Presentations of the Nike and Reebok companiesIn 1964 in Oregon, Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman joined forces to create a new company; each contributed approximately $500 to the partnership. The company began importing high-tech, low-cost athletic shoes from Japan to replace German athletic shoe dominance in the industry. In 1971, a graphic design student created the Swoosh brand for a fee of $35. That same year, Jeff Johnson, Blue Ribbon Sports' first employee, made his most lasting contribution to the company when he proposed a new name, Nike, in homage to the Greek goddess of victory. NIKE is the world's largest shoe manufacturer and controls more than 20% of the U.S. athletic shoe market. ReebokThe company founded on Reebok's ancestor originated in the United Kingdom and was founded for one of the best reasons: to provide athletes with the best running shoes. Around 1890, Joseph William Foster made some of the first known running shoes with cleats. By 1895, he was hand-making shoes for elite runners. Soon after, he launched the fledgling company JW Foster and Sons and was exposed to an international clientele of distinguished athletes. The company became known as Reebok, named after an African gazelle, in 1958 when the founder's grandsons started a complementary company. Reebok products are available in more than 170 countries and occupy the second place in the American shoe manufacturing market. External Analysis The footwear industry is a comprehensive whole, so the different stages of shoe design and manufacturing interact seamlessly. This means that design departments and supply chains can operate on different components within the same product family; this reduces the chance of error, resulting in efficient and highly profitable production. For the first six months of the current fiscal year, Nike generated revenue of $816.9 million, an increase of 35% compared to the same period last year. At the same time, Nike's core business grew from $5.26 billion to $5.89 billion, an increase of 12%. As for the Reebok brand, its global sales in the fourth quarter of 2004 increased 18 percent to $817 million. From the numbers we can see that the sports shoe industry is profitable and both companies are very competitive. Having said that, we will now discuss some of the basic factors that help the industry grow profitably. Existing rivalryJockey between the existing...... middle of paper ...... that the economy will start slowing down due to the slow rise in interest rates, sports shoes and clothing supplied by Nike seem to continue to be in high demand. Additionally, Nike's strong brand loyalty and global customer base will help them continue to thrive over the next three to five years and beyond. three to five years as well. We don't think they will be as successful as Nike. However, they are pretty well entrenched in second place, with Adidas being the only truly tight contender. Reebok will also feel the effects of a possible economic downturn, but only if it actually happens, and it won't break the company anyway. Reebok also caters to a very demanding industry driven by a company's next big offering. Additionally, Reebok enjoys fairly strong brand loyalty and a global customer base, but not as strong in..