...taking jobs away from our country. Controversy will arise either way it is looked at so it makes it almost unfair” Nike, Inc. is highly recognized name and logo not only in the U.S, but also around the entire world. This is because Nike is an American multinational corporation that is highly engaged in the design, development, and manufacturing. They are also responsible for being the world's largest suppliers of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment because of the proper worldwide marketing and selling of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services. The company was founded on January 25, 1964, as Blue Ribbon Sports, by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight and officially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1971. The company takes its name from Nike the Greek goddess of victory. Now that we have a brief history lesson of Nike let’s get into some of the culture issues they have faced and face since they have globalized. When a contract factory wishes to do business with Nike or one its many subsidiaries, it is critical that the owners and/or managers in the supply chain understand the cultural differences across the globe. Failure to understand the cultural norms can result in communication failure, lack of respect, negotiation breakdowns, and a loss of current and future business opportunities. On the contrary, it is critical for Nike managers to understand the culture differences of their international supply chain as well. Failure to grasp the...
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...(i) Identify any THREE (3) unethical issues in your organisation. Nike (figure 1) is a very well-known company which produce quality shoe and athletic wear around the world. It is founded by an athlete named Philip Knight and his couch Bill Bowerman (Figure 2) in January 1964. Its slogan called ‘Just Do It’. The quality and standard of its products have been strongly recognised by people, even though Nike’s products are considered expensive, yet its performance makes it valuable. i. Inhumane working conditions. Although Nike’s products and services are able to satisfy its consumers, there are some invisibly unethical issues which happened between its employers and employees that are intolerable. The first serious case is Nike’s workers faced direct violence in the factory. According to the daily mail reporter, workers announced that they are being mentally and physically abused at the sweatshops. The supervisors often slap them in the face, kick them, throw shoes at them and call them ‘dogs’ and ‘pigs’. With the proofs, one of the workers in Sukabumi mentioned that she was kicked by a supervisor because of making a mistake while cutting rubber for soles. Some workers also described that they were being hit or scratched in the arm until they bled. Besides that, a 30 years old lady named Mira Agustina, was fired in 2009 for taking sick leave even doctor’s note was summited. She said furiously that it was a terrible work and the bosses frequently insult the workers by...
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...Assignment 5: Nike” From Sweatshops to Leadership in Employment Practices” Nia Lawson Diggs Dr. Jack Huddleston Human Resource Management 522 Ethics and Advocacy for HR Pro March 13, 2012 Discern how a more effective ethics programs and a more viable code of conduct could have mitigated the ethical issues faced by Nike Nike leads the world in the manufacturing and distributing of its athletic footwear and accessories. Nike is the brain child of Phil Knight and his former track coach, Bill Bowerman. The duo formed a company that would eventually become the leader in the athletic industry with the sales and manufacturing of athletic wear. The Nike brand is widely recognized by its catch phrase and its logo. Their marketing campaigns specially “just do it” helped it revive its brand image. The swoosh sign is recognizable across most of the world. This alone attributes for Nike's worldwide success. Overall, Nike keeps improving its product which helps to keep the population engaged with its brand. If Nike had a more effective ethics program and viable code of conduct, ethical issues could have been avoided by Nike. In the early 1990s, sports shoe giant Nike became the target of arguably the most intensive and widely publicized of these anticorporate campaigns up to that time (Conaway, 2011). According to Ferrell, ethics programs that provide guidelines outlining board responsibilities encourage compliance encourage compliance at the highest...
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...NIKE From Sweatshops to Leadership HRM 522 June 12, 2011 Global businesses can sometimes be difficult due to the different cultures. Not all cultures carry the same value, law and ethical standard. Nike is an international brand that has many retail accounts in over 160 countries. Being an international company can cause business ethical and legal issues. Integrity is important and sometimes a challenge when a corporation must respond to criticism or hold back on certain company details. Nike dealt with criticism from right activist, media, and face labor rights violations. However, over a period of time and after making some important adjustments; Nike is working on improving its company image. Nike used traditional advertising methods to broadcast its product. Nike public relations tactics dealt with the wage policy, visiting campuses on universities, personal letters, corporate responsibility and using celebrities as spoke person for its product. Nike launch campaigns regarding child labor, low and non- existent wages. Nike believes that the U.S dollars were meaningless because the cost of living was different in other countries. Nike held press conferences for newspaper staff at colleges. These were ways for Nike to make proactive efforts to address the concerns of activists protesting against their products. Nike made a few mistakes in handling the negative publicity. Three...
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...Global Business Ethics-Nike’s Sweatshops Ann T. Dale MGT/216 Global Business Ethics-Nike’s Sweatshops Nike is a worldwide sports name in wear and equipment. So, why is Nike’s ethics in question? Has greed and publicity become their motto at any costs? Nike spends multimillion dollars a year hiring well-known athletes to advertise their products yet cannot seem to stay out of the media’s eye of their contracting or subcontracting techniques of their products to be built in third world countries. In 1996, Nike has been charged by critics with engaging in a variety of unethical employment practices in countries that exercise little or no control over the conditions of labor or whose governments are corrupt and can be bought off (De George, 2006, chap. 20). In dealing with business issues, a company needs to be aware (what are the issues), articulate (justify and express decisions), and application (reach a decision, train and explain ethics to employees). Ethical behavior has to start at the top of a company and work its way down. Here we will compare ethical perceptions across cultures about the ethical situation, discuss the ethical issues that became evident due to globalization, and discuss the risks and consequences associated with the Nike ethical dilemma. Compare Ethical Perceptions Across Cultures About the Ethical Situation Trevino and Nelson (2007) defines business best stating the “definition of ethics—the principles, norms, and standards of conduct governing...
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...HRM522 Ethical & Advocacy for HR Professionals Dr. Jeanette Horner-Smith December 14th, 2014 “Nike: From Sweatshops to Leadership in Employment Practices” The Nike Corporation is a huge brand that targets athletes, colleges, and product manufacturing. The company was founded by Phil Knight and his track coach, Bill Bowerman, in 1964. “The company was renamed Nike in 1978, and has grown to be the largest worldwide seller of athletic goods, with approximately 19,000 retail accounts in the United States and about 160 countries around the world” (Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2011). Nike built its “good quality” reputation from popular athletic sponsors. Although the brand was growing into a successful sports oriented company, high demand for the product led to thought on how to manufacture more apparel. The founders of the company devised a plan on how to increase manufacturing while not completely blowing their accounts on laboring. The company agreed to take their manufacturing overseas to third-world countries where the cost of laboring is cheaper. “In the late 1980s after going public, the late 1990s began a period composed of combating allegations about labor and human rights violations” (Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2011). Nike was accused of over working their foreign employees, and providing them poor, unsanitary work environments. It can be said that subcontracting was mainly the reason why the scandals occurred. Subcontracting is the process of reducing cost to allow...
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...Ethics and Corporate Governance: Corporate Social Responsibility Contents Introduction 2 Definition of Ethics 2 Definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) 2 History of Ethics 2 Socrates 2 Plato 2 Aristotle 2 Cynics 2 Cyrenaics 2 Business Ethics 2 Nike 2 McDonalds 2 Enron 2 Wal-Mart 2 Why Business Ethics is Necessary 2 Conclusion 2 Bibliography 2 Introduction This assignment is a brief over view of ethics in the modern day era. It begins with a definition of ethics, followed by a concise explanation of corporate social responsibility. Ethics has evolved over a number of decades and still is to this day, with that a short history of ethics will be demonstrated in this assignment. Ethics determines whether or not a company has good or bad morale. Unfortunately a company that holds excellent ethics are not highlighted in the media as a company that has bad ethics. In this essay will illustrate examples of how large national and international companies came to have bad ethics. To conclude this assignment will be a brief outlay of why ethics is necessary to the business environment in this day and age. Definition of Ethics Ethics can be defined at vital concepts and essential principles of moral human conduct. It consists of the study of universal ethics such as the essential parity of all men and women, natural or human rights, compliance to the law of land, concern for health and safety and, progressively more, for the natural environment...
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...Discern how a more effective ethics programs and a more viable code of conduct could have mitigated the ethical issues faced by Nike There have been numerous issues that have affected the Nike Company since the 1990’s. Nike to save money on the production of their products moved their production to China, when the cost started rising, they decided to move again into other areas of Asian. Many of the ethical issues that faced Nike were Child labor law violations as well as human rights. The Nike Company has been accused of poor working conditions as well as harassing and abusive behaviors to their workers. Nike uses Asian companies that subcontract the work to others, because of this Nike was unable to see what was happening in their plane. Had Nike had a better system of knowing what was going in there production facilities they would have seen what was happening and been able to put a stop to it. Had the Nike company implemented contracts with these companies that stated “Contractors with suppliers must eliminate child labor from all activities as well as the subcontractors that they may use” (What you can do, 2013). In 2007 Nike Company once again was faced with another problem discrimination, This suit was filed by black employees, in which they questioned Nike's managerial practices as against the black community, this lawsuit went into litigation and was settled, however that damage was done and Nike was once again took another hit to their reputation. This could...
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...more effective ethics programs and a more viable code of conduct could have mitigated the ethical issues faced by Nike. For several years Nike has been the world's leading manufacturer and distributor in athletic footwear and sports' accessories. It primarily operates in Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, America and Europe. By having a strong brand allows expansion in the market and extended loyal consumer satisfaction. The brand came across hard times in the forms of social allegations that included several cases of human rights abuse and labor violations (Ferrell, Ferrell, and Fraedrich, 2011). These days Nike continues to improve its products. The swoosh sign that Nike uses on its products is recognizable anywhere throughout the world. Nike has faced numerous ethical issues in the past and present day. Nike has been accused of labor and human rights violations. It is said Nike wants to cut cost and find cheap labor to manufacture its products. Nike’s manufacturing plant in Pakistan was documented in a Life Magazine as hiring children to sew soccer balls. Globally, due to legal, ethical and social challenges, Nike face a great number of challenges. Nike has been blamed for producing its good in the third world sweatshops. Due to the availability of the cheap labor in the third world countries, Nike chooses to locate the majority of their production in such countries. Some of the human rights ethical and legal issues faced by the Nike in such countries...
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...Running head: NIKE Discern how a more effective ethics programs and a more viable code of conduct could have mitigated the ethical issues faced by Nike. Nike must have an effective ethics program to ensure that all employees understand its values and comply with the policies and code of conduct that create its ethical culture. An effective ethics program can help avoid legal problems because a ethics program can help detect or prevent misconduct. Describe the ethics training and communications program that may have kept Nike from encountering the ethical issues it did in this scenario. The ethical issues in this Nike case study include several cases of human abuse, labor rights violations, and environmental problems. The human abuse was the working conditions for the workers in these factors consisted of poor working conditions; child labor, widespread harassment, and abuse have all been issues for the computer (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2011). In addition, there were accusations have included deficiencies in health and safety conditions, extremely low wages, and indiscriminate hiring and firing practices (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2011). The environmental problems by the industry in general and Nike specially, are increased water deficits; climate change; pollution of land, air, and waterways; and large fossil fuel and raw material consumption (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2011). The ethics training and communication program could have...
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...Nike is a successful company that has been in business since 1972. Throughout the decades, Nike has built up its brand to one that is respected and sought after. Nike has grown its brand name through the acquisitions and partnerships of many other brands (Hurley, Umbro, Cole Haan, and Converse) to provide to its customer different products that suit every athletic need. In order for Nike to gain success in its growth, the company follows the four functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. External and internal factors play unique roles into how the company carries out each of these functions. In contingency to the functions, factors such as globalization, technology, innovation, diversity, and ethics affect how the company manages the business. This paper identifies how Nike successfully manages their business through the four functions of management and the various factors that affect them The four functions of management at Nike can be affected by various factors such as globalization, technology, innovation, diversity, and ethics. Globalization affects planning because Nike is a global company and needs to set objectives for growth in markets inside many countries. Nike announced on January 9, 2012 that they are building a 600,000 square foot headquarters in Shanghai, China to centralize their employees in China, which would allow them to develop a greater focus and competitive advantage in the China market (Nike, 2012). With such an increasing...
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...How is the impact of using ethical business for Nike increases its production more than other sports brands? Nike Inc takes pride in being an ethical company. Nike places their responsibility to their stakeholders, internal and external, at the top of their priority list. They expend great of time, money, and resources to ensure that they are fulfilling their ethical duty, and achieving the highest standards of ethical responsibility. Because of Nike’s efforts to maintain their ethical integrity, Nike is a good corporate citizen. Nike’s motto says that Nike Inc was founded on a handshake. Their goal from the beginning was to build business with their partners based on trust, teamwork, honestly, and mutual respect. “Nike has a commitment to management practices that respect the rights of all employees, including the right to free association and collective bargaining, a commitment to minimizing their impact on the environment, providing a safe and healthy work place, and promoting the health and well-being of all employees.” This is Nike’s code of conduct; which is translated and posted in all major Nike workplaces across the world, which exemplifies the commitment to ethics and the Nike stakeholders ("Nike's Labor Practices." , ICMR. 2002). Nike views all of its stakeholders as important components to the success and sustainability of Nike Inc. According to the Stanford Research Institute in 1963, a stakeholder is a member of a group whose support is necessary for the...
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...Introduction This paper is a based on a case study of Nike. The paper will be discussing legal and ethical analysis and how the impact the operational/ ethical issues of the organization, the paper shall also be discussing the contribution factors and how the company’s corporate culture may have helped to minimize the unethical behavior or actually contributed to/caused the unethical behavior. The paper is also going to provide ethical decision factors, which are going to address or going to be considered in resolving the legal/ethical issues identified within this case. And finally the paper is going to provide an action plan for each of the legal/ethical issues along with recommendations that company can take to help prevent these issues in the future. Nike is one of the famous franchises in the world that sells sportswear for all ages. But is mostly famous for their athlete shoes and apparel and Nike is also one of the major manufacturers of sport equipment as well. The slogan for Nike is “Just Do It”. Nike was founded in January 1962 in Oregon, United States by Philip Knight and Bill Bowerman. Nike has somewhere around 700 or more retail outlets spread all over the world, and has approximately 45 offices only outside the United States. And it employs 30,000 people all over the world. Nike had a revenue excess of $16 billion in 2007. Nike’s factories are mostly located in Asian countries like Pakistan, India, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam...
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...NIKE CASE STUDY This post is a based on a case study of Nike. The article will be discussing legal and ethical analysis and how the impact the operational/ ethical issues of the organization, the paper shall also be discussing the contribution factors and how the company’s corporate culture may have helped to minimize the unethical behavior or actually contributed to/caused the unethical behavior. The paper is also going to provide ethical decision factors, which are going to address or going to be considered in resolving the legal/ethical issues identified within this case. And finally the paper is going to provide an action plan for each of the legal/ethical issues along with recommendations that company can take to help prevent these issues in the future. Nike is one of the famous franchises in the world that sells sportswear for all ages. But is mostly famous for their athlete shoes and apparel and Nike is also one of the major manufacturers of sport equipment as well. The slogan for Nike is “Just Do It”. Nike was founded in January 1962 in Oregon, United States by Philip Knight and Bill Bowerman. Nike has somewhere around 700 or more retail outlets spread all over the world, and has approximately 45 offices only outside the United States. And it employs 30,000 people all over the world. Nike had a revenue excess of $16 billion in 2007. Nike’s factories are mostly located in Asian countries like Pakistan, India, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam...
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...Introduction Nike, a young company created in 1972, a U.S.-based footwear distributor is now. Now a global marketer of athletic footwear, apparel and equipment that is unrivaled in the world (http://www.nikebiz.com/company_overview/). Like was founded on a handshake, which indicates the company’s core values and that say’s a lot about the organization. Nike is a strong advocate of formulating business strategies, creating market-driven incentives as a primary driver of change. For Nike, these core values are: Authenticity: Nike is authentic in everything it does. Athletic: Nike appeals to serious athletes. Performance: Nike’s products must meet the highest specs. From this three-legged model, Nike identified its widest access point: the joy in sports fitness that’s available to everyone. In other words, “Just do it” (www.extremekindness.com). From our analysis Nike focused on creating an image of ‘performance, competition, achievement, by doing its personal best; by promoting good work culture. Values are very important to our life, implementing them strengthens everything that concerns us. On the contrary it’s been established, however, Nike is running efficiently in all aspects. The company has marketed itself so methodically that it has figuratively become a household name. Now on the flip side, Nike was providing jobs too many who would other wise not have one; paying “a measly $1.60 a day to Vietnam factory workers while living wages are or were at least $3...
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