Anlysis of the Nike Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Anlysis of the Nike Company - Essay Example 14). Economic factors that affect the industry are general economic conditions, anti-dumping duties, restrictions on the transfer of currency, the annual renewal of NTR with Vietnam, availability of import quotas and currency exchange rate fluctuations (NIKE, Inc. 13-14). On the sociological front, athletic footwear and apparel are consumer products and the relative popularity of various sports and fitness activities and changing design trends affect the demand for such products (NIKE, Inc. 11). On the technological front, although design and aesthetics appear to be the most important factor for consumer acceptance of athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment, technical innovation in the design of such products to reduce injury, enhance athletic performance and maximize comfort is also essential to commercial success. Research and development plays a key role in technical innovation (NIKE, Inc. 12). Lastly, factors in the legal and ecological environment that could affect the athleti c footwear, apparel, and equipment industry are non-compliance of environmental, health and safety standards or applicable local law by contractors. This could harm the organization's reputation and have an adverse effect on sales (NIKE, Inc. 12). To the athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment industry, trademark is perhaps the important aspect in the legal environment. Having distinctive marks that are readily identifiable is an important factor in creating a market for goods, in identifying the firm, in distinguishing a firm's goods from those of others, in building a brand, and in a firm's competitive position (NIKE, Inc. 13-14). The intensity of competition is high. The athletic footwear, apparel and equipment industry is keenly competitive in the United States and on a worldwide basis. International players comprise of athletic and leisure shoe companies, athletic and leisure apparel companies, sports equipment companies, and large companies having diversified lines of athletic and leisure shoes, apparel and equipment (NIKE, Inc. 7). Competition also exists for the production capacity of independent manufacturers and for import quota capacity. The industry's product offerings, technologies, marketing expenditures (including advertising and endorsements), pricing, costs of production, and customer service are aspects of intense competition (NIKE, Inc. 11). The bargaining power of suppliers is medium. Suppliers mainly include contract manufacturers and professional athletes and sports teams and leagues to evaluate and promote the products of a firm, and to establish the authenticity of a firm's products wit h consumers (NIKE, Inc. 12). The bargaining power of professional athletes and sports teams and leagues is high. The endorsements of professional athletes and sports teams and leagues such as Tigerwoods, Ronaldo and Michael Jordan (Nike, Inc. online) is important to the marketing and branding of a firm's products. The high bargaining power of professional athletics and sports teams and leagues is mitigated by the low bargaining power of contract manufacturers. Compared to the athletic footwear and apparel industry dominated by a few large organizations such as Nike and Reebok1, there are hundreds of contract manufacturers (NIKE, Inc. 12; Rankine and Ferris 4-5). Besides, the shoes and apparel produced by contract manufacturers are commodities. It is the brand name of the organization that designs, markets, and sells the products that makes the product

Research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 5

Research paper - Essay Example The banjo can have four or five strings and is made from a gourd, used as the sound box, covered with hide or plastic. The instrument developed from African instruments (banjar, bandora, banza) that were introduced by slaves (Banjo). The banjo’s predecessor was played in seventh century Africa (Mazbrow). In the seventeenth century, the instrument consisted of a long pole and attached gourd with three or four strings, made from horsehair, catgut, or hemp plant. At first it was played by West African wandering musicians, but by the eighteenth century was played by slave musicians in the West Indies. Knocking and beating was the style used. Notes began to slide and bend once tuning pegs and a flat board for fingering was added (Banjo). This â€Å"banjar† instrument was played in Maryland and Virginia from the mid-eighteenth century. It had a skin head, pegs, and a short thumb string. In Africa, the banjar was played with the talking drums but, in response to a slave uprisi ng in South Carolina, drums and horns became illegal, and the traditional way of playing was adapted to banjar solos (Banjo). The combination of banjo and fiddle, at the core of Appalachian music, was played exclusively by black musicians for about 100 years, before white musicians adopted it (Mazbrow). Just as spirituals were used to communicate escape plans, black banjo songs communicated subversive methods to survive slavery. Many of these songs used cunning animals, like foxes and snakes, to camouflage their message (Banjo). Black banjar music began to have a strong influence on the fiddle playing of Appalachian immigrants from Scotland and Ireland. Soon, white Appalachian musicians were playing the instrument in the same thumping style as the black Appalachian musicians. For some time, white banjo players depended on black banjo players, not only for rhythm and style, but even for acquiring a banjo in the first place (C. Conway 146). Mutual interest and instrument design collab oration soon modified the banjar, replacing the gourd with a wooden rim and open back. Sweeney, an Irish American added a fourth melody string, and the short drone thumb string was kept, so now the banjo had five strings (Banjo). Although African-American Appalachian musicians played the banjo throughout the nineteenth century, white Appalachian musicians dominated the emerging radio and recording technology (Banjo). The first white banjo player to achieve fame for his music, Joel Walker Sweeney, learned how to play the banjo from a neighboring plantation slave, and mid-nineteenth century white banjo players usually performed in black-face (Mazbrow). It was white performers whom people connected to hillbilly music, even though white banjo players had adopted a black musical tradition (Mazbrow). In fact, there has always been a lot of white pride in fiddle and banjo music, by those whose tradition came from Appalachian ancestors, and would never conceive of any black African American contribution to their musical heritage (Mazbrow). Appalachian fiddle and banjo music is popularly thought to be Irish and Scottish, but is syncopated and polyrhythmic, showing African history (Mazbrow). Polyrythm is alien to European music and central to African (Mazbrow). The typical way of strumming the banjo is to brush down with the backs of the fingernails while the thumb plucks the