My dream place to work is Nike Inc. Nike is the world’s largest footwear company and its iconic founder Phil Knight turned the company into one of the world’s most recognized corporate brands. Mr. Knight resigned as President and CEO of Nike in 2004 while retaining the position of the company’s Chairman (Peterson). Nike’s current CEO is Mark G. Parker who has been with the company since 1979. Before assuming the positions of CEO and President in January 2006, Mr. Parker fulfilled primary responsibilities in product research, design and development, marketing, and brand management (Nike Inc.).

Nike, Inc. employs about 32,500 workers and trades on the NYSE under the ticker (NKE). Nike is one of the only two Fortune 500 companies from the state of Oregon. Nike describes its goal to deliver value to its shareholders by building a profitable global portfolio of branded footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories businesses. The company maintains its competitive edge against competitors by creating innovative, “must-have” products, building deep personal consumer connections with the company’s brands, and delivering compelling retail presentation and experiences (Nike Inc.).
Along with Coca Cola, IBM, and Microsoft, Nike is one of the world’s most valuable corporate brands in both name recognition and commercial value. Forbes puts the value of Nike brand at $10.7 billion, making it the world’s most valuable sports brand, ahead of Disney’s ESPN Network. Mainstream product lines are marketed under the Nike brand such as Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Nike+, Air Jordan, Nike Soccer, Nike Running etc. The company owns several prominent subsidiaries such as Cole Haan, Hurley International, Converse, and Umbro. The company also operates stores under the name NikeTown. The company operates two manufacturing facilities, one for footwear and the other for apparel and also procures its merchandise from third party suppliers. The company’s branded footwear is manufactured in four countries; 36% comes from China, 33% from Vietnam, 21% from Indonesia, and 9% from Thailand. Similarly, Nike’s apparel supplies network comes from independent contract manufacturers in 34 countries such as China, Thailand, Israel, India, Malaysia, Mexico, and Turkey etc. (Datamonitor).

The company’s swoosh logo and motto “Just Do It” is visible in almost every major sports category. The company goes after the most popular sports in each of its markets and after the most popular players and sports teams in each of those sports categories. The global footwear market which includes apparel, grew by 2.6 % in 2009 to reach a value of $196.3 billion. It is expected to reach a value of $230.8 billion by 2014, an increase of 17.6% over 2009 level. America accounts for 43.6% of the global footwear market (Datamonitor). Nike’s closest competitor is Adidas which is also the world’s second largest footwear manufacturer. Since Nike competes in several products categories, it also faces competition from a number of specialist manufacturers, for e.g. Asics in running footwear and Puma in lifestyle footwear.

The company has been included three times in the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For: in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Nike was a party to landmark Supreme Court case Nike V. Kasky but the company has significantly improved its operations oversight since then. In 2006, Nike had 90 full-time employees that were responsible for monitoring overseas factory conditions. True to its motto, the company has been earning impressive profits for its stakeholders. The company earned a net income of $1.487 billion and $1.907 billion in the fiscal years 2009 and 2010 respectively (Nike Inc.).