Word: nike
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...Nike is no stranger to off years. Knight hobbled the company with a cockamamie expansion strategy in the mid-1980s, and sales skidded in 1994. "There's going to be a down cycle every four or five years," he says. "And our job is to recognize that and keep the downs as shallow...
...problem is that Nike is facing not just one obstacle but a whole teamful of them. The Nike negatives include...
...sporting-goods retail consolidation that has claimed hundreds of stores in the U.S. The survivors, including powerful chains like the Sports Authority, complain that every store is selling the same stuff. Nike, as the biggest shoe supplier, with a 47% domestic market share, suffers most...
Better competition. Once blessed by rivals who couldn't tie their own shoes without risking injury, Nike faces a resurgent Adidas, whose sales increased 92% in North America in the last quarter. True, Reebok could still screw up a one-man 100-m dash, but it is pumping fresh money into shoe technology and advertising. New Balance expects sales to rise 25% this year, and fashion brands such as Tommy Hilfiger are breaking out sneaker lines...
...Lately, Nike bashing has become a spectator sport. Cartoonist Garry Trudeau lambasted the company in his Doonesbury strip. Filmmaker Michael Moore featured Knight in his latest excoriation of corporate America, The Big One. Nike has been accused of bigfooting its way into soccer and despoiling academics by paying the University of North Carolina to wear its wares. A long-standing criticism is that it uses extravagantly paid endorsers to sell overpriced sneakers to underprivileged kids. The company has been tarred by an image as a sweatshop operator that exploits Asian workers who make shoes and apparel for Nike subcontractors...