Following the idea of the post from the other day - about the main difference in the ‘corporate vision’ of Adidas and Nike…another thought came to mind…and this one was spurred on by another @mcsteve post…where, in reference to working with Under Armor for a little while, he said this in the comments:
“Nike is a well oiled machine after half a century. UA was motivated but massively naive and NOT oiled. They did pretty good, considering, we were 40 years behind Nike…Curry shoes are better than Swooshland on hoops. Just sayin’”
And it got me thinking…at one point, Ford Motor was once the number one auto manufacturer on planet earth (today they are ranked 8th). Apple *almost* collapsed (today they are the top computer hardware manufacturer in the world). At another point, eBay was the number one website for sneakers for *several* years (probably number 3 or 4 at this point). Even the Roman Empire eventually fell.
Today…in the grand scheme of things, we all know that Nike is the top dog. But it’s almost inevitable that Nike will eventually fall. Maybe at their own hands…or maybe at the hands of a competitor…or maybe because it seems their main goal with their staunchest defenders is to keep them wanting more (instead of leaving them satisfied).
The question is…what will cause the downfall of Nike? And… do you see ANY possible future in which we see Under Armor take Nike’s place? Or…will it be Adidas? Or Reebok? Asics? New Balance? How long can Nike hold the throne?