2021年1月23日发(作者：反侦察)
Non-competitive Strategic Cooperation/Alliance: Apple and Nike in
Sports Wearable Equipment Field

As the world's most valuable high-tech company, Apple has always been an expert in
using diversified development strategies. Methods of development
can
be classified
into
internal
development
methods
and
external
development
methods.
And
the
external
development
methods
include
mergers,
acquisitions
and
cooperation/alliances.
Apple
has
kept
good
cooperation
relationship
with
Nike
over
the
past
decade
and
the
paper
tries
to
analyze
the
non-competitive
strategic
cooperation alliance between these two giants of different fields.

Two independent firms and the cooperation field
NIKE is the world's leading sporting goods manufacturer
，
Nike has invested a lot of
manpower and material resources in new product innovation and development. Apple
is
known
for
its
innovation
among
all
the
worldwide
high-tech
companies.
The
cooperation field of Apple and Nike is the field of sports wearable equipment, which
can
hardly
to
be
completed
by
either
company
alone.
Apple
is
a
hardware
device
manufacturer, Nike is a sports equipment manufacturer. As long as Apple is willing to
provide
application
support
for
Nike,
Nike
will
be
very
happy
to
sell
its
products
through

is
no
subordinate
relationships
between
them.
Remaining
independent,
they
cooperate
to
undertake
actions
in
the
field
of
sports
wearable
equipment,
The
two
companies
have
been
together
developing
sports
wearable
equipment
market
for
about
ten
years
under
the
ecological
environment
of
digital
products and services, to bring a richer user experience for all people.

Cooperation and non- competitive strategic cooperation
Apple and Nike, the two independent firms, have reached an agreement to share their
resources
and
capabilities
(Apple
’
s
hardware
and
Nike
’
s
sports
user
group)
to
reinforce their competitive advantage in the field of sports wearable equipment, which
is called the cooperation between Apple and Nike.

In
traditional
cooperation/alliance,
the
coordinated
firms
are
in
the
same
or
related
industries or, in the same upstream and downstream industry chain, thus the firms will
face direct competition or will face price competition between the two sides. But there
is no direct competition relationship between Apple and Nike, therefore this kind of
cooperation is non-competitive strategic cooperation.

Long-term contractual agreements and shareholder agreements
In fact, as early as 10 years ago, Apple began its cooperation with Nike. In 2006,
Apple
and
Nike
launched
a
Nike
+
iPod
sports
package.
Through
the
wireless,
the
built-in
chip
in
the
Nike
shoes
was
connected
with
the
iPod,
and
the
users
could
record
their
time,
distance,
speed,
heart
rate,
calorie
consumption
and
other
data
during their exercise through the iPod. It was the world's first generation of wearable
sports equipment as well.

Over
the
years,
Apple
and
Nike
has
kept
cooperation
relationship
in
the
initial
Nike + project. In 2011, Nike independently launched the Nike + Fuelband wristband
and
Apple
stores
and
online
stores
began
to
sell
FuelBand
in
the
United
States,
Canada
and
UK.
In
September
2016,
Apple
and
Nike
launched
a
new
version
of
iWatch2 --Apple Watch Nike Plus. The device deeply integrated the sports properties
and social properties of Nike +, whose interface display information and Siri function
has been optimized according to sports characteristics.

These
have
proved
that
Apple
and
Nike
’
s
cooperation
in
sports
wearable
equipment field is a long-term cooperation. Started with an innovated idea of the first
product
of
wearable
sports
equipment,
both
sides
have
obtained
satisfactory
profit,
especially the sales volume of iPod in the sports field from 2006 to 2008 increased
sharply. Although there were no joint ventures established or shares acquisition ways
defined,
the
two
firms
still
could
earn
much
benefit
generated
from
the
products
selling
of
cooperation
agreement.
In
later
years,
Nike
independently
launched
the
Nike
+
Fuelband,
whose
market
share
was
not
very
great
while
Apple
focused
on
other
market
segments,
so
the
2016
iWatch
Nike
Plus
with
sports
attribute
marked
that Apple and
Nike would continue to enter the wearable sports equipment market