Nike vs. Reebok
Questions
1. "The success of Nike was strictly fortuitous and had little to do with great decision making." Evaluate this statement.

The important part of the success was due to the far-sight of Nike's management team. Nike's CEO, who was a marathoner and knew what runners wanted for their shoes, had made a very basic strategy work; "make the products that fit their consumers' needs". Examples of great decision making are:
• Diversifying products (into sports wears and others) was a smart move that had contributed to the current and growing success of Nike.
• Nike's management's bet on celebrities marketing. These athlete celebrities including Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods had introduced and placed Nike and its "swoosh" …show more content…

Golf industry requires a lot of investment, including R&D, and this confirms Nike's intention to expend in such market. Golf is probably the sport that has the widest variety of gears and gadgets, for instance, Driver, Iron, Golf Bag, Cover, Apparel, Shoes, Golf Ball, etc. Target customers in golf industry are those with middle to high income, and by theory they have high purchasing power.

7. Is there a danger in catering too much to major customers? Discuss.

Too much is never a good thing, even for the major customers. Catering major customers would still be required but need to be within certain limits. Too much catering to particular customers would lead to that
• These major customers will become too demanding and ask for more profit sharing.
• Catering too much to major customers will also negatively effect relationships with other customers, and therefore create room for competitors to come in.
• A steady and long term benefit sharing plan should be negotiated with these major customers for healthy relationships for an extended period of time.

8. What do you think of the inverted V slash logo of Reebok? How would you evaluate it against Nike's swoosh?

On the first glance, Reebok's logo is not as simple as Nike's swoosh. The "swoosh" has similarity to the correct sign. Together with Motto "Just do it" this seems to be a great combination.

However, personally, I think they are the same. The only reason that