as there was not a lot of people who were involved in the process of decision making as there was less time. The venture did not only prove successful it is now one of the major source of revenue of the company. Decision making process of a company should be rapid and the culture should encourage the business process not become a hindrance.
The outcome of the recommendation is to understand the importance of the situation and deal with situations in the business process that leads to rapid decision making process. This will also reduce the workload form a number of employees and will help in expediting the process of implementation in order to improve a situation.
Making an inclusive and diverse culture: The company has been the market leader and has over the years of operation achieved goodwill and has earned good reputation. Nike with the help of its values and principles has established a matrix Organsiational culture that encourages innovation and collaboration in the business function. But diversity is something that has been under the radar; therefore the management of Nike should have an inclusive business environment and must encourage diversity in the company. It had been reported that many women who work in the company does not like the work environment and has termed it to be “toxic” (Creswell, Draper & Abrams, 2018). There have been incidents which has led the women in the organisation to be left with utmost disgust. It was also reported that the women in the company feel that they had no scope of improvement in a male dominated work environment, not only that in any formal set up women would be marginalized and their perspective were not given importance. There were also reports of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the organisation (Creswell, Draper & Abrams, 2018).
Recently the CEO of Nike has announced that two of the executive posts are being offered to two senior women officers of the company. Equality and diversity in the organisation provides the company with an encouraged group of employees whose interest will be aligned with the objective of the company. The process develops high morale among the employees as his skills and talent that are acquired by ensuring diversity is high as the recommendation and hiring process is simply based on the talent and skill of the employee (Murphy, 2018). Nike must work with the human resource department of the company to make sure that the women as well as people form minority culture do not feel that their honor is being any hurt or anyone in the organisation is being disrespectful. Any complaints in the category have to be dealt with the severity and prompt actions are needed to be taken in the context.
The outcomes of the recommendation are: by providing an inclusive organisation culture improves the performance of the employees and helps them to be more encouraging and efficient. The diversity among the workforce increases the motivation of the employees and improves the performance of the company in the long run (Cottrill, Denise Lopez & Hoffman, 2014). There are several advantages of diversity and inclusive culture of organisation like wider perspective, better understanding of the situation, it also helps in the creation of innovation which is the underline of the competitive advantage of the company, it is also a encourages creativity. It improves the work environment and makes a positive milieu in which the people can thrive to achieve the objectives of the business.
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the above discussion that a sports organization is a social entity that has the ability that operates in a structured fashion in the sports industry, therefore it has been concluded that Nike is a sports organisation that operates in the sports industry and strives towards achieving a common goal of the organization. The company is focused on producing and manufacturing sportswear and sports gears which are of contemporary design and is also ergonomically structured. The company is a multinational organisation that has a very effective supply and distribution channel that effectively reaches out to the target market. There are retail exclusive outlets all over the world which sell the products, and in 1999 the company commenced on their e-commerce journey which was deemed to be an opportunity for the business. Nike Inc is an organisation that is known for their passion driven strategies to promote the athlete. The company believes that anyone with a body can be an athlete. The mission of the company is to: bring inspiration and innovation in every athlete in the world. The mission of the company drives the strategies and the decisions made by the company. The strategies are to create benchmarking innovations in the process of business development, to focuses on a sustainable future, to work with a creative and global team and by making a positive impact in communities where we live and work. The company designs for the future of sports the company believes in achieving with taking risks as the goal is to promote the human potential. The company believes in disruptive innovation as the path the is fitting for the changes that the management wants to bring about in the industry.
The purpose of the company is to provide the customers and the target market with improve products and opportunities in the long run. The company uses innovation as a major aspect of their business model and ensures that the process of the business is focused around product development. The CEO of the company heads the product development and design team. With the analysis it can be gathered that the objective of the company is to develop products to suite the requirement of the target market, to ensure improved CRM, to strive towards a sustainable future. The organization is focused upon providing the target market or athletes with high quality products so as to improve their performance. Thus with the help of the innovative design and promotion the company has established itself as a market leader in the industry of sportswear. The footwear range of the company is the product line which is the most popular and is also mostly in demand. The company invests in research and development in order to understand the requirement of the customers. The company has a matrix organisation structure that helps them to co-ordinate with the global market. As a multinational company the organisation has to keep up with the dynamic of the industry and therefore decisions in the process are made in order to cater to the global public. The structure of the organization supports the objective of the business providing flexibility to the people to work in an encouraging environment. With the help of Ansoff matrix the competitive advantage of the company has been drawn which is observed to be product development, it can be seen that the Organsiational goals and mission are aligned with the competitive advantage decision made by the company. Some of the major competitors in the global market of Nike are Adidas and Reebok; all the companies have a similar approach towards the customers and the brand image. But the fact that Nike is ahead of all the organizations as a market leader is owing to a number of features of the company. First of all far sighted leadership, over the years the company has developed adaptation methods along with the changing dynamics of the internal as well as the external business environment.
Organsiational culture is also studied in the assignment; it has been observed that the matrix structure of company is headed by a group of board of directors. The values and principles of that manifests the culture in the company defines the role and responsibility of the people in power. The individual power is in the hands of the board of directors on the other hand the Organsiational power is divided among the regional heads as well as the board of directors. As a legally incorporated organization that is listed in the stock market, the company has to ensure that the power and the control of the board are as per the legal boundaries of United States of America. This is the aspect that legitimizes the power of the board, all the people who are in the board are experienced in their field and also has knowledge regarding the industry and the company in depth.
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