史上50大商业对手：耐克vs.锐步

    要怪就怪鞋子。耐克（Nike）和锐步（Reebok）之间的争夺持续了三十多年，而且缔造了今天我们所熟知的体育明星文化。

    最初这两家公司有着天壤之别：俄勒冈大学（University of Oregon）前田径明星、斯坦福大学（Stanford）工商管理硕士菲尔•奈特放弃了会计工作后建立了一家鞋业进口公司，并用希腊胜利女神的名字（Nike）为之命名。保罗•法尔曼从波士顿大学（Boston University）退学后接掌了家族的体育用品生意。他收购了一种英国产运动鞋在北美的代理权。它就是锐步，一个白色皮制女性有氧运动鞋系列，名字取自一种羚羊。随着慢跑风靡全美，锐步也开始发展壮大。1984年，法尔曼收购了锐步的母公司，又在第二年让锐步上市。

    耐克通过积极迎合男性消费者而名声鹊起，建立了一种充满狂热气氛的管理文化，但同时也和女性运动鞋市场擦肩而过。1987年，锐步超过了耐克，后者陷入苦苦的追赶之中。

    最终耐克重新占据上风凭借的是一纸合同，和该公司签约的是后来成为历史上最受人崇拜的运动员：迈克尔•乔丹。耐克得到的不光是一名英雄般的运动员，还是一名很上镜的发言人，能和观众直接沟通。借助乔丹和大获成功的“飞人乔丹”（Air Jordan）品牌，耐克后来居上【飞人乔丹品牌的年销售额后来超过了10亿美元（62.7亿元人民币）】。

    作为反击，锐步签下了沙奎尔•奥尼尔。有一次，奥尼尔在和耐克方面会面时穿了一件印有巨大锐步商标的夹克，让耐克高层又惊又气。

    1992年奥运会上，乔丹用美国国旗挡住了梦一队运动服上赞助商锐步的商标，一度引起争议。奈特则喜出望外。他又进一步给锐步使绊儿，出资2.5万美元（15.675万元人民币）为花样滑冰运动员托尼娅•哈丁辩护，后者被指策划了对锐步签约运动员南希•克里根的恶意袭击事件。

    耐克继续和那些最红的运动员合作，包括安德烈•阿加西、皮特•桑普拉斯和后来的泰戈尔•伍兹，使锐步相形见绌。2005年，阿迪达斯（Adidas）收购了锐步，但和巨无霸耐克相比，二者合并后成立的新公司虽然位居次席，但仍有一定的差距。

    获胜者：耐克（财富中文网）

    Blame it on the shoes. The battle between Nike and Reebok lasted over three decades and created celebrity athlete culture as we know it today.

    Initially the two couldn't have been more different: Phil Knight, a former University of Oregon track star and a Stanford MBA, tossed his accounting career and formed a company to import running shoes to the U.S. He named it Nike after the Greek goddess of victory. Paul Fireman dropped out of Boston University to take over his family's sporting-goods business. He acquired the North American rights to British-made sneakers. Reebok, a line of white-leather women's aerobic shoes named after an antelope, took off as jogging became a national craze. Fireman bought out the parent company in 1984 and took Reebok public the following year.

    Nike, which had risen to prominence by aggressively courting male customers and fostering a jock-laden management culture, missed the market for women's sneakers. Reebok overtook Nike in 1987 as the latter struggled to catch up.

    Eventually Nike regained momentum by signing the man who would become the most iconic athlete of all time: Michael Jordan. Nike gained not just a hero athlete but also a telegenic spokesperson who connected with audiences. On the back of Jordan and the massive popularity of his Air Jordan brand, Nike surged ahead. (Air Jordan sales eventually surpassed $1 billion annually.)

    Reebok responded by signing Shaquille O'Neal, who once showed up to a meeting with Nike wearing a jacket emblazoned with a huge Reebok logo -- much to the dismay of Nike executives.

    At the 1992 Olympics, Jordan controversially draped a U.S. flag to hide the logo on the Reebok-sponsored tracksuits worn by the U.S.'s winning Dream Team. The move delighted Knight, who baited Reebok further by contributing $25,000 to figure skater Tonya Harding's defense fund after she was accused of orchestrating a vicious attack on Nancy Kerrigan, a Reebok athlete.

    Nike continued to snap up the most popular athletes, including Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, and later Tiger Woods, making Reebok seem lame by comparison. In 2005, Adidas bought Reebok, but the new, combined company is still a distant second to the Nike juggernaut.

    Winner:Nike