Nike is a global company with the headquarters located in Beaverton, OR. Nike’s mission statement is “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete.” It is one of the worlds largest suppliers of athletic shoes and apparel. They design, develop, manufacture, market and sell all of their products. It is a hierarchical organization, with multiple levels. First there are the directors and CEO, then there are the departments like HR, innovation, product and merchandising, then there are the teams within those departments. As an example, product and merchandising has apparel sportswear, men’s training, young athletes, and apparel business. Within each one of those department is a team. Therefore, there is a huge amount of employees for just one department. Nike is a casual company that loves to wear their product to work. Working for Nike implies that you have a love for sports and staying fit. Therefore, you have the opportunity to take workout classes on the Nike campus for free. You are also surrounded by soccer fields, tracks, and the Nike Sports Center.
In 1964, a University of Oregon track athlete by the name of Phil Knight, and his coach, Bill Bowerman, founded Blue Ribbon Sports. At the start they were selling shoes at track meets out of Phil Knight’s car. By 1966 they had opened their first retail store in Santa Monica, CA. Later on they changed the name to Nike, which comes from the Greek goddess of victory. The Nike swoosh, their logo, was designed by a Portland State University student. Carolyn Davidson was paid $35 for the logo, but later was given stock that is now worth more than $640,000.
There have been many lawsuits that involve Nike. Most of these lawsuits are copyright and intellectual property issues. There have been claims that Nike discriminates against race, in which a Nike employee filed a lawsuit against them for race discrimination. For many years Nike has been accused of using sweatshops to produce their shoes and apparel. Although, Nike has denied these allegations there is still the issue of sub-contracted companies.
Nike puts on many different philanthropic events including The Nike Community Impact Fund in which they award grants to organizations that promote physical activity in youth. Along with Bill Gates Foundation, Nike launched the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PERFAR) that looks to significantly reduce new HIV infections in adolescent girls and young women. There are so many ways that Nike gets involved in not just Oregon’s community but the world. They focus on getting kids physically active and helping address challenges with women and girls.
