...TOPIC: CASE QUESTIONS, Nike`s CSR Challenge Question 1, 4 and 5 Nike's CSR Challenge CASE STUDY- 1. What are the challenges regarding corporate social responsibility that companies in the apparel industry face in its supply chains around the world?. A. SOLUTION TO CASE 1: This discusses the challenges facing Nike in overcoming the stigma of poor human rights practices in their past, and how that has affected their overall business in the current decade. Social responsibility has always been an important factor to a company’s long term performance and sustainability. If you compare the stock performance of the top 50 most socially responsible companies, as published by Boston College’s Institute for Corporate Responsibility, to the S&P 500, the companies perceived as having the most ethical corporate governance consistently outperforms the competition in the long-run. This has become particularly important within the apparel industry, which has developed a stigma due its use of sweatshops over the last several decades. As many industries have become more and more automated, the apparel industry still requires an incredible amount of human capital to produce its products. Because of this, the industry has traditionally outsourced its production facilities to nations with low minimum wages and even lower working standards. There is little that can be done to avoid the nature of profit maximization and outsourcing, but companies like Nike have since realized...
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...corporate social responsiblity (CSR) , for a brand of your own choice. You as a researcher are being asked to research the company image (of the brand you choose yourself) in terms of CSR. The Resit assignment consists of 5 parts: 1. Choose a brand 2. Develop the research methodology a. Formulate the research problem b. Define the central research objective c. List the key concepts d. Design at least 4 research questions 3. Develop the table of contents of this report. The table of contents has to look like a professional table of contents. 4. Give a short summary of what you are going to describe in each chapter of your report. Don’t use more than 5 lines per chapter. 5. Give the bibliography in APA-style, with at least 3 relevant sources (wikipedia is not allowed). To be clear, you have to execute the 5 parts of the assignment, you do not have to write the whole research report. Start each part on a new page. You have to upload the assignment on DLWO before the deadline. The deadline for the resit is the 10th of January before 17.00 pm. If you participate in the resit, then the result for the resit will replace the results of the individual assignments. Resit assignment 1. Choosing a Brand for a research about Corporate Social Responsibility About (CSR) (CSR) is defined as the voluntary activities undertaken by a company to operate in an economic, social environmentally sustainable manner. NIKE JUST DO IT Summary Nike, Inc was started by Bill...
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...rights exploitation surfaced in the 1990s, Nike was forced to review and change its operations in order to please the expanding group of conscientious customers who are concerned with the conditions under which the products are manufactured (Suehle, 2011). The pressure for change resulted in Nike’s decision to integrate corporate and social responsibility (CSR) into its business operations. Since then, Nike has acknowledged the importance of CSR to their innovation and performance, and has been progressively working towards integrating it into every step of the business functions. 2.0 Nike’s Vision To incorporate CSR in its business operations and culture, Nike defined its visions (Nikeresponsibility.com, 2014): To build a sustainable business and create value for Nike and our stakeholders by decoupling profitable growth from constrained resources. To Nike, building business sustainability means developing business model to achieve sustainable growth that generates profit, while aiming to reduce its dependence on scarce resources, eliminate waste and minimize negative environmental impact. Nike seeks to achieve this commercial success by focusing its CSR efforts on designing and innovating products that targets at creating positive environmental, labor and social change through honoring ethical values, and respecting people, communities and the natural environment. 3.0 Nike’s Organizational Structure At Nike, commitment to CSR begins at the top – the board level (Epstein...
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...Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Author's personal copy Organizational Dynamics (2010) 39, 353—356 a v a i l a b l e a t w w w. s c i e n c e d i r e c t . c o m journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/orgdyn Why Nike kicks butt in sustainability Marc J. Epstein, Adriana Rejc Buhovac, Kristi Yuthas Nike Inc. has a unique combination of capabilities and competencies that position the company as a leader in sustainability. Nike is among the world’s most prominent sustainable corporations, and is regularly recognized by organizations that rank sustainable performance. For example, Nike has been named one of 100 most sustainable corporations in the world by Innovest, ranked third in Corporate Responsibility Officers 100 Best Corporate Citizens list, and named one of the World’s Top Sustainable Stocks by Sustainable Business. Nike possesses a unique combination of strengths and capabilities that enable the company to make rapid advancements in sustainability that are ahead of other firms in its industry, and that increasingly contribute to the financial performance of the company. Nike believes that we are at the beginning of a shift from a service- or...
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...“Currently, the organisations must also think about the authorization, honourable, ethical along with developmental outcomes with their selections.” (Anderson 15). This essay will discuss “ what the dangers and the benefits of corporate social responsibility, for employees, management, organisation, society and the environment. It will argue about the importance for an organisation to have corporate social responsibilities, which bring the advantages and the disadvantages to the society, cooperation and the government. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not explain that how much profit that the firm may earn and then donate to some charity organisation, but it is the connection with several actions that bring the benefits to the society. Corporate social responsibility becomes one of the ordinary activities in the business world and has become one of the basic principles of the world business community (Banerjee 2007). (CSR) have affected the activities of the employees, management, organisation, society and the environment. “It was also gradually apparent to increase the plainness of a cooperation, which contributes to the...
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...1. Discuss the challenges regarding corporate social responsibility that companies in the apparel industry face in their supply chains around the world. Companies operating abroad face several challenges, such as confusion about the cross‐cultural dilemmas. Another challenge is how to behave in a host country, since the host country usually has their own expectations and agendas. Other challenges the Company may face is: abusive treatment of their employees, long work hours and no compensation for their employees, and low wages. 2. Discuss the meaning and implications of the statement by a NIKE representative that ‘consumers are not rewarding us for investments in improved social performance in supply chains.’ The statement means that NIKE has spent lot of money to improve the welfare of its workers and to improve the working conditions in their factories. However, doing so has cost them a lot of money. In order to regain the money, they’ve had to increase the price on their products to try to get the consumer to pay for the cost. However, consumers are still not buying their products the way they used to. 3. What does it mean to have an industry open‐systems approach to social responsibility? What parties are involved? Who are the stakeholders? The open‐systems approach to social responsibility is that MNCs must consider sustainability in the CSR & must encompass financial, social and environmental factors during business operations. The MN...
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...Responsibility (CSR) and its Importance: 1.1 Definition of CSR: What does Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR mean? The World Business Council for Sustainable Development in its publication Making Good Business Sense by Lord Holme and Richard Watts, used the following definition: Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families, as well as of the local community and society at large. Traditionally in the United States, CSR has been defined much more in terms of a philanthropic model. Companies make profits, unhindered except by fulfilling their duty to pay taxes. Then they donate a certain share of the profits to charitable causes. The European model is much more focused on operating the core business in a socially responsible way, complemented by investment in communities. This model tends to be more sustainable because : • Social responsibility becomes an integral part of the wealth creation process - which if managed properly should enhance the competitiveness of business and maximise the value of wealth creation to society. • When times get hard, there is the incentive to practice CSR more and better - if it is a philanthropic exercise that is peripheral to the main business, it will always be the first thing to go when push comes to shove. Different organisations have different definitions of CSR- although...
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...Nike’s CSR Challenge Discuss the challenges regarding corporate social responsibility that companies in the apparel face in their supply chains around the world. There have been cases reported abusive treatments in more than a quarter of its South Asian plants. Another report is that 25%-50% of factories in the region restrict access to toilets and drinking water during the workday. The same percentage that was reported also applied to factories denying workers at least one day off of the seven days they already work. Nike’s CSR Challenge highlighted that difficulty of bring wholesale to change to a company that isn’t centralized. Instead the challenge is now to reform the way business is done. Leadership was traditionally seen as guiding your employees towards the goal of the company. What is need is a more open form of leadership that calls for collaboration among mutually dependant parties in order to solve systemic problems. The challenges are too reshape the signals being given out by its supply chains group to itself and its competitors. So that the companies can operate in a sustainable and just way, which is also financially viable. Nike’s new corporate citizenship goal is “to effect positive, systematic change in working conditions within the footwear, apparel and equipment industries.” Discuss the meaning and implications of the statement by a Nike representative that “consumers are not rewarding us for investments in improved social performance in supply...
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...rights than the distancing of Nike from the suppliers, Nike's Corporate Responsibility teams realized that paying the role of a corporate citizen not responsible for their supply chains was only going to make matters worse over time (DeTienne, Lewis, 359). Instead of incrementally creating programs that sought to bridge the gap in both critics and the publics' trust that Nike was indeed concerned about unethical and immoral practices in their supply chain, Nike should have immediately moved to ban any supplier caught in a violation. Nike however took years to get to this point, further fueling the need for even more expensive audits and independent monitoring and inviting more investigations over time. The invitation to Andrew Young appears patronizing and seems like yet another stop-gap measure. In the end the Corporate Responsibility team fails to get on top of this crisis through actions that support their contention they are justified by taking an arms-length approach to solving it. Wall Street Journal News Why have Nike's attempts to date to address its critics been unsuccessful? Economics - International Trade Term Nike creates a governance framework and adequately defines it yet does not bring it to fruition through to Nike itself, as it continues to push the responsibility of compliance down on suppliers. The company Negotations still has not shown that they are capable of taking ownership of the program at the senior management ...
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...The article „Nike says Time to Team up” was published in the Journal of Corporate Citizenship in Autumn 2005, written by Jem Bendell from Auckland University of Technology The text deals with the challenge of Corporate Social Responsibility, being progressively reflected and implemented by Nike´s Management. Nike, as many other companies, outsources the production in different countries (for example Vietnam), which lowers costs and makes it possible to sell products for cheap all over the world. However, the employees in the factories are suffering from bad working conditions, including very low wages, prohibitions to go to the toilet and drink water during the workday. These conditions are enlightened by non-governmental organizations (NGO), recognizing that other competitors have the same issues. But Nike is the only one who has invested more in improving conditions. Aiming to “create systemic change in the industry”, Nike has successfully started to improve conditions in Asian factories, and to seek good “societal relations” which are considered “good for society and good for profitability”. Therefore, Nike seems to comprehend profit and success as a broader concept, which is not only growing on financial grounds, but depends on every single stakeholder, and their relations to the company and each other. This new strategy is depending on changes in frameworks - concerning strategy and leadership. The transcending leadership model is one approach to neglect strict borders, but...
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...NIKE‘s CSR Challenge 1-In referring the opening profile and the closing case for this chapter, discuss the challenges regarding corporate social responsibility that companies in the apparel industry face in its supply chains around the world? 2005 Nike reports the followings social and environmental problems in their factories located in Asia: -Abuse treatment to their employees for example: they prohibited their employees to use the toilet and drink water. -denied days off. -Force to work more than sixty hours a week and those who refused accomplish this were punished. - 25% of the employees of the factories were paid less than minimum wage. 2-Discuss the meaning and implications of the statement by a NIKE representative that “consumers are not rewarding us for investments in improve social performance in supply chains.” One of the most important changes Nike should make in their working conditions should be based on “The responsibility of one is to work toward the accountability of all.” all business should respect the rights of their workers such as paid time off, paid overtime, time for lunch, and also breaks ; When the working conditions are good and the rights of the employees are respected this will increase productivity. 3-What does it means to have an industry open-system approach to social responsibility? What parties are involved? Who are the stakeholders? The fact that business organizations are open systems means that although businesses must make a...
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...Case Study Nike’s CSR Challenge Case Questions 1. In referring to the opening profile and the closing case for this chapter, discuss the challenges regarding corporate social responsibility that companies in the apparel industry face in its supply chains around the world? - There have been cases reported abusive treatments in more than a quarter of its South Asian plants. Another report is that 25%-50% of factories in the region restrict access to toilets and drinking water during the workday. The same percentage that was reported also applied to factories denying workers at least one day off of the seven days they already work. - Nike’s CSR Challenge highlighted that difficulty of bring wholesale to change to a company that isn’t centralized. Instead the challenge is now to reform the way business is done. Leadership was traditionally seen as guiding your employees towards the goal of the company. What is need is a more open form of leadership that calls for collaboration among mutually dependant parties in order to solve systemic problems. - The challenges are too reshape the signals being given out by its supply chains group to itself and its competitors. So that the companies can operate in a sustainable and just way, which is also financially viable. 2. Discuss the meaning and implications of the statement by a Nike representative that “consumers are not rewarding us for investments in improved social performance in supply chains.” - Nike starts to create a positive...
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...CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY SUSTAINABILITY- A CRITIQUE Outline What is CSR? What do w e mean by sustainability? Critique OCEANIC Bank’s Story What is CSR Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability can be defined as a company's verifiable commitment to operating in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner that is transparent and increasingly satisfying to its stakeholders. Stakeholders include investors, customers, employees, business partners, local communities, the environment and society. The emphasis is on transparent and verifiable stakeholder driven business operation delivering optimised sustainability performance and associated competitive advantage. Sustainable business operation means addressing the needs of present stakeholders while seeking to protect, support and enhance the human and natural resources that will be needed by future stakeholders. CSR describes the principle that companies can and should make a positive contribution to society. CSR is the practice of managing the social, environmental and economic impacts of the company, being responsive to 'stakeholders' (those who are affected by a business operation) and behaving according to a set of values which are not codified in law. In practice the term can refer to a wide range of actions that companies may take, from donating to charity to reducing carbon emissions. By CSR here we refer to the practice of major companies, rather than 'ethical pioneers': smaller...
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...1. Discuss the challenges regarding corporate social responsibility that companies in the apparel industry face in its supply chains around the world? Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become one of the standard business practices of our time. For companies, the overall aim is to achieve a positive impact on society as a whole while maximizing the creation of shared value for the owners of the business, its employees, shareholders and stakeholders. As many industries have become more and more automated, the apparel industry still requires an incredible amount of human capital to produce its products. Because of this, the industry has traditionally outsourced its production facilities to nations with low minimum wages and even lower working standards. In this particular case, some of the challenges regarding corporate social responsibility that the apparel industry face are the supply chains around the world, the child labor and abusive treatment to employees in poor developing countries such as Vietnam, China, Indonesia and others. The subcontractors of Nike are taking advantage of the necessities of the people by not applying such working conditions as they are supposed to provide to their employees. Many factories restrict access to toilets and drinking water during the workday, deny workers at least one day off in seven, make people work more than 60 hours per week, punish workers who refuse working overtime and wages are below legal minimum. There is little...
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...Supplement Cameron Sabadoz Received: 3 December 2010 / Accepted: 5 May 2011 / Published online: 24 May 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract This article revolves around the debate surrounding the lack of a coherent definition for corporate social responsibility (CSR). I make use of Jacques Derrida’s theorizing on contested meaning to argue that CSR’s ambiguity is actually necessary in light of its functional role as a ‘‘supplement’’ to corporate profit-seeking. As a discourse that refuses to conclusively resolve the tension between profit-seeking and prosociality, CSR expresses an important critical perspective which demands that firms act responsibly, while retaining the overall corporate frame of shareholder supremacy. CSR does this by ambivalently affirming both profit-seeking and prosociality, a necessary contradiction. Attempts to reduce CSR’s ambiguity can thus only succeed by undermining its viability as a normative discourse that captures how certain elements of society understand how firms should act. The analysis suggests that greater scholarly attention is needed with regard to the material discursive environments within which discourses such as CSR are deployed. A discursive approach to research could thus benefit future practitioners, who have to act according to fluid standards of responsibility that cannot be authoritatively defined, but which can be better understood than they are at present. ´ Keywords Corporate social responsibility...
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