Introduction

Globalization involves companies that not only operate in a variety of countries but that divide their activities in different countries, producing one part of a product here, another part there, assembling them elsewhere, marketing them throughout the world and controlling and coordinating all these activities from a home base. Globalization also involves the growing importance of international organizations, especially the World Trade Organization.
Nike, Inc. is a company that has come to symbolize both the benefits and the risks inherent in globalization regarding the various difficulties and complexities companies face as they seek to balance both company performance and good corporate citizenship in today’s global world.
Ethical Issues Resulting From Globalization
The athletic footwear industry experienced an explosive growth in the last two decades with Nike, Inc. (1972) as one of the largest company dominating the market. The company, once called “Blue Ribbon Sports, has evolved from being an importer and distributor of Japanese specialty running shoes to becoming the world leader in the design, distribution and marketing of athletic footware.” (Info.Nike) Knight, one of the original founders of Nike, Inc. realized that while lower-cost, high-quality Japanese producers were beginning to take over in the United States, most leading footwear companies were still manufacturing their own shoes in higher-cost countries like the United States and Germany. “By outsourcing shoe production to lower-cost Japanese producers, Knight believed that Blue Ribbon Sports could undersell its competitors and break into this market. Blue Ribbon Sports began to import high-tech sports shoes from Onitsuka Tiger of Japan” (Info.Nike) and over time, moved to Korea and Taiwan. As a result of increased production costs, Nike began to urge its suppliers to