Nike Case Study - Jan2009
Nike Case Study - Jan2009
Nike Case Study - Jan2009
NIKE
Bill Bowerman Olympian, Olympic coach, and co-founder of Nike coaching track at the University of Oregon.
Corporate responsibility must evolve from being seen as an unwanted cost to being recognized as an intrinsic part of a healthy business model, an investment that creates competitive advantage and helps a company achieve profitable, sustainable growth. MARK PARKER CEO, NIKE INC.
The Principles of Sustainability2 To become a sustainable society we must... 1. Eliminate our contribution to the progressive buildup of substances extracted from the Earth's crust. 2. Eliminate our contribution to the progressive buildup of chemicals and compounds produced by society. 3. Eliminate our contribution to the progressive physical degradation and destruction of nature and natural processes. 4. Eliminate our contribution to conditions that undermine peoples capacity to meet their basic human needs.
To learn more about The Natural Step Framework and the principles of sustainability, visit http://thenaturalstep.org/our-approach
Then-CEO and Nike co-founder Phil Knight announces initiatives to improve conditions in overseas factories.
This is good for the environment, and good from a profitability standpoint. Our stakeholders and our stockholders want to see that. LORRIE VOGEL GENERAL MANAGER, NIKE CONSIDERED
Nikes Reuse-A-Shoe program has helped create more than 250 recycled sport surfaces.
Nikebiz website. Sustainable Materials (Accessed October 20, 2008) http://www.nikebiz.com/responsibility/considered_design/sustainable_materials.html 4 Bircher, Sam. (March 2007) Institute of Science in Society Press Release: Picking Cotton Carefully.
Nikes Steve Nash Trash Talk shoe is the first performance basketball shoe made from manufacturing waste.
The Nike Considered approach: evaluating the impact of a product at every stage in its life.
Dr. Robrt said, Well, where do you want to be? Vogel recalled. For me, that was a bit of a light bulb moment. It made me realize that we were spending a lot of energy on how to reduce our overall impacts, but hadnt clearly defined a vision of where we wanted to be in the future. We needed that vision to help us choose projects based on what will get us closer to our end goal. In response to a request from Nike, The Natural Step convened an international team of sustainability experts from The Natural Step offices in the US, Canada, Sweden and from Real Change partner university, the Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH). The teams mandate was
What really impressed me working with [TNS] in the past year was their ability to take the principles of sustainability, understand the business model they were being plugged into and come up with clear and concise statement of what that means for the business. JIM GODDARD DIRECTOR OF CONSIDERED INNOVATION, NIKE
The challenge for the Nike Considered team and the broader corporate responsibility team is to make sure people are able to translate [sustainability] into actionable, practical steps. The beauty of The Natural Step is that it is a step by step process, so you can drill down from the big vision and ask what are the things we already have going on that are taking us in the right direction, what is going on that takes us in the exact opposite direction that we may want to rethink, and what are the innovations that we need to look for? SARAH SEVERN DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY HORIZONS, NIKE
Nikes Innovation Goals 1. Closing the Loop 2. Sustainable Materials 3. Climate Stability 4. Water Stewardship 5. Thriving Communities 6. Athletes as Change Agents
The design space for sustainability is constrained by The Natural Steps sustainability principles.
LAST WORDS
Much has changed since Nike first began to work with The Natural Step on sustainability over a decade ago. Sustainability is becoming a mainstream concept and technical innovations are becoming increasingly available. Nikes next steps include looking to universities and other companies for innovative ideas to supplement their own. We used to be very much go-it-alone; we thought we had to solve all the problems ourselves. Severn notes. We have learned that sustainability requires us to work collaboratively to find solutions with other partners. As Natural Step Senior Advisor Richard Blume notes, Nike has already begun to collaborate across the industry through work with Levi Strauss and the Organic Cotton Exchange. Nike has already shown a lot of leadership in that regard. They are trying to change the industry and engage other companies to do the same, he said. Nike will continue to refine its innovation goals and create action plans to move forward on each individual goal. An important element of their work is to understand how they can contribute to healthy communities and human needs by designing more sustainable products. The innovation goals address the social component of sustainability by emphasizing the importance of returning clean water to communities and removing toxic materials from the waste stream that might otherwise end up in landfills. Three of Nikes Considered products were showcased during the 2008 Beijing Olympics: the PreCool Vest, which keeps athletes cool before performance, Swift running and rowing apparel, and medal stand shoes. The vest is composed of recycled material from the Nike Grind program, and is constructed without glue or chemicals. The running and rowing apparel uses 100% recycled polyester. Nike reports that its use of recycled polyester has diverted 20,700 pounds of polyester waste from landfills. The medal stand shoe is made using Nikes environmentally preferred rubber formula, which reduces the use of harmful chemicals by 97%.
Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell ran the anchor leg of the gold medal winning and World Record setting Jamaican mens 4x100 meter relay at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. His racing suit, pictured above, is part of Nike Considered athlete apparel line, and is made from 100% recycled polyester.
The Natural Step and Nike have been working together to create a more sustainable future for over 10 years. Nikes progress has been tremendous. We are proud to be partners in their journey. DR. KARL-HENRIK ROBRT FOUNDER OF THE NATURAL STEP
Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA), commonly used in the midsoles of footwear. Waste scrap is collected during production of the midsoles, ground into fine particles and then re-used in Nike sockliners and new midsoles.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For more information on Nikes sustainability work, visit www.nikeresponsibility.com
This case study was written by Kim Mackrael for The Natural Step, and is based on an original case study written by Brian Lanahan in 1999 and updated by Marsha Willard in 2003. Thanks to Richard Blume, Jim Goddard, Regina Hauser, Chad Park, Sarah Severn, and Lorrie Vogel for granting interviews to The Natural Step, and thanks to Richard Blume, Chad Park and Anouk Bertner for editing this case study. Photos courtesy of Nike, Inc. and The Natural Step.