Another in a series of posts highlighting GreatPlaceJobs’ workplaces.

By Beth Mulhern, GreatPlaceJobs Research Assistant

NIKE, Inc. was born on the dreams of Phil Knight, a competitive runner for the University of Oregon, and his coach, Bill Bowerman. Back in the mid-1950’s, long before the famous Nike “Swoosh” came along, Coach Bowerman wanted better running shoes for his track team than were available on the market, and Phil Knight, who graduated and earned his MBA, had a vision of marketing the best running shoes in the world in a brand new way in the US. They shared their visions and Blue Ribbon Sports, later to become NIKE, Inc., came to be, and now includes the wholly-owned subsidiaries of Cole Haan, Converse Inc., Hurley International LLC, NIKE Golf, and Umbro Ltd.

Nike, Inc., headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, was an $18.6 billion dollar company at the end of 2008, and has plans to grow to $23 billion in revenue by the end of fiscal 2011. The company employs over 30,000 people across six continents, in more than 160 countries around the globe. They directly or indirectly employ nearly one million people through their suppliers, shippers, retailers and other service providers. Their mission statement, “to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete”, has at its core the belief of its co-founder, Bill Bowerman that “if you have a body, you are an athlete.” They state their corporate goal like this:
Our goal is to carry on his legacy of innovative thinking, whether to develop products that help athletes of every level of ability reach their potential, or to create business opportunities that set Nike apart from the competition and provide value for our shareholders.

It’s refreshing that a multi-billion dollar corporation features a strong policy on environmental responsibility, especially in regards to climate change.  They summarize it clearly:

Nike sees corporate responsibility as an integral part of how we can use the power of our brand, the energy and passion of our people, and the scale of our business to create meaningful change.
Nike, Inc. also takes great pride in an innovative and inspirational corporate culture, which embraces diversity, imagination and creativity.   For example, Nike has a very innovative marketing strategy, utilizing digital media aggressively to promote the brand.  They encourage their employees to think outside the box and “push out the edges of what can be.” Their record speaks for itself, as the company has been named three years running to Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Companies To Work For, and for the last two years was also named to Business Week’s Top 100 Best Places To Launch A Career lists. Further, The Ethisphere Institute named Nike as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for 2009.

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