It's hard to imagine what the city will be like during the Olympics. The very charm of Paris—narrow streets and sophisticated boutiques—means that even on a normal Tuesday, car traffic is pretty bad. (Hence the flood electric bicycle it almost knocks me out every time I cross the street.) The Seine is beautiful, but open water swimming will likely be canceled due to E coli. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has drawn criticism for how she handled the chaos (or not processeddepending on the case) before the match.
For Nike, the Olympics also represent an incipient crisis or an opportunity to turn things around. The company has been struggling through a difficult few years, beset by low sales volumeand lay on it longest losing streak since it was announced in the 1980s. In February, Nike CEO John Donahoe announced that the company would lay off approximately 2 percent its workforce, with a second wave of layoffs occurring within weeks of employees returning home from the event.
Like any long-standing company, the reasons for this are complex. “Nike's innovation hasn't gotten where it deserves…and the company has been distracted,” said David Swartz, senior equity analyst at Morningstar. He cited several reasons why Nike's business performance is no longer excellent. The company is facing more competitors than ever, from Adidas and Puma to newer players like Running and Lululemon.
Like many companies, the company continues to have management problems post-Covid inventory. It is also a lightning rod for controversy. Like the previous surprise High quality underwear suggests the company has been mired in other allegations about gender discrimination. A federal judge recently ruled that Oregoniansa newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, can report details about the documents that have been sealed so far decades of harassment At the company.
The company switched from wholesale to directly to consumers not as successful as expected and Faith is wavering in it new executive leadership team. “It makes sense to hire someone with digital sales experience if you want to sell online,” says Swartz. Previously, Donahoe was president and CEO of ServiceNow and eBay, and remains chairman of the board at PayPal. “However, [Donahoe] not a sneakerhead.” As if that weren't enough, the creative team behind some of Nike's most successful ads of the past 20 years left quietly agency to work on smaller projects.
However, it's not all bad news for Nike. Stay away from it. Every athlete sponsored by Nike in the upcoming Olympics could lose; Every shoe the company launches in the next few months could fail. However, the company's products are still the best in their class and have been for a very long time. The best athletes in the world wear Nike. It will be a long time before a competitor can field a runner with Kipchoge's star power. Even Caitlin Clark wears Nike shoes when she broke the NCAA shooting record. Not bad for a 60-year-old company—even one that clearly has some problems that need to be addressed.
“It still has the largest marketing budget for top athletes,” Swartz said. “I think it will come back. [The UEFA European Football Championships] and the Olympics are great marketing opportunities. [But] Currently, the outlook for the entire industry is very gloomy.”
Not all of us need an AI-designed prototype with a TPU grip for the heel, but most of us can get by with a resilient and comfortable everyday sneaker. Some of us (me) are also very interested in skateboarding shoes. Over the next few months, we'll see if the rest of the world is the same.
