Table of content 1. Executive summary2 2. Introduction3 3. Leading4 4. Planning5 5. Conclusion6 6. Recommendations7 7. Reference9 Executive summary This business report has investigated the Nike.
Inc’s sustainability by doing some analyze about the current data, the management journals and article are from the business database such as EBSCOhost, It also explains the ideas that help managers of Nike to achieve its goals in both profit and sustainability, although different people may have different point of views about this, it is still very important to manager of a big company like Nike, it is one of the leaders in the footwear industry, what they did may affect other shoes companies.
The managers in Nike should know the needs and wants of the target customers, while they needs to thinking about the environment, globe economic trend and the ethics. The economy is reviving since the globe financial crisis, the managers to carry out some new plan to fit the changing environment. What is more, the social responsibility should be considerate in order to achieve the goals and run business sustainable.
This report will only focus on two management functions, planning and leading, what is more, because of the limit of information, lack of primary data, and the methodology, the report may have some errors which can be improve by doing some specific research about this topic. 1. Introduction This report is aimed to indicate how the planning and leading management function can help Nike maximize the financial profit and at the same time, remaining sustainability. Nike, the world’s No. 1 shoemaker, does more dominating than assisting, to capture a hefty share of the US athletic shoe market.
It designs and sells shoes for a variety of sports, including baseball, cheerleading, golf, volleyball, hiking, tennis, and football. Nike also sells Cole Haan dress and casual shoes, as well as athletic apparel and equipment (www. yahoo. com). In the past, most of the organizations were just cared about their profit, while since the enormous changes cause by the environment, such as climate, pollutions, water and nature resource scarcity, people begin to aware of the sustainable management. It is not only a way to save money or reduce the cost, in the coming future, it may bring more benefit too.
Sustainable management is “the responsibility of all organizations to ensure that their operations use all forms of capital – human, natural and financial – in such a way that all stakeholders receive value, and that the capital required by future generation is maintained” (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg ; Coulter, 2008). Despite from these direct influences, sustainability also has some potential impact on organizations. It may become a measure of success by using new ways of management or technology.
This report will focus on two of the management functions: leading and planning to figure out if there is the relationship between sustainable management and these two functions, if so, how they affect each other will be covered too. The first part will mainly explain leading function, how the managers of Nike leading their team by using related theories and concepts to achieve the organization goals. While the planning function will be covered in the second part, because without a good plan, Nike cannot meet the success like today.
After that, there comes a brief conclusion and five recommendations which need to be improved. The main sources of this report is journal articles and the text books, all of these are secondary data, considerate about this situation, it is reasonable that some small errors occurred although it should be avoid. 2. Leading A good leader should know how to motivate, influence, select the most effective way to communicate and dealing behavior issues of employees (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg ; Coulter, 2008). From this definition, it is indicated that the importance of a good leader.
Consequently, to maximize the profit cannot be done without leading, especially when sustainability is required, because it is a kind of ability to ensure that it meets the present needs and do not compromise the future generations’ ability to meet their needs (Robbins et. al, 2008). According to charismatic theory, environment sensitive is one of the key characteristics. If a leader did not keep sustainability in mind, his or her team cannot do their job in a sustainable way. Not only the human resource, but also some other resource will be wasted too. For example, the electricity, gas, water or a piece of paper may be used inefficiently.
Under this situation, the organizations hardly gain maximum financial profit. Leaders have the role to explicating the goals and rigid rules and procedures, as Tinker Hatfield, who is the Nike’s Vice President of innovation Design and Special Project said the goal was to make the AIR JORDAN XX3 best ever, both in performance and sustainability. Therefore, the shoes maximize efficient use of materials most of which are environment friendly (Nike, 2008). Without a leading function, Nike may concern less about the sustainability than financial profit. How can businesses effectively address the possibility of an environmental “tipping point”?
Some business leaders see win-win pathways that not only allow them to address the environmental concern, but also their own bottom lines. Businesses that set and achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals, increase the use of renewable energy sources, and improve energy efficiency are on this cutting edge (Energetic Business Leaders, 2006). There comes another example, John R. Hoke III, who is the Nike Inc. ’s chief design guru, is encouraging Nike’s design teams to think of Mother Nature as they work on creating a line of sustainable products called Nike Considered.
This new line is “dedicated to product design that delivers more from less,” meaning less energy, less chemical content (glues, plastics, and adhesives), and less waste. Hoke notes, “We’ve created a Nike Considered Team to infuse this new, overarching, and sustainable-design approach throughout all of our product engines. Not one product or design, but a new way of thinking. Nike Considered is our approach to embedding corporate responsibility not only into how a product is made, but also into how it is conceived. ” (Energetic Business Leaders, 2006). his is an answer to indicate that how Nike is going about reaching these sustainable design goals. What is more, by giving some new ideas to the design teams, now they have new ways of thinking about crimping, folding, or bending instead of cutting, sewing, and gluing. Hoke declares, “Designers are in a position to help lead, to help make substantive change in the world. I believe this environmental/sustainable approach to creation is a big deal. I want to be on the forefront. I want Nike to be there. ” (Energetic Business Leaders, 2006). 4. Planning
Planning is another management function that involves defining goals, establishing strategies for achieving those goals, and developing plans to integrate and coordinate activities (Robbins et. al, 2008). Actually some ideas about planning already have been covered in last part of the report, because one of the roles of manager or leader is to set goals for the organization. Why planning is also very important to sustainable management? Firstly is the process of decision making. There are eight steps in this process, each step needs think very carefully to avoid some mistake, so that many risks can be avoid at the same time.
When some ideas which against the sustainability, after the decision making process, the risk is likely to be reduced. Secondly, the information gathering during the process can help the manager thoroughly understand their business, competitors, market condition and risk. In addition, the manager can know better about the external environment which including nature resources and other elements which can affect the sustainability, furthermore, the financial profit may increase since the risks are reduced.
Thirdly, planning function forces manager to consider all aspects of the whole business, both the bottom line and the sustainability. “What’s good for the environment is good for the bottom line” is an increasingly common sentiment in the business community (Falt, 2006). Nike, Inc. is the largest supplier of athletic shoes in the world. It creates maximum value by concentrating on preproduction (research and development) and postproduction activities (marketing, distribution, and sales), linked together by perhaps the best marketing information system in the industry (Quinn ; Hilmer, 1995).
At that time, Nike considered less about the environment like today, in contrast, an initiative such as Nike’s “Reuse-A-Shoe” program (Nike 2004), which recycles old shoes to create new products such as basketball and tennis courts and athletics tracks, has to be better than adding to already overflowing landfills. This example of what we call “life-cycle thinking” is just one of a growing number of innovations that together could make a difference (Falt, 2006). From this example, the plan of Nike changed a lot in case of keep track with the fast-moving world. It provides a clear way to Nike, which is sustainability.
Nike, Inc. and Hewlett-Packard tied for “Best Sustainability Report. ” Nike was cited for unprecedented transparency regarding its supply chain, as well as convening a review committee including experts from trade unions, non-governmental organizations, academia, and industry for advice in preparing its report (Business & the Environment, 2006). 5. Conclusion In this report, two of the management functions are concentrated, there are leading and planning. What is the best way for organization to maximize the financial benefits of a focus on sustainability in an organization?
At this uncertain time, the organizations should use innovative technologies to not only earn money, but also save money. Besides, sustainability encourages organizations to find even create some new business value, this may affect on volume of production, new goods and service, in this way to extend the current market size. It is very hard for a company to find a new way to increase the production, since the technologies are already well developed. But it is possible for them to gain a competitive advantage than their competitors by apply the sustainable management, so that a better profit will be earned.
Apart from this, the environment and other ethic problems may be solved, for example, the climate may not change as before, the greenhouse gas will be reduced. To achieve this, the organization should set a unambiguous goal and make out some plans which are suitable the company and the current situation, then the managers should use the theories of leading to motivate and rules the employees, what is more, managers, or leaders should solve the problems occurred among people or within the organization.
Nike has done a lot of work to remain both sustainability and profitable, all of these measures have a positive effect on the organization, and rewarding to study by other companies. 6. Recommendations 1. The report is based on the secondary data, there may exist some errors. To avoid this problem, some survey should be done to know the real situation. For example, the plans or goals for Nike to remain sustainability, and some interviews of the leader may provide some useful information too. So the anagers should considerate their own situation, and judge whether this report is suitable under that specific environment. 2. This report only think about two management functions, all the discussions are among the leading and planning, while the other two are so important to a organization that cannot be ignored too. Consider about this, this report may not so comprehensive. The managers should know the four management functions as well, they are worked together, and cannot reach success without any one. 3.
Managers should pay more attention to innovate. It is the most important way to achieve organization goals since the absolute advantage is hardly to gain while the competitive advantages are easier to get. 4. Although the financial goal is important, the sustainability cannot be separated. It can reduce the cost and at the same time to protect the environment. Some nature resources are non- renewable, and must not be wasted. 5. Managers should improve their own ability in case of fall behind of the fast-moving society.
The same as leader, many skills and theories need to be studied if they want to achieve success. Managers should learn to solve the problems that occurred when running business, the problems between employees, moreover, how to keep a good relationship between managers and employees also cannot be forgotten. Reference Robbins, S. Bergman, R. Stagg, I & Coulter, M. (2008), Management (5th Eds. ). NSW: Pearson Education Australia. Quinn, J. B & Hilmer, F. G. (1995). “Strategic”. Sloan Management Review pp. 49
Falt, Eric. “Sport and the environment. ” Environmental Health Perspectives 114. 5 (2006): A268+. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 2 Jan. 2010. Jordan brand launches the Air Jordan XX3: Celebrating 23 years of a legacy. (2008) Nike Press Releases Energetic Business Leaders Business & the Environment with ISO 14000 Updates; Apr2006, Vol. 17 Issue 4, p7-7, 2/3p UNITED States. Environmental Protection Agency Business & the Environment with ISO 14000 Updates; Jun2006, Vol. 17 Issue 6, p6-6, 1/3p www. yahoo. com
