Jason Matthews

N01202743

Business Systems
BISM-201-909
Bill Sowinski
Humber College
Assignment 3
What competitive strategies are the companies discussed in this case pursuing?
The case is about creating relationships with customers that keep them connected.
Nike has traditional competitors in the clothing and shoe manufacturing industries but, it
has a deep reputation for continuously devising new products and services that make it
hard for competitors to catch up. It also has a great deal of product differentiation that
keeps customers coming back for more and better products than most of its
competitors.
Nike employs strategies such as product differentiation, focus on market niches, to
strengthen customer intimacies and thus create competitive advantage. By leveraging
technology in its products that are interconnected to each other, Nike has increased
switching costs tremendously for its customers. If a runner should switch to another
product line, many of the other products that person uses would be less valuable
because they lack the connectivity and interoperability that Nike offers between their
products. (Page 102, Laudon, 2018) (How Nike Plans To Fight Off The Competition:
“Knowing Female Athletes Better Than Anyone”, 2017)
How are information technology and smart products related to these strategies?
Describe the role of information technology in these products.
Nike is known for its leading-edge technologies to make its products more appealing
and enhance user performance. It uses advanced technology to support sports
superstars.
Because it has so many useful and popular apps associated with its products, Nike has
quite an edge over its competitors. Athletes like to track their progress and measure one
activity against others. Nike’s apps and gadgets make that easy to do – easier than
other Nike competitors. Nike provides many different channels through which users can
manage their activities like Facebook pages, online training programs, coaching tips,
and daily workouts. Users of multiple Nike+ devices can visit the nikeplus.com site to
access all their data in one place – including lifetime NikeFuel points accumulated from
all their Nike+ devices. No other sporting goods retailer offers that.
Under Armour has teamed up with e-commerce retailer Zappos to send users a pop-up
notification when their sneakers need replacement, based on workout data logged in
MapMyFitness apps. Under Armour sees their clothing items as a means to track
movement and biorhythms and provide customers with powerful data regarding their
physical fitness.(Page 102, Laudon, 2018)(BEESAM, 2013)

Are there any ethical issues raised by these smart products such as their impact
on consumer privacy? Explain your answer.
Privacy is a critical issue with these companies and their customers. The companies
have a great responsibility to protect data collected by their products from their
customers. The data falling into the wrong hands could be disastrous for both the
companies and their customers. One of the ethical challenges include uncertainty in the
group picture due to the possibility of labeling friends with weak social ties that are not
representative of the physical-world life. Another challenge is when some owners of the
data have been promise not to sell the data now, but the evolution of data mining as a
valuable technology it can change in the future as a consequence of the changes in the
policies of data use. Since ethical issues will grow as rapidly as the technology, ethical
considerations should be an integrated and essential part of this development process
instead of treating is as a secondary concern.
(Page 102, Laudon, 2018)
Bibliography

Laudon, K. (2018). Management Information Systems. New York: Pearson ISBN.

How Nike Plans To Fight Off The Competition: “Knowing Female Athletes Better Than
Anyone”. (2017, 12 07). Retrieved from www.fastcompany.com:
https://www.fastcompany.com/40439729/inside-nikes-plan-to-hold-down-its-turf-
with-women.

BEESAM, K. (2013, 02 28). www.wittysparks.com. Retrieved from New running shoes

with cutting-edge technology from Adidas and Nike!:
https://www.wittysparks.com/new-running-shoes-with-cutting-edge-technology-
from-adidas-and-nike/

Godse, Pranav. “ETHICAL ISSUES WITH CUSTOMER DATA COLLECTION.” LinkedIn

SlideShare, 1 Oct. 2016, www.slideshare.net/PranavGodse/ethical-issues-with-

customer-data-collection.