Nike's Acquisition of Converse

Paper Summary:

This essay shows that Nike's acquisition of Converse increases Nike's competitiveness as they increase their overall market share through entering the 'retro'-style sports fashion market segment with an established brand, Converse, without damaging the positioning of Nike as an ultramodern technology sports brand. The paper explains that compared to Adidas, Reebok and Puma which may weaken their core positioning by their brand extension strategy, Nike will keep leadership in sports without leaving the 'retro' shoe market to their competitors.
1. Introduction
2. Why Does Nike's Recent Acquisition of Converse Strengthens its Competition?
2.1 Market Segmentation
2.2 Brand Strategy
3. Risks
4. Conclusion
5. Reference List

From the Paper:

"Nike is the largest sports goods manufacturer in the world. For reason of simplification this essay concentrates on the sports shoe market only. The word "Nike" is used for both, the "Nike company" as well as for the "Nike brand".

Nike, as market leader, is especially known for its ultramodern, technology driven sports shoes serving under its corporate brand "Nike" the various sports categories: e.g. "Nike Basketball, Nike Running, Nike Tennis, Nike Golf" (Nike.com, 2003) with the 'best for athletes' image. This strategy is underlined by Nike's top sport star endorsements such as Tiger Woods, Andre Agassi, James LeBron etc.

The main competitors in sports shoes as well as in the other sports goods categories of Nike are Adidas, Reebok and Puma.

Converse, a relatively small sports shoe manufacturer, however with a long, 90 years' tradition is particularly famous for its 'Chuck Taylor Allstar', the first basketball shoe ever."

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