Introduction
Nike is an apparel company that notably specializes in footwear and activewear. Per the company’s form 10-K, it was incorporated in 1967 and includes such brands and trademarks as Jordan, Converse, Chuck Taylor, All Star, One Star, Star Chevron, Jack Purcell, and others (Nike, 2021). Nike’s primary customers appear to be those of a younger demographic, leaning under 45, and keen on sports. In this assignment, I will discuss the quality issues with Nike’s products that I have encountered as well as their impact on Nike stakeholders.
Main body
Despite Nike’s reputation as a reliable footwear brand, over the years of my experience as a customer, I have occasionally come across quality issues with the product. In particular, I have noticed that the footwear I purchase from Nike seems to unravel faster than that of other brands. I have consulted online forums as well as my acquaintances to see whether this problem is common. Overall, many seemed to have the same issues, confirming my suspicions that there could be an underlying issue with Nike’s production. As my experience with Nike’s product quality is mostly anecdotal, it seems that consumers are generally not aware of the common problems and tend to regard the company favorably. Due to this, it seems shareholders as a whole are not yet strongly affected by the quality issues.
It is worth establishing which particular Nike stakeholder groups will be affected by the company’s quality problems. As per the stakeholder theory, stakeholders can be either internal (shareholders and employees) or external (customers, government, competitors, and others) (Vitolla et al., 2019). Among these, the most affected stakeholder group is Nike customers, as they experience the quality issues directly. Moreover, Nike shareholders could be potentially affected if the information regarding the quality of the product became better-known. Finally, Nike employees as a stakeholder group are similarly not affected by the quality issues at this moment. However, as they depend on Nike’ public image to retain their jobs, this is subject to change.
Conclusion
To conclude, despite Nike being an established company with a strong reputation, there appear to be quality problems with their footwear. Nike stakeholders that are or will be affected by the quality issues are the following: the customers, the shareholders, and the employees. Although only the customers are affected at the moment, the shareholders and the employees have the potential to feel the impact of the quality issues as well.
References
NIKE, Inc. (2021). Form 10‐K. Web.
Vitolla, F., Raimo, N., Rubino, M., & Garzoni, A. (2019). How pressure from stakeholders affects integrated reporting quality. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 26(6), 1591–1606. Web.