Conceptualizing a New Product or Service Division of an Existing Business

Business Model and Strategic Plan Part I:

Conceptualizing a New Product or Service Division of an Existing Business

Student Name

BUS/ 475

Date

Professor

Business Model and Strategic Plan Part I:

Conceptualizing a New Product or Service Division of an Existing Business

When conceptualizing a new product line of athletic wear and equipment for Nike Inc. it is necessary to develop a strategic plan to meet the needs of the consumer and a innovative mission statement, vision, inline with the company’s values. This will assist Nike Inc. to achieve success in its new venture. The division to manage this new product line will be customer-focused, adhering to an innovative mission statement reaching to attain the company’s vision. It will address the customer needs; therefore, achieving a competitive advantage.

Company Overview

Nike Inc. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon. Nike is one of the largest athletic footwear companies in the world and sells its products to about 27,000 retail accounts across the United States. The company also sells its products through a mix of independent distributors, licensees and subsidiaries in 190 countries. Independent contractors manufacture almost all of the company’s products, while the majority of footwear products are produced outside the United States. Nike employs about 56,500 workers worldwide.

The company tailors its products to seven categories: running, basketball, soccer, men’s training, women’s training, Nike sportswear and action sports. Nike derives about 75.0% to 80.0% of its total company revenue from wholesaling. The North America wholesaling segment is most relevant to this industry.

Mission and Vision Statement

Nike, Inc.’s mission statement is to “bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. *If you have a body, you are an athlete” (Nike Inc., 2015). According to Nike, the asterisked clarification came from the legendary University of Oregon track and field coach, and Nike co-founder, Bill Bowerman.

When creating an innovative mission statement it is necessary to determine what specialty service or new product that is to be offered, which is not currently being offered by our competitors. The mission statement describes the current business and purpose: who we are now, what we do, and what is our purpose. The mission statement conveys the company’s purpose in a language that is specific enough to give the company its own identity separate from its competitors.

Nike’s vision is “to help Nike Inc. and our consumers thrive in a sustainable economy where people, profit, and planet are in balance” (Nike Inc., 2015). By integrating information from the various stakeholders groups, learning from past mistakes and processes will allow Nike to continue to implement sustainable principles. This information enables Nike to make changes in the industry and within the company. Identifying challenges, brainstorming solutions, and deciding to monitor and evaluate whether or not the vision is in line with the company’s expectations.

The vision statement visualizes the management’s vision of the future of the company. The vision shares with its employees, customers, investors, and potential investors the far-reaching aspirations of the company, where it will be in the future. An effective vision is distinctive and specific to the company. The vision statement should be written as an affirmation. It will serve as management’s tool for giving the company a sense of direction and enable management to fall back to as a source of inspiration.

Core Values

A companies core values are its beliefs, traits, and behavioral norms that the company personnel are expected to display in the course of conducting business while pursuing its strategic vision and mission. Companies identify four to eight core values. Companies whose values are real, managers connect these values to the integration of the strategic plan.

Nike has a set of guiding principles, which it refers to as its “11 Maxims”. They aim to guide employees at all levels as they go about their work and represent the brand globally. Nike’s 11 Management Maxims are:

“It is our nature to innovate.” The company sees innovation as one of its core organizational competencies.

“Nike is a company.”

“Nike is a brand.” The “swoosh” logo is instantly recognizable around the world. Nike sees this as the symbol of its global leadership. It will enter only those markets that it thinks it can dominate. It says: ‘lf we can’t lead it, we don’t need it.”

“Simplify and go.” Nike products have short life-cycles in terms both of technology and fashion. The company believes that making quick yet skilful decisions is key to its success. This aspect of Nike’s vision, together with the seventh maxim, is particularly powerful in articulating the company’s hugely successful use of emergent strategy.

“The consumer decides.” The company is keenly aware of the sophistication of its customers and it treats them as its key stakeholder.

“Be a sponge.” Employees at Nike are encouraged to be curious and open to new ideas, whatever their source.

“Evolve immediately.” Nike sees itself as being in perpetual motion–viewing change as a key source of innovation. This attitude can easily be observed in the wide range of products that Nike offers its consumers. It is another example of the company’s use of emergent strategy to good effect.

“Do the right thing.” (Even when it’s the hard thing). Nike thinks of itself as a responsible global citizen, embracing the stakeholder view of corporate social responsibility. It encourages its people to be honest and transparent and to promote diversity and sustainability.

“Master the fundamentals.” All the innovation in the world is useless if you can’t put it into action. A crucial part of Nike’s success is its ability to refine its performance–the recent growth in profits suggests that it’s achieving this.

“We are on the offense–always.” To stay ahead in an extremely competitive environment, Nike urges its people to act like leaders in their field to achieve victory.

“Remember the Man.” The late Bill Bowerman is still held in high esteem throughout Nike, both for his understanding of athletes’ needs and for his innovative spirit.

Additionally, Nike developed what it calls its Manager Manifesto, which is a set of core principles that describe how Nike managers lead with excellence. These core principles are to lead, coach, manage, and inspire.

New Product Division: Nike Adjust

The Nike Adjust will require a new division of Nike, Inc. to be formed, which will provide customer focus specifically for those in need of the new product. The mission, vision and values of the Nike Adjust division will mirror and expand on Nike, Inc.’s current mission, vision and overall values while also adding to them. The specific mission statement of the Adjust division will be: Bring inspiration and hope to every individual in need of foot health help by providing the product necessary for them to become the athlete Nike, Inc. believes they all are.

Business Model

To meet the customer’s needs and achieve the competitive advantage the division will continue to focus on the customer and its ability to reach out to the customer and for the customer to reach out to the division by phone, email, chat, and direct. Therefore, providing the customer various means of communicating with the division for questions, concerns, issues, ideas, suggestions, and any additional needs the customer may have, while providing the division the ability to respond quickly and effectively to meet the needs of the customer.

The division will promote and participate in the superb Human Resource practices of acquiring and retaining a talented and energized workforce. By being committed to retaining the brightest minds and improving on the existing talent, while attracting the top talent in the industry to continue a culture that is exciting, creative, fun and embraces continuous improvement. It will work to develop operational excellence in the supply chain by focusing on gaining efficiencies with suppliers and a maintaining a concentrated effort to reduce cost, improve quality, simplify operating systems and optimize new product development to market timely. Extending its reach to deliver it product globally. Reaching farther geographically to developing areas. This will expand the company’s product line and potentially create new distribution network opportunities.

The values integrated into this division will provide a guide in the development of the strategic plan. Ensuring the focus remains on the customer in our commitment to excellent service, honesty, integrity, communication, innovative thinking, creativity, diversity, and leadership. These core values will create a culture of social responsibility and high standard of ethics.

Conclusion

The mission statement, vision, and corporate values are integral pieces in the goal of achieving the overall strategy. Every employee from the top, down to the lowest level should know or have some idea of the general direction that the company is working towards. The way to make sure that the goal is reached is all of different components need to be communicated throughout the company. Nike Inc.’s employees will know what the mission, vision, and values are and why they are important. Management will stress their importance every day. If one of the pieces falls short, then there is a chance that the company will not see the strategy come to fruition. Each component needs to be thought of as a roadmap, and each piece when followed with allow the company to reach the final destination.

Reference

Nike Inc. (2015). About Nike. Retrieved from http://about.nike.com/

Pearce, J.A., & Robinson, R.B. (2013). Strategic Management. (13th ed.). Retrieved from TheUniversity of Phoenix eBook Collection database.