Nike was too slow in reacting to changing dynamic of consumer preferences over the past 3 years. This is for both products offered, and how they are offered. Adidas on the other hand fully understood this and is flourishing. This is the external market dynamic that led to the company downsizing. How did Nike's stable of strategists not forecast and react against it?
There is also an internal dynamic that is in play. The culture is bad. Executives will discount this and tell their teams it isn't true. Everyone just stares at them with dead eyes. What makes the culture bad is a combination of several things. One is accountability. It is difficult to pinpoint who is responsible for tasks at Nike. Another is fiefdoms. Nike departments are territorial and paranoid of each other. A certain passive aggressive undertone is always present. Yet another is that there isn't a level playing field. Nike does big things around equality but the reality is that you are popular with the correct person and you get the breaks. It has nothing to do with output, race, s-xual preference. It is about the marketing campaign you run for yourself. Hiring is a problem. Nike hires all wrong now. It hires for pedigree rather than cultural fit (would this person be a good teammate?). The company is filled with sharks now. They ate all the fish. Now they will eat each other. Can you imagine feeling secure in that environment? No? Most of Nike isn't either. Many have referred to the issue of not making waves with leaders. If you disagree with them it is the start of the end of your career. This is true.
Last week was the end after almost 5 years. I worked as hard as possible every day. Often I worked 12 hours days and watched coworkers go home after 6. They are still there and I am gone. Why? Because they played the game better. They schooled the system and s---ed up to the right people. I openly questioned things and was labeled as difficult. Nike can improve the product and turnaround times and it fixes half the problem. The other half is that the company spirit is broken. What I wouldn't give to sit down with leaders and to give them honest assessments of what is really going on and who is really doing what. They are to busy staring at their own reflection in the mirror and practicing their TED Talk poses. Hope they snap out of it and bring Nike back to its roots. That will be harder now that they have let go so many veterans that did the REAL work and drove the REAL culture.