As the athletics market is singularly saturated

Have you seen "Write the Future", the latest film by Nike on the Internet It is possible, because this little masterpiece of invention and humour was viewed by more than 15 million Internet users. He staged a football match between the leading figures of the mark. The British Wayne Rooney steals of the ball and not the loose, he was at the pinnacle, in one of the newspapers, hero of England, all babies are baptized Wayne... and then boom, cursed French Ribéry intercepts and the poor Rooney is semi-clochard in an old caravan abandoned on wasteland, in the shade of a huge poster to the glory of the Frenchwhich also have him steal the ball by Ronaldo, etc.

Nice including the American brand is familiar, but to be honest should have against Ronaldo and Rooney team German or Spanish players, teams sponsored by the rival always, German Adidas. Since the beginning of the year, and even before, it is the game in the match. South African stages is had not begun their swirling zoom Nike proclaimed he became the number one global soccer, the last bastion of Adidas, by also official sponsor of the World Cup.

These two - there since so long sought. Since 1955, when the middle-distance runner Phil Knight, soon joined by Oregon University team coach, Bill Bowerman, intends to break German hegemony in running shoes to foot important the United States to Japan, less expensive and lighter models. The world upside down! The American who resells the Japanese with the idea of the copy as soon as possible.

Nothing to do with industrial Dassler, founder of Adidas and Puma, in the shoe for generations and who made the reputation of Herzogenaurach, peaceful village of deep Bavaria. These two - then compete on the field but do not play with the same rules. The industrial manufacturer against the merchant user. Because they do not come from the same corner of the World - Nike is a child of the Oregon-, but mainly because they are not the same generation.

Nike was actually born in 1972 when it marketed its first running shoe and adopted the name of the winged goddess of victory. It is therefore the contemporary of Apple more than Adidas and following the same recipe as the firm of Steve Jobs since its inception: put the package on innovation in upstream and downstream marketing and not be cluttering of plants.

And the recipe worked beyond all hope. Today, with nearly $ 20 billion of turnover, Nike is almost twice larger than Adidas and almost three times more cost effective. The growth of the firm to the "swoosh" (the wings stylized goddess) was not a long quiet river. Worn by the wave of jogging, his specialty, the firm did not turn of aerobics, and it is overtaken by a young promising basketball player, Michael Jordan. His Nike Air Jordan, launched in 1984, is a global success and the challenges saddle. Since the tennis player Illie Nastase in the 1970s, until Ronaldo and Tiger Woods today, the firm relied on its athletes to promote its full promise of comfort and air soles. In 2009, the Group spent more than $ 2.3 billion in advertising and sponsorship, approximately 12 of its turnover.

But, at the end of the 1990s, large athletes support was not enough to turn off the controversy and to halt the slide in sales. The reputation of the firm was tainted by revelations about the working conditions in the plants of its Asian sub-contractors. Michael Moore has even made a film. A report from the BBC gave the floor to Cambodian workers who worked seven days a week up to sixteen hours per day... At the same time, the Organization of the first time showed its limits. Phil Knight, advantage "travel" several years, orchestrates her return. It change management, launches the modernization of the company and began his rehabilitation the public kicked mea culpa and independent audits of its plants.

Supply chain management is completely redesigned and the company embarked on acquisitions to diversify his portfolio and to address new market segments: Cole Haan in 1988 (footwear and accessories of city), Hurley in 2002 (surf clothing), Converse in 2003 and the British Humbro in 2008 (football). But, today, the Nike brand represents even more than 85 of sales. Its second most popular, Converse, mark has made a little less than 1 billion turnover in 2009, i.e. 5 of total sales. And, in terms of sports, if the mark was able to get out of his land of origin, race, the latter remains the first segment of the market for Nike, largely before the football.

After the enthusiasm from the beginning, the rationalization of the years 2000 and enlargement of the portfolio, the company, still controlled by Phil Knight, who remains Chairman of the Board of Directors, is today addressing a new phase in its development. With an officially announced objective: increase sales by 40 by 2015 and increase the generation of cash ("free cash flow") to $ 12 billion. To do this, the firm seeks to rely on three levers: the development of brands and market segments, the strengthening of the distribution and emerging countries, including China. Converse has received mission to double its sales in 2015, while Umbro aims to become the number one world of football. Nearly 600 million dollars will be invested in 300 new stores opening. Is China. As in many other areas, the prospects are tantalizing. According to UBS analysts, sports shoes are in the trio of head of the markets most promising in the area consumer goods in China, with growth expected 15 against less than 5 in developed countries. Running and football switch them also to the East.

The fundamentals on which surfs the society of Beaverton, Oregon, enthusiasm for the sport more and more numerous populations, success of the television sports show, fashionable sportswear development, are also those that grow Adidas and Puma in the same direction, that of competition for the top slice of range of sports equipment. However, the risks are not excluded. The bleak conditions 2009 and 2010 could slow the machine, particularly in Europe. As the athletics market is singularly saturated. Hence the importance of the development of trade marks and the offensive Chinese. With a paradox. Analysts concern of rising wages in China, which could trim the benefits of Nike (more than a third of its production is located in China), but on the other hand giving means still more workers or executives to afford a sneaker of their dreams. The grand return of Fordism, which will put a century from Michigan to the Pearl River delta.