{"id":1464,"date":"2019-09-20T21:45:30","date_gmt":"2019-09-21T01:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=1464"},"modified":"2022-04-12T21:29:08","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T01:29:08","slug":"kitami-onitsuka-nike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/kitami-onitsuka-nike\/","title":{"rendered":"Kitami From Onitsuka: The Snake Who Cheated Nike"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Nike founder Phil Knight’s memoir Shoe Dog<\/em>, Knight discusses a man who would be Nike’s mortal enemy\u2014Shoji Kitami, an executive at Japanese company Onitsuka. Onitsuka is supposed to be Knight’s partner, but Kitami selfishly has other plans. He undermines Phil Knight and harasses him over years, eventually leading Knight to found Nike to get out of Kitami’s reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are highlights about Onitsuka’s Kitami from Shoe Dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

1966<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of Johnson\u2019s customers says that he can start getting Tiger running shoes from another seller \u2013 a wrestling coach somewhere in the East Coast. That same wrestling coach from 1964 who was supposed to stick to wrestling shoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This simply can\u2019t do. The wrestling coach is stepping on Blue Ribbon\u2019s turf, capitalizing on all the hard work they\u2019ve done building brand recognition for Onitsuka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phil flies to Japan immediately to meet with Onitsuka. (Financially, this is no small feat \u2013 he doesn\u2019t have the money, so he puts the charge on his credit card.) He has a new contact \u2013 a slick looking man named Kitami. They settle into a large conference room with other executives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phil lays out his case. They\u2019d been doubling their sales each year and projecting $84,000 in sales in 1967. He\u2019d like to become Onitsuka\u2019s exclusive US distributor for track and field. Kitami rebuffs him. They want someone bigger, more established, with nationwide offices. Phil counters that not only do they have a new retail shop in Los Angeles, they have offices on both coasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Phil was lying \u2013 they didn\u2019t have an East Coast office.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After some deliberation, Onitsuka delivers good news \u2013 Blue Ribbon will be the exclusive distributor of Tiger track and field shoes in the United States. Onitsuka would send shoes immediately to Blue Ribbon\u2019s East Coast office. Take that, wrestling coach.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1968<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Japan, Onitsuka’s Kitami (the slick executive from before) greets him warmly. Blue Ribbon\u2019s sales doublings are impressive, and the East Coast office under Johnson gives Kitami confidence. Phil shares new shoe designs like the Boston, featuring a new midsole cushion. They meet often over several weeks, and Phil starts to get a brotherly vibe from Kitami.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onitsuka’s Kitami invites Phil to his department\u2019s annual picnic, where typically straight-laced businessmen loosen their ties and go a little nuts. They feast on ample food and have potato sack races. Where Japan once felt just a few years ago like a foreign land with unusual customs, Phil now feels at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1969<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once again, sales are poised to double for Blue Ribbon, at $300,000 this year. Phil feels it\u2019s finally safe to pay himself a salary ($18,000 a year), and he quits Portland State to go full time at Blue Ribbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No momentous business events happen this year, though there are some rumblings of problems to come. Most importantly, Phil starts to doubt Kitami\u2019s sincerity from recent wires and letters. Maybe Onitsuka\u2019s getting ready to raise prices on Blue Ribbon. Maybe they\u2019re making secret arrangements with new distributors again. Phil just senses there\u2019s something off.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he has a backup plan \u2013 an inside man at Onitsuka who can keep tabs on Kitami. In a memo to his company, Phil announces that he\u2019s \u201chired a spy.\u201d He stresses that this is completely accepted in Japanese business culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1970<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The contract with Onitsuka to supply Blue Ribbon with shoes is ending soon. Phil flies to Japan and asks for a 5 year contract with Onitsuka \u2013 after all, most of the US success was due to Blue Ribbon, and a survey shows 70% of American runners own Tigers. But Onitsuka is adamant to keep the deal for only 3 years. Why are they so adamant about cutting the timeline short? Phil is suspicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onitsuka keeps hampering Blue Ribbon with late shipments and the wrong shoes in each shipment. The Cortez is selling like crazy, but instead of shipping those, Onitsuka ships Bostons, in the wrong sizes. Onitsuka promises they\u2019re working on improving factories and reliability, but it never really improves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phil decides that Onitsuka can\u2019t really be that incompetent \u2013 instead what they\u2019re doing is satisfying the Japanese customers first with a limited supply, then exporting what remains to the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of a sudden he gets a call from a shoe distributor on the East Coast. Onitsuka has approached him about becoming its new US distributor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phil freezes. What\u2019s going on? They\u2019d signed a 3 year renewal just a few months earlier. Were they breaking the contract?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He contacts Fujimoto, his spy on the inside. Indeed, Kitami and Onitsuka are considering a break with Blue Ribbon. There isn\u2019t a firm plan yet, but Kitami is scouting candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phil still holds hope \u2013 no firm plan means he still has a chance. He invites Onitsuka’s Kitami to the US to show him what Blue Ribbon is really about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1971<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A groundbreaking year for Phil Knight and Blue Ribbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onitsuka’s Kitami visits in March, and Phil wants to wow him, make him fall in love with Oregon and Blue Ribbon. They drive him around the Pacific Northwest, feeding them salmon and wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Kitami causes trouble. At First National Bank, he demands that they give Blue Ribbon more money, to everyone else\u2019s chagrin. Then, at Blue Ribbon, he insults the company by saying doubling isn\u2019t enough – sales should be tripling <\/em>every year. He shoots down Phil\u2019s Japanese trading company idea, fearing that these companies make investments only to research companies, learn their trade secrets, and compete directly with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Kitami\u2019s in the bathroom, Phil steals a folder from Kitami\u2019s briefcase. Their suspicions are confirmed \u2013 it lists 18 athletic shoe distributors in the US, and appointments with half of them. Phil feels betrayed \u2013 they\u2019d revolutionized Onitsuka, shown them how to make a better shoe, and now Onitsuka was planning to cut them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kitami\u2019s trip ends with dinner at Bowerman\u2019s house. Penny, Phil\u2019s wife, is driving Kitami. They get a flat tire on the road, and Kitami stays in the car and doesn\u2019t help \u2013 Penny has to fix it herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As betrayed as Phil feels, he believes then that the best course is to keep the peace, to convince Kitami not to abandon Blue Ribbon. Without Onitsuka and their shoes, he wouldn\u2019t know what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onitsuka’s Kitami leaves Portland to travel around the US, but doesn\u2019t reveal his intentions. When he returns, he has a new solution \u2013 sell Onitsuka 51% of Blue Ribbon. It\u2019s an ultimatum \u2013 accept the deal, or Onitsuka will set up new distributors. Phil is shocked, and tries to stall by saying he needs to talk with Bowerman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a moment of clarity, Phil realizes a few things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Onitsuka and Kitami cannot be trusted.<\/li>
  • Blue Ribbon and Onitsuka are definitely going to sever ties.<\/li>
  • But they need to stay together as long as it takes to develop other supply sources.<\/li>
  • Step 1: scare off other distributors Onitsuka is meeting with by sending threats to sue.<\/li>
  • Step 2: find a replacement for Onitsuka.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In Nike founder Phil Knight’s memoir Shoe Dog, Knight discusses a man who would be Nike’s mortal enemy\u2014Shoji Kitami, an executive at Japanese company Onitsuka. Onitsuka is supposed to be Knight’s partner, but Kitami selfishly has other plans. He undermines Phil Knight and harasses him over years, eventually leading Knight to found Nike to get out of Kitami’s reach. These are highlights about Onitsuka’s Kitami from Shoe Dog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,33],"tags":[44],"class_list":["post-1464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-people","tag-shoe-dog","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nKitami From Onitsuka: The Snake Who Cheated Nike - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Shoe Dog, Phil Knight discusses a man who would be Nike's mortal enemy\u2014Shoji Kitami, an executive at Japanese company Onitsuka.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/kitami-onitsuka-nike\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kitami From Onitsuka: The Snake Who Cheated Nike\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Shoe Dog, Phil Knight discusses a man who would be Nike's mortal enemy\u2014Shoji Kitami, an executive at Japanese company Onitsuka.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/kitami-onitsuka-nike\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-21T01:45:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-13T01:29:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/shoe-dog-nike3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"751\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"436\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Allen Cheng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Allen Cheng\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/kitami-onitsuka-nike\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/kitami-onitsuka-nike\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Allen Cheng\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e9c1cecc340502045489d4c4e6f4a877\"},\"headline\":\"Kitami From Onitsuka: The Snake Who Cheated Nike\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-21T01:45:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-13T01:29:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/kitami-onitsuka-nike\/\"},\"wordCount\":1195,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/kitami-onitsuka-nike\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/shoe-dog-nike3.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Shoe Dog\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"People\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/kitami-onitsuka-nike\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/kitami-onitsuka-nike\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/kitami-onitsuka-nike\/\",\"name\":\"Kitami From Onitsuka: The Snake Who Cheated Nike - 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