Introduction
Nike Inc. is an American multinational company that engages in designing, developing, manufacturing, marketing, and selling footwear, accessories, and sporting attire. Nike has been one of the largest companies globally dealing in the production of sporting materials for athletes. With the increased demand for its products, Nike solidified its place as the world's leading company in the footwear industry. Despite being the leader in the world’s footwear industry, the company has had a few public relations crises and labor-related issues that need to be addressed to increase its global market performance ( Business Strategy Hub, 2020) . Male-dominated culture is the main problem affecting Nike's business operations. The issue promotes discrimination and harassment of female employees in the workplace.
Situation Analysis/ SWOT Analysis
Nike Inc.'s leadership in the global footwear industry indicates the significance of its ability to compete with its rivals like Adidas. The company's situation analysis highlights how its strengths relate to its weaknesses, opportunities, and threats ( Kissinger, 2017) .
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Nike’s Strengths
Nike's strengths include internal strategic factors that enable the company to perform its business activities more efficiently. The most notable strengths of Nike Inc. include the following:
Rapid and continuous innovation processes
Strong brand awareness.
Extensive mass production and distribution networks.
Nike’s Weaknesses
Nike’s weaknesses include internal strategic factors that disrupt the company's growth trajectory in the footwear industry. These internal factors reduce the business opportunities and performance of Nike Inc. ( Kissinger, 2017). They include:
Labor disagreements and issues
Lawsuits.
Lack or limited diversification.
Workplace discrimination.
Nike’s Opportunities
The following are the main opportunities for Nike Inc. that can boost its performance:
Increasing market opportunities in developing countries
Improving employment and labor practices
Improving the production mix.
Nike’s Threats
The following are significant threats that are likely to affect the company's performance:
Increasing completion in the global markets
Rapid technological innovation.
Nike Inc’s Stakeholder Analysis
Nike Inc. maintains corporate social responsibility initiatives to meet the interests of significant stakeholders who have substantial stakes in the company's operations. Nike's strong brand awareness in the footwear industry influences stakeholders’ interests ( Kissinger, 2017) . The company address stakeholders’ interests through engaging in many corporate social responsibility initiatives such as:
Empowering the community.
Giving customer needs and demands top priority.
Listening to employee grievances and issues.
Objectives of Nike Inc. Corporate Communication Plan
This plan aims to identify communication issues affecting Nike Inc.'s business operations and how these issues can be addressed. The plan will determine how Nike has addressed communication issues that affect its operation ( Gregory, 2018) . Lastly, this plan will propose the most appropriate methods that can be used to address communication issues affecting Nike Inc's business operations.
Target Audience
Targeted audiences are people who can use this plan to address issues affecting Nike Inc. This communication plan targets the management of Nike Inc. The plan discusses appropriate strategies that Nike Inc. should employ to address problems affecting its public relations and general performance. The plan also targets the company's stakeholders who have significant stakes in decision making.
Strategy
A strategy is a technique that can be used to address public relations issues affecting Nike Inc. operations. Monitoring the situation is one of the best ways Nike should use to approach PR issues affecting the company ( Kim, 2020) . The management of the company should do this by assessing the company’s brand image to identify the cause of the crisis and why they arise.
Scheduling employees' preferences to curb discrimination and harassment of female employees is another strategy that can be used to address labor disagreement at Nike Inc ( Gregory, 2018) . To realize the effectiveness of this strategy, employees should be engaged to find solutions that specifically address communication and labor-related issues.
Tactics
Tactics are conceptual action plans used to solve a problem. The following are tactics that Nike should use to address labor and communication issues that affect its business operations:
Nike Inc. should change organizational cultures to discourage discrimination and harassment of female employees. Filling technological gaps can be used by Nike Inc. to address public relations issues ( Flores, 2016) . Thus, these tactics can help Nike Inc. obtain long-lasting solutions to the problems currently affecting its business operations and performance.
Timeline
Timeline is a graphical representation showing an overview of activities that should be done to address communication and labor-related issues affecting Nike Inc.
| Time | Activity |
| Week 1 | Identification of labor issues |
| Week 2 | Strategic planning |
| Week 3 | Stakeholders and employee engagement |
| Week 4 | Drawing conclusions about possible solutions to labor issues. |
Nike Inc’s Corporate Communication Timeline
The activities listed in the timeline above should be done systematically to achieve this plan's goals and objectives. For example, the proposed cause of action should be drafted after engaging all stakeholders to develop appropriate solutions to the issues affecting Nike Inc.
Budget
In this case, a budget refers to financial estimations of expenses that Nike Inc. will incur to address the identified issues affecting its business performance. Below is an estimated budget that can use to solve problems it is currently facing:
| Activity | Cost in US dollars |
| Identification of issues costs |
$ 2,000 |
| Strategic planning costs |
$ 3,500 |
| Automation offset costs |
$ 3,500 |
| Stakeholders and employee engagement costs |
$ 2,500 |
| Implementation costs |
$ 3,000 |
| Total |
$ 14,500 |
Reflection
A corporate communication plan is an essential tool used to address issues affecting a company's operations. Nike Inc. is one of the leading global manufacturing companies in the footwear industry. However, the company is facing various labor and communication issues that affect its operations. An excellent corporate plan can help to solve the problems affecting the general business operations of Nike Inc. The proposed strategies and tactics in this plan are useful and can help the company solve labor and public relation issues currently affecting Nike's business activities.
References
Business Strategy Hub. (2020, February 24). Nike SWOT 2020 | SWOT analysis of Nike . https://bstrategyhub.com/swot-analysis-of-nike-nike-swot-analysis/
Dominguez, L. (2020). Nike vs. Adidas. International Relations Journal 2020 , (39), 37.
Flores, E. (2016, March 7). Nike communication plan . prezi.com. https://prezi.com/zbya8i7swnq1/nike-communication-plan/
Gregory, L. (2018, August 21). Nike’s promotional mix (Marketing communications mix) . Panmore Institute. https://panmore.com/nike-marketing-communications-mix
Kim, M. (2020). How Phil Knight made Nike a leader in the sports industry: examining the success factors. Sport in Society , 1-12.
Kissinger, D. (2017, February 7). Nike Inc. Stakeholders: A CSR analysis . Panmore Institute. https://panmore.com/nike-inc-stakeholders-csr-analysis
Kissinger, D. (2017, February 7). Nike Inc. SWOT analysis & recommendations . Panmore Institute. https://panmore.com/nike-inc-swot-analysis-recommendations
