Go to your eBook (pp. 482-486) and select Case 4: Nike’s Core Competency: The Risky Business of Creating Heroes. For this discussion you will read and then answer ONE the following four questions for the case. Your discussion post to one questions below should not exceed 200 words.
Questions:The MiniCase indicates that Nike’s core competency is to create heroes. What does this mean? How did Nike build its core competency? Does this core competency obey the criteria resulting from a VRIO analysis in a resource-based view of the firm? In other words, is the core competency valuable, rare, and inimitable, and is Nike organized to capture the value created?
Is Nike facing the Icarus paradox? What would it take for Nike’s approach to turn from a strength into a weakness? Did this tipping point already occur? Why or why not?
What recommendations would you have for Nike? Can you identify a way to reframe the competency of “creating heroes”? Or a new way to build the Nike brand through other, similar concepts?
If you are a competitor of Nike (such as Adidas or Under Armour), how could you exploit Nike’s vulnerability? Define that vulnerability and provide a set of concrete recommendations.
Requirements: less than 200 words | .doc file
