Nike-one of the fastest-growing companies in the world-has been stymied recently due in part to consumer reaction to conflicts involving management practices in its suppliers' factories in the Far East. Among the accusations-poor working conditions, low wages, enforced over time, and harsh, sometimes brutal, discipline and corporal punishment. Levi Strauss & Co. was recently confronted with the challenge of how to deal with contractors in Bangladesh that employed young children, a legal practice in Bangladesh, but one contrary to Levi's company policy. The fact that these chil dren were often a sole or significant source of their family income further complicated the mat ter. Tony Anderson, Chairman and CEO of H. B. Fuller Company, was faced with a decision re garding the company's responsibility for illegiti mate use of one of its products. Resistol, a tolu ene-based glue, has become an addictive drug of choice for many Central American street chil dren. These "Resistoleros" inhale the glue and often experience violent reactions and serious health problems, including kidney failure and brain damage.
ness practices. Ethical conflicts may involve a variety of issues:
•
bribery and extortion,
as in the highly
publicized case of Lockheed, which made
$12.5 million in payments to Japanese agents and government officials to secure an impor tant order from Nippon Air. This incident was a major impetus for the passage of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 1977.
•
human rights
concerns, like those now
being debated in the apparel industry in volving companies such as Nike and Gap. Cross-cultural
