One of the first sentences in our book talks about examining threats can be turned into opportunities, which I have ALWAYS thought in a similar fashion when analyzing any company in SWOT fashion or Porter's 5 Forces....
Nike has abundant opportunities to win it, even as competitors come out and compete for business. This might sound odd, but sometimes I do believe companies need threats to drive innovation; need pressure to develop differentiation. Also, while this might sound silly as well, but what fun is it to play baseball or soccer, OR FOOTBALL by yourself? It's not. You make better plays, someone pitches a ball, you develop strategies based on your opponent's position and moves. Threats ARE opportunities.
I think this is possibly why Nike plays it so well. Their people know all about threats and opportunities instinctively as most employees are incredibly passionate about sports. Any kind of sports or game. From my perspective, even when I see a personal struggle commercial for Nike, it still translates to an internal business threat of becoming complacent. Nike's external threats such as UA, adi, and Lululemon are threats they combat by innovating and answering the customer calls to action with products offered. The natural rivalry position Nike has with other sports apparel and equipment companies are opportunities to bring something unique and different to the same customer base.
I do see threats as opportunities... across all industries. This seems logical to try and neutralize a threat by seeing it as an opportunity and seizing that opportunity.
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