Organizational Chart of Nike: Structure, Culture, and Why It Succeed

Nike, Inc., the global sportswear and athletic equipment producer, has become one of the most recognizable businesses globally. Originally established in 1964 by William J Bowerman and Phil Knight, the company launched as Blue Ribbon Sports, selling Japanese sporting shoes. However, Nike got its famous logo and the name Nike in 1971, recognizing the Greek goddess of victory.

Nike has been developed into a company with a tagline based on design, innovation, and high-quality products over the decades. Nike maintains its dominance in the athletic market with athletes’ approval and designers’ cooperation.

It has offices in over 190 countries, with annual revenues crossing $ 46 billion. It has built a sound organizational structure within which it has been able to adapt and compound growth in a fast-changing global environment.

I have discussed Nike’s organizational structure in this article and what makes it unique and successful. Based on the guidelines, if you want to create an organizational structure you can do so by using Edraw.AI.

Organizational Structure of Nike

Nike’s organizational structure combines both the matrix structure of the Bosch Company and the divisional structure that Bosch needs for flexibility but wants to avoid because it disrupts the company’s operations. This structure, in turn, benefits Nike’s growth and innovations and furthers its capability to meet various customers

Nike's organizational structure can be described as strictly bureaucratic, with the line of authority being neatly defined. Below are the key components of its organizational chart:

Executive Leadership Team

Chief Executive Officer (CEO): Supervising strategy of the whole company, managing its functioning and having a vision of future developments.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO): Oversees the general financial condition of the company, its spending, investment and financial statements.
Chief Operating Officer (COO): Supports efficient running of day to day affairs of the business and supply chain management.
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO): Is responsible for marketing, partnerships, and branding on the international level.

Regional Divisions

Nike has divided its global operations into regional markets:

North America
EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa)
Greater China

As the fastest growing region in the world, the two regions, the Asia Pacific and Latin America, are collectively referred to as APLA. Every division is relatively liberal to ensure it makes decisions based on the consumers of the particular region.

Product-Based Divisions

Nike divides its products into footwear, apparel, and Equipment, and Nike has functional subgroups of workers managing these divisions. These divisions lead to innovation, and the Nike products in the market are produced with quality and relevancy.

Functional Departments

Nike’s divisions include Marketing, Human Resources (HR), Research & Development (R&D), and Customer Experience, which works for the whole company to achieve organizational strategies.

Hierarchy and Decision-Making

Nike is organized hierarchically and with cross-functional teams. Specifically, senior executives make strategic decisions. At the same time, managers and teams at regional and functional levels are facilitated, leaving room for decisions and action on specific problems experienced in the regions or functions.

Why the Nike Organizational Structure Has Been Successful?

Undoubtedly, Nike possesses a very effective org chart that has contributed to the company's success. Below are several reasons why this structure works effectively for the company:

Flexibility and agility: The matrix-divisional structure of the company responds to change more fluidly than other organizations. For instance, regional divisions can decide the kind of products to offer, the price, and the kind of promotions that may suit certain geographic regions.
Enhanced innovation: Nike’s product-based divisions greatly emphasize research and development. Nike footwear, apparel, and equipment have different teams where it guarantees that the ideas will continue to drive its business.
Communication and collaboration: Nike has a matrix structure administrative setup that connects various departments to work together. Teams can coordinate different marketing & supply chain activities and product launches.
International solutions with a local focus: Nike successfully uses a globalization approach supported by a regional configuration of its business processes. For instance, its Greater China geographic management concentrates more on culture-sensitivity products and stimulating marketing campaigns, leading to a vastly increased market share.
Employee empowerment and engagement: Nike’s structure promotes suggestions and empowers its workers to take charge of its goals. This leads to innovation, increased employee satisfaction, and the creation of a strong, committed company workforce.

The Organizational Culture of Nike

Nike has a progressive organizational culture as a leading global athletic shoe and sportswear company. It also advocates for creativity, teamwork, and diversity, meaning everyone in an organization and its partners will always feel encouraged.

Nike’s culture is built on the following core values:

Innovation: Ongoing innovation in products and technology lines has a repeated theme in production.
Sustainability: Tasked by System Level Commitment, which includes moving to zero carbon and waste through implementing Move to Zero.
Diversity and inclusion: Training for new markets and equal opportunities policies in the workplace.

Nike encourages workers to be creative and productive community members. Employers engage in sporting activities, team exercises, and sustainability-focal activities. In addition to promoting well-being, the above activities enhance the bond between employees and the business’s vision.

How to Create an Org Chart Like Nike

Edraw.AI is a great tool that you can use to represent the organizational structure. It is a simple and easy-to-use web application with over 40 artificial intelligence integrated tools and a vast repository of templates to generate quality charts.

You can create an organizational chart with either of the two methods mentioned below:

Method 1: Start from Scratch

For a customized approach, you can create a chart from scratch:

Step 1

Get started. It's free!

Step 2

Select the org chart from the left-hand side menu and click New Org Chart.

Step 3

This opens Edraw.AI canvas, where you get the basic structure for the org chart that you can customize according to your choice.

Step 4

Add more shapes to the drawing by clicking on the shape and pressing the + button. Alternatively, you can use the Topic/Sub-topic options from the top menu.

Step 5

When you add all the shapes that complete the organizational chart and show the hierarchy, add text to each level for more clarity.

Step 6

Change the theme and layout to upgrade your org chart and make it clearer. To do this, you can play around with the options from the right panel.

Step 7

Export the file to your computer or share it with your peers to get feedback. You can also use the PPT option to convert this into a Presentation for official projects.

Method 2: Use an Org Chart Template

To cut this lengthy process short, Edraw.AI offers some pre-built org chart templates you can customize according to your requirements. To get these templates, follow these steps:

Step 1

Get started. It's free!

Step 2

Click Templates from the left panel and type the org chart in the search bar.

Step 3

Select the org chart template from the available options and click Create with template. This opens it up in the editing canvas, where you can change its layout, text, color, theme, etc.

Step 4

Use the left panel options to customize the theme, layout, colors, and text. The topics/sub-topics options allow you to add more shapes to the diagram.

Step 5

Once you update all the details in the diagram, export it and save it to a picture format like JPG or PNG.

Conclusion

Nike’s structure and culture are basic to its competitiveness on an international level. The company uses both the matrix and divisional structure, optimizing global integration and local differentiation. Such structure fosters innovation, improves communication, and fosters employee initiative, making the company relevant in the intensely competitive sportswear industry.

Nike provides an opportunity to persistently develop by focusing on values such as diversity and eco-tolerance; therefore, it only contributes to Nike’s role as an attractive employer and an industry leader. This article explained how making an organizational chart that helps discern such structures is possible. Tools like Edraw.AI can help individuals and businesses easily and effectively chart their strategies and turn them into successes.