Nike, Inc. In PerspectiveIntroduction: In order to understand the success of Nike, one needs a brief history of the company. Two men with entrepreneurial spirits, Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, founded Nike, Inc. They met in 1950, when Bowerman was a track and field coach for the University of Oregon, and continually looking for ways to “give its athletes a more competitive advantage”. There he met Knight while attending the University of Oregon. Knight, however, later earned an MBA in finance from Stanford. Knight persuaded Onitsuka Co. in Japan, the manufacturer of Tiger shoes, to make him a distributor of Tiger shoes in the United States. Knight sent Bowerman several pairs from his first shipment in the hopes that Bowerman would purchase some. Instead, Bowerman offered to make Knight his partner and provided him with his shoe design ideas. (History of Nike, Inc.) The two entrepreneurs founded Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964, then in 1965 they hired Jeff Johnson to manage the company's operations. Johnson proved to be an invaluable member of the team. Johnson has been very proactive in his role managing Blue Ribbon Sports. He produced “brochures, print advertisements, photographs for the company’s catalogs. He established a mail order system, opened the first Blue Ribbon Sports retail store, and managed shipping and receiving. (History of Nike, Inc.) Johnson was also responsible for some of the first Nike shoe designs and invented the name Nike in 1971. As the relationship with Onitsuka ended, they decided to make their own brand of athletic shoes . The Nike brand, the “Swoosh,” was created for them in 1975 by Portland State University student Carolyn Davidson. Their "new line of Nike shoes debuted in 1972, in time for the US Track & Fi...... middle of paper ....../history-heritageNike, Inc. Corporate Responsibility Report. (2013). Human resources and empowerment. Retrieved from http://www.nikebiz.com/crreport/content/workers-and-factories/3-9-1-our-approach.php?cat=hr Nike, Inc. Corporate Responsibility Report (November 2013). People and Culture – Our Workforce. Retrieved from http://www.nikebiz.com/crreport/content/people-and-culture/6-1-0-our-workforce.php?cat=our-workforce Nike, Inc. (2006). Mark Parker named CEO, William D. Perez resigns. Retrieved from http://nikeinc.com/news/mark-parker-named-ceo-william-d-perez-resigns Nike, Inc. (2013). Our portfolio of brands. Retrieved from http://nikeinc.com/pages/our-portfolio-of-brands Rupish, Sumit Kumar Chaudhuri. (2006). CEO @ Nike: Succession guaranteed? IBS Case Development Center. Retrieved from http://www.ibscdc.org/Case_Studies/Strategy/Succession%20Planning/SUP0001.htm