48 pages • 1 hour read
Phil KnightShoe Dog
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary: “1971”
Kitami visits Portland as part of a tour of the United States in search of new distributors. In an attempt to win him over, Knight decides that Kitami will “have the time of his life” while visiting Oregon (167).
Knight and Penny pick up Kitami and his assistant, Iwano, at the airport. Over the weekend, Knight takes Kitami to the Oregon coast, Knight’s bank in Portland, and Blue Ribbon’s offices in Tigard. During a meeting, Kitami berates Knight for slow sales. While Kitami uses the restroom, Knight steals some documents from Kitami’s briefcase. Later, Woodell and Knight study the folder’s contents. They find a list of 18 potential new distributors across the United States.
On the final day of Kitami’s visit, a dinner is held at Bowerman’s home in Eugene. While Kitami travels the United States, Knight meets with Hayes, his eccentric former colleague at Price Waterhouse, whom Knight has recently hired to do work for Blue Ribbon. Together they decide it would be best to maintain their relationship with Onitsuka for as long as possible. When Kitami returns to Oregon before flying back to Japan, he tries to convince Knight to sell Blue Ribbon to Onitsuka. Knight stalls, saying he will talk the option over with Bowerman.
Knight is told by White that First National Bank will no longer do business with Blue Ribbon and that their relationship will be terminated. Knight establishes a new line of credit with Bank of California. During a second meeting with Nissho, Knight learns that Nissho would be “willing to take a second position to the bank on their loans” (178).
Knight next visits a factory in central Mexico. The factory seems clean and well-run, and Knight places an order for “three thousand pairs of leather soccer shoes” (180). Back in Oregon, he contacts Carolyn Davis, the young artist he met in the halls of Portland State University, and asks her to create a logo. Ultimately, she comes up with a design that looks like a “whoosh of air” (181). Knight sends the design down to the factory in Mexico. Knight then tries to come up with a name for the shoes. After several days, he remains stuck. Woodell relates a name Johnson had in a dream: Nike. When the moment comes to make a decision, Knight chooses the name Nike.
In June 1971 Blue Ribbon begins offering “two hundred thousand shares of debentures, at one dollar per” (185).
The shoes made at the factory in Mexico fall apart too easily. Nissho hires a man named Sole as a consultant to assist with such problems. Sole and Knight both dislike Kitami, and Sole promises to help Knight defeat Kitami. When Knight asks if Sole knows of any factories where he can make more Nikes, Sole claims to know of many.
The factories Sole has in mind are all in Japan. Knight flies out to Japan to tour the factories with Sole’s son as a guide. One factory in Kurume proves capable of making samples extremely quickly. Knight requests that a series of samples be sent to him back in Tokyo. When they arrive, they have minor imperfections but are otherwise “very good.” Next, Knight thinks up names for the individual models, such as the Wimbledon, the Blazer, the Bruin, and the Marathon. Since he’s in Japan, Knight decides to visit Onitsuka. He is warmly welcomed and later has dinner with Kitami and Fujimoto.
Bowerman extensively experiments with a shoe with a waffle-iron sole. He eventually lands on a design his runners approve of. Knight sends a sample of these “waffle-soled” shoes to a factory in Japan.
Chapter 11 Summary: “1972”
Nike sets up a booth at the National Sporting Goods Association Show in Chicago. Although the shoes they receive from the factory are lower quality than they’d expected, they nevertheless become “the smash hits of the show” (202).
Shortly after Chicago, Kitami angrily appears in Knight’s office without any advance notice. He wants to know about Nike. Knight explains that it’s a “sideline” he’s working on in case Onitsuka “yanks the rug out” from under him (203). Kitami flies down to California and visits the Blue Ribbon store in Los Angeles. In the back room of the store, he discovers hundreds of boxes of Nikes. Shortly after, Bork quits Blue Ribbon and begins working for Kitami.
A meeting is held between Kitami, Iwano, Knight, Bowerman, and Bowerman’s lawyer, Jaqua. Kitami presents a document that states Blue Ribbon’s contract with Onitsuka is null and void.
Knight calls a meeting with his employees and explains that the company has come to a crossroads. Blue Ribbon, he says, has been cut off from Onitsuka’s supply. Knight claims that this represents an opportunity, “the moment [they’ve] been waiting for” (208). His employees are relieved by his enthusiasm.
A few athletes compete in Nike shoes at the 1972 Olympic Trials held in Eugene, Oregon. The highlight of the meet is a race between Steve Prefontaine and George Young. In the final lap, Prefontaine pulls ahead of Young, to the loud applause of the crowd and Knight, who tells himself, “Don’t forget this. Do not forget” (212).
Nike makes a deal to sponsor a Romanian tennis player named Ilie “Nasty” Nastase. That same year, the University of Oregon football team wears Nikes when they beat their rival, Oregon State.
Chapter 12 Summary: “1973”
After a disappointing fourth-place finish at the Olympics, Prefontaine begins training and racing again. He sets an American record in the 5,000-meter distance while wearing Nikes. Blue Ribbon hires Prefontaine as a celebrity endorser. An employee named Hollister is given the job of driving with Prefontaine around the country to meet and influence runners, coaches, and fans.
Knight decides that Johnson and Woodell should swap locations and jobs. Johnson comes back to the West Coast to work on designing shoes in Oregon, and Woodell goes out to the East Coast to oversee administrative tasks.
Onitsuka files a suit against Blue Ribbon in Japan, so Knight moves to file against Onitsuka in the United States for “breach of contract and trademark infringement” (227).
Cousin Houser tells Knight that he’s hiring a new lawyer named Rob Strasser. Knight likes Strasser from their very first meeting. He’s extremely tall and has a full beard. He and Knight have a number of personal connections, including the fact that they are both from Oregon.
In the fall of 1973, Knight convinces many retailers to adopt what he calls a Futures program, in which retailers give Knight “large and nonrefundable orders, six months in advance” in return for heavy discounts (235). Such an arrangement would provide Knight with more security, which in turn would allow him to take out more credit with Nissho and Bank of California. The futures program proves successful.
In September 1973 Penny gives birth to a second son, whom they name Travis.
Chapters 10-12 Analysis
As Knight encounters greater success, he also faces new conflicts. Knight’s greatest challenge in Chapter 10 is the threat that Onitsuka will find a new US distributor. Although Onitsuka and Blue Ribbon have a formal, binding contract, Knight learns through various channels that Kitami might break that contract if he finds a suitable replacement for Blue Ribbon. Although Knight would greatly like to break free of his dependence on Onitsuka once and for all, it makes more financial sense to maintain the relationship for as long as possible. When Kitami visits the United States, Knight therefore focuses his efforts on ensuring that Kitami has a fantastic time.
There is already tension between Knight and Kitami. Throughout Shoe Dog, Knight makes clear that he dislikes Kitami. However, during Kitami’s trip to the United States, there are even more layers of tension and subtext than usual. For one, Knight knows that Kitami is primarily in the United States in search of a new distributor and will cut Blue Ribbon out of Onitsuka’s deals if the opportunity arises. Nevertheless, since Knight hopes to maintain his relationship with Onitsuka for as long as possible, he must pretend not to know of Kitami’s plans. A second layer of complexity comes from the fact that Knight plans to free himself of his dependence on Onitsuka. Thus, just as Kitami hides the fact that he is searching for a new advantage by seeking a new distributor, Knight hides that he is seeking an advantage by preparing for the moment when Onitsuka cuts Blue Ribbon off. Once again, Knight proves willing to compromise his commitment to Telling the Truth as a Successful Business Strategy—at least when it comes to dealing with rivals.
Tensions escalate in Chapter 10, when Knight steals files from Kitami’s suitcase, and again at the end of Kitami’s trip, when he asks Knight to sell Blue Ribbon to Onitsuka. These details reemerge when Onitsuka and Blue Ribbon meet in court to settle their disagreements. However, perhaps the most important result of Knight’s conflict with Onitsuka is his choice to begin producing his own shoes. Although in one sense, being cut off from Onitsuka’s supply poses a fundamental risk to his company, in another sense it represents an opportunity that Knight has long waited for. Success and danger are inherently intertwined in Shoe Dog in ways that go beyond Breaking Rules in Order to Succeed.
It is in Chapter 10 (the year 1971) that Knight produces the first Nike shoes, settles on the famous Nike swoosh, and comes up with the Nike name. In the same year, he establishes an important new partnership with the Japanese trading company Nissho, which allows him access to greater levels of credit. It is largely a prosperous time for Knight. As he says, “Sales of Nike were steady, my son was healthy, I was able to pay my mortgage on time. All things considered, I was in a damned fine mood” (213). Once again, Knight’s personal and professional lives prove intertwined.
