Nike Mission, Vision Statement & Values Analysis

There has been a flare-up of posts surrounding Nike over the years, especially with the emergence of peaceful protests and demonstrations mostly by people of color, but how does it relate to Nike, an American-based multinational sportswear brand? In this article, we will know the secret of the Nike Mission and Vision Statement and Nike Mission & Vission Analysis. But before that let’s see the answer to the question.

‘JUST DO IT.,’ this simple statement alone birthed and sparked a revolutionary movement and was recently physically spearheaded by a number of faces, including Colin Kaepernick, in 2018 during the 30th anniversary of Nike. Though this Nike slogan was actually inspired by the final and last words of a 1970s killer in Utah, the series of activities spurred on by this statement created by the Nike brand has gone a really long way to reiterate the stance that the brand is not only involved in sports and athletics as a whole but also humanity and its advancement as a race.

Nike Mission And Vision Statement:

Nike’s Mission Statement is to “bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world” (according to them, if you have a body, you are recognized and seen as an athlete).

Nike’s Vision Statement is “to remain the most authentic, connected, and distinctive brand”.

• Our Mission is what drives us to do everything possible to expand human potential. We do that:
  • by creating groundbreaking sport innovations, 
  • by making our products more sustainably, 
  • by building a creative and diverse global team and 
  • by making a positive impact in communities where we live and work.

The Relevance of the Nike Mission and Vision Statement in the Society Today:

Nowadays, it is very easy for brands to release certain press statements or just put up Vision and Mission statements, but the actions taken by these brands go a long way to determine how set apart or standard the brand is. The Nike Vision and Mission statement is, in fact, awe-inspiring and inspiring. Still, it can be effortless to put words together to make people or society at large feel good or see what Nike does in terms of making their Vision and Mission statement relevant in our society today? 

Presently, we can see the incorporation of Nike’s Vision and Mission statement in our society based on the uprising of various movements of which a notable one is the Black Lives Matter movement showing the deep rootedness of Nike in activism, especially when it involves discrimination against people of color and especially racism against Black people. 

In June 2020, the brand publicly made a statement. This statement went on to formally showcase the stance of the brand in supporting the Black community, particularly during that critical period where the tragic incident involving George Floyd; a black man who, after experiencing glaring racism and a denial of fundamental human rights by white police officers, was suffocated to death.

This singular act spurred the Nike brand to pledge and announce a $40 million commitment, which will span the next four years as a form of support to the Black community situated in the United States.

According to the statement released by Nike, the commitment was made on behalf of the Nike, Jordan, and Converse brands collectively and will be solely focused on ‘investing in and supporting organizations that put social justice, education and addressing racial inequality in America at the center of their work.’

Nike Values

• Innovation
• Sustainability
• The Power Of Sport
• Team

How Nike Has Affected Athletes and the World of Athletics:

Apart from the impact the Nike brand has had on specific communities, especially in the United States, the brand was birthed to cater to athletes’ needs by designing and making provisions for sportswear and sports gear for the use of these athletes in their various practice games and competitions.

Here are some very notable and historic ways that Nike has affected the athletic world:

• The first athlete to have a signed endorsement with Nike was the Romanian tennis player Ilie Natase in 1972.
• In 1988 was seen the launching of the JUST DO IT campaign, which showcased an ad with a video of Walter Stack (80 years old at the time), who was featured while running across the Golden Gate Bridge.
• Over the course of the following years, Nike signed more popular athletes such as Tiger Woods, who got signed to Nike in 1996, including Lebron James and Kobe Bryant in 2003. These athletes got signed in the early stages of their athletic careers.
• As a form of National recognition in the world of athletics, Nike became an official supplier for two notable sports leagues of which they are:
  1. The NFL (National Football League) – in 2012.
  2. The NBA (National Basketball Association) – in 2015.
• In 2018, there was a prevalent occurrence involving Nike, which drew in a lot of attention, such as massive backlash and public approval. This series of events led to the fact that Nike revealed their ever influential JUST DO IT campaign, which included an ad featuring Colin Kaepernick, a famous athlete and acknowledged political activist. These open acts of recognition for athletes and advocacy for the athletic world have gone a long way in helping Nike find their footing whilst leaving a notable mark in athletics.

The Impact of Nike as a Brand on the World Community:

Some ways Nike as a brand has impacted the World community are:

• In 2020, During the protests and demonstrations following the death of George Floyd, the JUST DO IT Nike campaign was flipped into the JUST DON’T as their way of publicly showing their solidarity to the Black community and as a collective effort, Nike along with the Jordan and Converse brands pledged a sum of $40 million to support the Black community over the next 4 years.

• Though Nike still has quite a way to go, the brand is actively involved in being eco friendly through specific activities such as:
  1. Joining the Sustainable Apparel Commission.
  2. Practicing the incorporation of reusable materials in their clothing production.

• The cancelation of the release of a sneaker design, which was imprinted at the heel of the shoe with the 13-star American flag of Betsy Ross in 2019. It is said that this decision was made after Colin Kaepernick critiqued the meaning behind such a design, though privately to the brand and not in the form of a public scene.  The reason behind the criticism from Colin and the eventual cancelation of the design stemmed up as a result of the fact that the 13-star flag, in fact, is a representation of America during a period where slavery was the norm and this design has also been put to use by some hate groups such as Ku Klux Klan (the KKK) in conjunction with the Confederate flag.

• In relation to the manufacturing of Nike products, according to the brand, there has been the implementation of reductions in certain production materials such as water and carbon used to dye and finish the fabric for the products leading to an evident decrease in wastage of materials.

• Also, the Nike brand has reportedly been involved in the use of renewable energy in their facilities. This helps to shrink down the amount of power that would have otherwise been normally used without renewable energy.

Some Controversies Surrounding the Nike Brand:

The journey of Nike as a brand has not always been a smooth sail. Instead, there have been some bumps as are ever seen in life.  Some of these bumps have ranged from being so scandalous and damaging for the image of the brand to being entirely resolved, and it can be publicly seen that the brand has grown and is still growing from the impact of these complications of which some of them are:

• There was a report that made headway in 1991. It was published by a famous activist, Jeff Ballinger, who exposed Indonesian Nike factories for their low wages and terribly poor working conditions. Due to this public call-out, Nike decided to establish a Factory code of conduct, the first-ever brand.

• After the unveiling of the JUST DO IT campaign ad featuring Colin Kaepernick, there was an uproar with the public been divided whilst having mixed feelings; a part of the public was in support of the message behind the campaign ad while the other part of the public used social media as a way of criticizing and boycotting the brand, some people even went as far as burning some of their Nike products including the sneakers all in an attempt to flaunt their disproval.

• Even whilst being a brand involved in activism and upholding human rights, Nike has also been reportedly founding out to show support to conservative candidates financially.  It is also estimated that in the 2018 American election cycle, Nike made contributions to the Democratic Party. Still, in fact, about 3 times more finances were made to the Republicans.

• Labor practices have always been a controversial issue for Nike as although they are involved in utilizing a cheaper form of labor to get the best possible quality products. There have been reports of the factory workers being put to work overtime for barely enough money meriting the amount of work they put in daily. As a result of the exposure of such a drastic and demeaning situation, in 1988, the brand started to implement some changes relating to the issues concerning the labor work done by the factory workers, such as:
  1. The application of ensuring clean air, which is up to the United States standard, was made available.
  2. The constant monitoring of the working standards observed by the factory workers.
  3. An increase in the minimum age of people allowed to become workers to make sure there is no hard labor being exposed to minors (child labor).

What You Need to Know About Nike:

Apart from being a multinational American brand with its products primarily designed to use athletes, Nike products are also mostly used by non-athletes as a form of casual wear. Based on the various works of activism that Nike has been involved in, the brand has too faced a hoard of backlash in certain cases such as:

• When the band canceled the release of the 13-star American flag Betsy Ross sneaker design, it was actually made out of inclination towards the sensitivity of the Black community, especially since there are still high traces of trauma and racism as a result of the slave trade, which occurred in the previous years. Even the brand was criticized for its ‘lack of patriotism.’ Though despite the different kinds of backlash that Nike has faced, the brand has been able to show a tremendous amount of growth as it has been able to spin around most of the bad situations into manageable ones using some very tactical damage control ideas, which could sometimes come in the form of atoning for their errors by offering up a correction to the situation or by sticking up against discrimination under their platform of activism.

• In relation to the Nike stocks, due to the trade war between China and the United States, in 2019, Nike had to gradually reduce and shift its production operation away from China to Vietnam. This decision was made to cut back on the potential expenses, which would have affected Nike products’ supply while coming in the form of an increase in the charges the brand will be made to pay. The Nike brand’s resolution helped to further the brand’s stance solidly in avoiding specific financial issues.

Related Questions 

1. How was Nike founded?
   According to the brand itself, Nike was based on a handshake between Phil Knight, an athlete, and Bill Bowerman, a track coach in 1972.

2. What do the Nike products range from?
   There are numerous Nike products (over 10 million products) that have been released, and they range from men products to women products, of which some are:
   1. The ever-popular footwear shoes such as the Nike Air Force, Air Max, Air Jordan, Air Yeezy, Blazer, Dunk, and Cortez.
   2. Sports bras, Pants, Tights, T-shirts, Hoodies, Jackets, and Pullovers.

3. How many factories are involved in the manufacturing of Nike products?
   Over 500 factories across 41 countries are concerned with manufacturing Nike products. Although Nike is not included in these factories’ ownership or operations, they are well invested in ensuring certain conditions are met in relation to the workers’ working environment, labor, health, and safety. The Code of conduct standards observed. Despite this, in fact, Nike has two in-house manufacturing centers in the United States that operate patented parts.

4. Are there harmful chemicals in Nike products?
   According to Nike, harmful and hazardous chemicals are kept away from the products. A Restricted Substance List is used to ensure proper management of the chemicals used in manufacturing products while also increasing their green chemistry delve.

5. Is Nike involved in the community and also charity organizations?
   Nike has invested and is still investing in activities surrounding youth sports and athletics. On the side, the brand is also involved in community activities that are not sports-related as long as they are positive. Philanthropically, Nike has made collaborations and partnerships with some charity and non-profit organizations.