...Steve Prefontaine the legend Introduction Many people have never heard of Steve Prefontaine. These people are not ignorant, they just have not followed Americas distance running. In distance running Prefontaine, better known as Pre, is truly a legend. The people that knew Pre could see the passion and desire in everything he did. Not many people have heard of Steve Prefontaine because of his short life-span. He was only 24 years old when he passed. The purpose of this paper is to inform you on who Steve Prefontaine really was, and what he achieved as a high schooler and in his college years. Methodology When I was first given this assignment, my mind started racing on who I thought was a leader and a catalyst for change. Everyone started calling out who they wanted to do and slowly but surely every famous person I knew was taken. I was really stumped and started researching “leaders” on google but everyone who came up didn’t seem interesting enough. My AVID teacher Mrs. Swain asked me what I enjoyed doing and I replied with running and she brought up Steve Prefontaine. She brought me up to speed about him and it got me interested how he for the longest time he held the record in every distance track race. As I began researching about him, most of the cites said the same thing: He held the record in every distance track meet and died at age 24. So for a while I couldn’t find out more information on him. In the article “The Legacy of Pre still lives on” gave me Pre’s...
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...Steve Prefontaine, born in Coos Bay, Oregon, on January 30, 1951. Steve is believed to be one of the worlds best runners of all time. He was an American collegiate champion and Olympic runner. Pre, as his fans call him, had a short life of 24 years but had accomplished so much in so little time He was born to a carpenter and a seamstress from Germany. Just like many high school teenage boys, who played football and most traditional sports but was too short and started running. At Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, Oregon, Steve had found out that he was a good distance runner. He placed 53rd place in the state meet his freshman year of high school. He had also ran a personal best in the mile with the time of 5:01 and in the two...
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...article starts off talking about Marshfield High School where the annual Prefontaine memorial run is held every year. There are numerous people out on the track trying to finish the race every way possible and then there is the author, Michael Heald sitting in the stands. Michael reminisces about his past as a runner. The one thing he remembers best is falling under the spell of Steve Prefontaine. Steve Prefontaine was Michael Heald’s biggest inspiration when he was a track and cross country runner in high school. Heald had that “Pre-thing” going for him during his freshman year. He beat every other freshman in every race in cross-country. He compared himself to Prefontaine. He said that they were so much alike; his hair, form, and his posture was almost like that of Prefontaine. Heald talks about Prefontaine’s accomplishments. At the time of his death, Prefontaine held every American record from 2,000 to 10,000 meters. Two Hollywood movies, two documentaries, and four books were dedicated in honor of his name. He was favored to win a gold medal in the upcoming Olympic games of 1976. He was the most analyzed athlete in track-and-field history and he was one of the founders of Nike. Heald goes on to talk about how he got away from the sport of running. His inspiration of Prefontaine became a mid pack finish....
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...Nike has a long-term key marketing strategy which focuses on basketball, football, running, women’s fitness, men’s training, and sport culture. In order to achieve this goal, Nike did a number of divided marketing strategy as below: In 1962, Nike was known as Blue Ribbon Sports originally and focused on providing high-quality running shoes designed for athletes. It believed the preferences of a small percentage of top athletes influenced the product and brand choices of others. So it chose the runner Steve Prefontaine and signed up Michael Jordan in 1985 as its spokespersons. In 1988, Nike spent $20 million on its first ads – “Just Do It” which challenged athletes to chase their goals and expressed its attitude of self-empowerment through sports. As Nike expanding to Europe, it just focused on soccer and sponsored youth leagues, local clubs and national teams which brought Nike’s image to Europe. In 2007, Nike acquired a British company who made soccer-related foot wear, apparel, and equipment. This action promoted Nike to the uniform supplier of 100 soccer teams in the world. During 2008, Nike focused on Summer Olympics held in China. It sponsored high-profile players, several teams and athletes that grew its revenue by 15%. Furthermore, Nike invited Tiger Woods, the superstar from golf areas to endorse the company and used him to help build the consumer relationships by using the website Tiger Web Talkback session. Also, Nike has aligned with Maria Sharapova,...
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...be more comfortable and help athletes everywhere. It helped that he was blessed with a curious mind which made him a born tinkerer. The shoe he designed that would forever change athletics weighed only four ounces as opposed to the 6 ½ ounces the average athletic shoe of the time weighed. Bowerman was betting that his design would save the runner from lifting approximately 200 pounds in a one mile race. This nationally respected track and field coach would join forces with former runners Phil Knight and Jeff Johnson to create what would become history making running shoes. This shoe would be the brand Nike debuted in 1972, prior to the U.S. Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon. The “Swoosh” was about to make its mark and Steve Prefontaine would be the young man to do the honors. This Oregon native signed with Nike and brought worldwide exposure to the company. Another of Bill Bowerman greatest achievements was in making the University of Oregon the running capital of the world, coaching dozens of milers to break four minutes and in the interim, creating the American jogging phenomenon. Another creative thinker that deserves admiration is Quentin Tarantino. They have many traits in common. They both had futuristic ideas and fought to get their names out there. Quentin Tarantino decided to make movies that are on the cutting edge and Bill Bowerman decided to direct his creativity towards helping athletes, in the process making items that have forever changed how...
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...Introduction Former University of Oregon track coach and co-founder of Nike Bill Bowerman once said: “If you have a body, you are an athlete!” (Nike Inc., n.d.) It is this way of thinking that describes the root of Nike’s approach to marketing. Every person is a potential athlete or “consumer”. This is a common thinking in the realm of athletics but when Bill Bowerman said this, it was in direct reference to the shoe industry. From their marketing strategies to their selling philosophies, Nike has developed one of the most recognizable and demanded names and logo ever. Nike, which is the name of the Greek Goddess of Victory, was born in 1972 when Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) launched its first branded shoe at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials. A former University of Oregon track team member Phil Knight created Blue Ribbon Sports. At Oregon, Knight was coached by the legendary Bill Bowerman and then went on to become alumnus of the Stanford School of Business. BRS was crafted in 1962 when Knight made a deal with Onitsuka Tiger Company, a Japanese shoe company, to import their shoes to the United States. Knight had the idea to sell a low cost shoe with a very high quality, with high aspirations of taking Adidas out of the top spot in the athletic shoe market. In 1964, Bill Bowerman decided to join Knight as a partner at BRS to create a joint quest to be number one. Bowerman redesigned the Tiger shoes while Knight acted as the accountant/personal seller and the two went on...
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...out in Nike's corporate values and in the way it runs the business. When Nike began under the name of Blue Ribbon Sports, it was structured around University of Oregon coach Bill Bowerman's work with a team of average track and field athletes. His approach was to develop the talent at hand through motivating, inspiring, challenging, and teaching. It worked. Bowerman created star athletes, including renowned long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine. This talent-development method has its parallel in Nike's corporate environment. "You look for pockets of excellence, and where you don't find them, you create them," said Blair. The first Nike employees were not selected on the basis of excellence. Most of them were friends of friends, but once they were hired they were transformed from average people to outstanding performers who helped shape the company. To achieve these kinds of results, Nike focuses on innovation, creativity, and energy which are now "part of our brand and our organization," said Blair. "The athletes we have worked with, like Prefontaine and John McEnroe, are in many ways counter-establishment athletes. Nike embodies much of that same spirit. We cultivate a culture of the rebel and celebrate those who go off and do what some say can't be done." * Second Principle: Like Riding a Horse Nowhere is this more evident than at the footwear design building at Nike's Beaverton, Oregon headquarters, where Nike fosters a collegial atmosphere. "The building is impressive...
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...Report Outline 01. Introduction 03. An Overview of Nike 04. What is Perception? 05. Perceptual Mapping 06. Tabulated Survey Results 07. Findings 01. Introduction c/b 1.2 Origin of Report The report has been prepared for Mr. Junaid Khan, faculty at School of Business in North South University as a requirement of MKT344 course. This report is compulsory for students majoring in marketing. 1.3 Report Objectives We had the following objectives while writing the report (a). Investigate consumers perception on Nike shoes. (b). Identify underlying causes of perception. (c). Positioning of Nike in consumers mind. (d). Draw a perceptual mapping of Nike compared with other brands. (e). Analysis of respondents perception in terms of social class. 1.4 Limitations We had faced many obstacles in carrying out a successful survey. Some of the limitations faced were as (a). The survey sample was a negligible amount, that was 50 persons to obtain accurate answer. (b). The next problem was in assessing the true income level of respondents as people were not eager to disclose their true income. Surprisingly two respondents filled out the income level after making personal request. (c). The survey was carried out only in a porsche area of Dhaka city i.e. – in Banani not leaving a huge number of respondents outside the survey. 03. An overview of Nike 3.1 The Company “If you have a body, you are an athlete,” this was the saying of Bill Bowerman;...
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...Inspiration can hit at any moment for Bill Bowerman, it came at breakfast one morning. He took his wife’s waffle iron and poured rubber into the mold, without his wife knowing. Thus the new lightweight, durable, and comfortable running shoe was created. First tested out by Phil Knight since he was an average runner. “I wasn’t one of the best runners on the team. Bowerman knew he could use me as a guinea pig without much risk,” ("Bill Bowerman: Nike’s Original Innovator"). Bill Bowerman was a track coach at the University of Oregon, he wanted to find a lighter shoe that still provides comfort and held up after a painful workout. The shoes his team were running with were made of a thick cow leather and a heavy metal plate with spikes on it (Glaeser)....
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...Case Analysis: Apple Computer Course number: NETW583 Date: May 10th, 2013 The innovation of apple computer began with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in the garage of the parents of Steve Jobs in Mountain View, California. On 1st April 1976, fool’s day, the first apple computer was formed by Ronald Wayne, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The following year, 1977 the apple company was incorporated. The first Apple Computer was a failure and was followed by the second one which was successful. Today Apple Company is one of the most revolutionary computer companies in the world that is involved in designing, developing and marketing personal computers, media devices, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. (Datamonitor, 2011) The timeline gives us an outlook of Apple’s biggest successes and failures. Some of the Apple’s successes come from the reinvention of Apple computer and Apple’s culture. The first success came from the Apple II in 1977. The Apple II was designed for mass production and broad consumer appeal and that must have contributed to the success of Apple II. In 1984, the introduction of first Macintosh was a success. To appeal to the consumes, Apple created hype around the Macintosh with its infamous "1984" Super Bowl commercial, and announced it...
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...company is structured and how they operate. External factors are the things beyond control like lending conditions, government regulations and competition. Apple’s internal factors are functions they have control over like planning, and organizing leading. External factors would influence controlling; learning and changing with the market competition and the ever changing market. Internal and external factors specifically influence innovation, diversity, and ethics. Apple remains flexible and universal due to producing consumer needed products, products that are a common need and ethically leading the way as a successful company. Apple Inc. formerly Apple Computer, Inc. was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976. During the first phase of management; the planning process, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I, a handcrafted computer that was sold for $666.66. For more than twenty years Apple Computer was mostly manufacturing personal computers with their own integrated software called the Macintosh, marketed as Mac. The company suffered low sales and market share during the 1990’s mainly affected by external factors such as the market domination of Bill Gates and his line of computer software Microsoft Windows. In an effort to attract new consumers Apple shifted their philosophy by changing their products into simple designs, which are known for being more “user friendly”. The company had to go back to planning; the first phase of...
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...Microsoft. Currently, Apple is among the most profitable and innovative companies in the world with the largest market share for tablets. Creating a good technology strategy is normally a messy affair. Apple’s ability to anticipate and distinguish the direction emerging markets in technology take has been essential to its technology strategy. It has been able to track strategic technologies and use forecast to plan corporate strategies. Apple focuses on product discovery with the goal of creating innovative products that are not understood yet. This underlines its strategy statement, to contribute to the world by making tools for the mind that advances humankind. In order to meet this goal, Apple has continually involved stakeholders. Steve Jobs for example was able to convince record companies that online music was the future for their industry. This way, he was able to lead the establishment of the iTunes music store, clearing the way for the iPod, the first successor to Sony’s Walkman. Apple has been able to demonstrate a human-focused technology strategy thereby changing the world through technology. A culture of focusing on the future growing inspiration on...
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...is Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stepping down? | Strategic Management BUS4040 Assignment 1 | | | 赵睿10302001432013/10/15 | | Introduction Two months ago (August 23, 2013), there was an announcement from Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, declared that he would retire in the next 12 months, which had attracted much public attention because of its sudden. It was neither planned nor as smooth as portrayed. The interview with many people inside and outside the company indicate that Ballmer had not aimed to leave this soon and especially after the recent restructuring of the company that he had intensely planned. However, Ballmer’s timeline had been moved up drastically. The nine-member board, including his longtime partner and Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates all agreed that it was best if he left sooner than later. It seems that it was due to a number of increasingly problematic issues on the immediate horizon, including a potentially nasty proxy fight, continued business performance declines, and Ballmer’s leadership was becoming a very obvious problem. In this report, I will analyze this issue by the following aspects, which includes the background of Steve Ballmer, the development of Microsoft these years and current situation about the company. Background of Steve Ballmer Ballmer, 57, who came to Microsoft in 1980 as its first business manager, was the first CEO after founder Bill Gates left the post in 2000. Steve Ballmer was born...
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...extraordinary which we utilize it every day. Steve Jobs was one of the greatest people who affect our lives not only because his amazing products, but his creativity has enhanced the current products to follow its style and design. For example, the iPhone have led the chief of cellphone industry; the iPad is leading the android tablet and windows tablets to follow its shape and design. That is only the positive side of him. What about his negative side about the ethics of a successful businessman and inventor can be barely seen? Not everyone is perfect. Steve Jobs was one of the kind. The categorical imperative is the best term that depicts Steve Jobs’ behavior because he broke the contract with the shipper. As the categorical imperative telling us, we should not adopt a principle if we cannot make a promise to others. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple as a CEO, he complained that their shipping company did not do their work fast enough and did not even ship Apple’s spare parts on time (AUSTEN). However, the shipping company said they could not do better anymore and they didn’t want to do. Because the shipper has signed a contract with Apple, Apple would involve lawsuit if they break the contract with the shipper. Without any consideration, Jobs did not want to play game with the shipper any more, then fired the shipper. Then of course the shipper did sue Apple. Consequently, Apple had to spend a lot of money on the lawsuit. That was the way Steve Jobs did his business. The categorical...
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...strength in the industry. In the past fifteen years, Apple Inc. has brought a revolution in the personal electronics, telecom, computer and media by string of excellent products, offering unique, designer and exciting customer experiences. They have exceeded industry expectations thereby exerting significant power over both customers and industry players, with outstanding financial results. In August 2012, Apple inc was announced the most valuable listed company having a market value of $ 623 billion. In September 2012, it had the highest cash reserves of USD 121 bn. achieves a net margin of 20 % with a revenue increase from us $ 65.2 bn in 2010 to us$108.2 bn in 2011 and to US $ 156.5bn in 2012.( This feat was achieved under the late Steve Jobs and will outlive Jobs as apple has attained a quantum strategy which is rare and very difficult for competitors to imitate. Noteworthy is that apple is able to strike a balance of intense operations efficiency with outstanding serial innovation and addictive product-design, commanding premium pricing and redefined...
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