...Perspectives: Nike Student UoP Ethics 316 June 18, 2012 Week Five Dr. No Instructor Cross-Cultural Perspectives: Nike Nike Corporation grew from a local United States-based footwear distributor to a global marketing giant of athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment. This paper will provide an analysis of the ethical and social responsibility issues Nike must deal with as a global organization. Additionally, the paper will identify Nike’s ethical perspectives and present the exploration of these perspectives across cultures. Ethical and Social Responsibility Issues Nike began globalization through industrializing in countries, such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Cambodia. The contracting by Nike of suppliers within these regions instantly began providing jobs, which at the time was just good enough to these improvised areas. However, by the end of the 90s Nike’s use of offshore manufacturing suppliers brought revelations of the sweatshop working conditions prevalent in these nations. The ethical responsibility issues Nike had as a challenge because of these sweatshop conditions ran the full gamut. For example Vietnam factories were violating the minimum wage and overtime laws, Cambodia was using child labor, and Malaysia even went as far as employing forced labor to ensure manufacturing requirements were met. Nike was quick to...
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...corporation no doubt would be Nike. In order to save money and cut expenses Nike has outsourced its labor outside of the United States. Production and labor cost are indeed a lot cheaper outside of the United States. Nike had factories located in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Mexico due to the cheap cost of labor in those countries. In the 1990s Nike was criticized for child labor in Cambodia and Pakistan. The accusations claimed that children were being used to do the stitching on football balls. Other accusations regarding Nike was about the terrible working conditions in Malaysia regarding their employees. All of the accusations of course raised criticism regarding Nike’s ethics. The perspective of childhood and responsibilities varies across countries, ethnic groups, and cultures. An example would be for instance, in poor areas like Mexico or Pakistan, there is nothing wrong with children working in order to help their families with the household expenses. On the other hand, here in the United States there are child labor laws safeguarding children from taking such responsibilities that are laid on them at such an early age. Unlike the children in the United States, children in Mexico or Pakistan have to work at such as early age to help support their families, it is more of a necessity or a means of survivor more than anything else. The issue of child labor affects Nike’s corporation and its interactions outside of the United States. Once Nike was criticized regarding...
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...ORGANIZATIONA AND SOCIETAL RELATIONS Organizational and Societal Relations Nijema Brown University of Phoenix Organizational and Societal Relations Public relations deal’s with both organizational and societal relations functions, which has two elements each, media and employee relations (organizational function) and community relations and social responsibility (societal relations) which, describes the make-up of the functions. This paper is an analysis or how the two functions organizational and societal relations can pose as issues in an organization and ways to address the issue to the public. Functions of Public Relations Public relations have two functions, which are organizational and societal. The organizational function deals with what a company is supposed to do as an organization, while societal function is all about what the public expects from an organization and how an organization communicates and build relationships with the public. Two main elements of organizational function are media and employee relations. Two main elements or the societal function are community relations and social responsibility. Organizational Functions Media Relations Media relations are significantly important to public relations because it is the main way organizations communicate with the public. “The public finds most of its information about a company through the media” (Functions of Public Relations). Different media outlets such as the newspaper, newswires...
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...Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategies NIKE INC The rivalry in the sportswear industry is as intense as it has ever been. According to Forbes, the global sports apparel market will grow at an estimated CAGR of 4% from 2012-2019. Some of the key players Nike, Adidas, Puma and Rebook are now competing with rapidly growing competitors Under Armour and Lululemon Athletica. In such a saturated domestic market, major players like Nike will have to set itself apart by focusing more on Image and Global strategies vs. product line. Company Overview Mission Statement: “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete.” - Bill Bowerman (co-founder of Nike) Nike Inc designs, develops, markets and sells high quality footwear, apparel, and equipment, accessories and services. Their product lines range between seven key categories: running, basketball, football, men’s training, women’s training, Nike Sportswear, and action sports. They are the leader in the industry, producing 25.3 billion in 2013 fiscal revenues. Nike is about recognizing sustainability as a route to future probability. Ethical and Social Responsibilities With the growing competition and product line equal, consumer perceptions of Nike will play a critical role in building the brand and competitive advantage. Improving image with respect too Ethical and Social Responsibilities...
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...MGT/498 Wednesday, July 2, 2014 Donshea Williams Ethics refer to the primary principles of a single or a group. Social responsibility is how a business operates its activities to reach its wider requirements toward the society and environment, such as by dodging activities which may be damaging. Strategic planning is a necessary initial step in the corporate world in which senior management defines the organization's strategy, direction and decision-making. Ethical values and social responsibility serve a considerable role in the strategic planning process. Social Responsibility To the Stakeholders Management must confirms that strategic decisions are accomplished after taking into justifying the possibility impact on the stakeholders. Stakeholders are suppliers, customers, societies and anybody who is self-conscious by the activities of the business. A socially responsible company treats stakeholders the fairly. Wider viewpoints also have to be considered in circumstances of environmental and social impact of planned activities. Transparency Members of management should accommodate info that is straightforward and trustworthy to help all tangled discuss, debate and accomplish better decision-making. This makes the team to point out and evaluate any possible risks which may about and find a different solution. In an understanding of social responsibility, clarity also strengthens the company's worthiness toward the outside of the stakeholders. Independence A...
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...success with the Nike Company. I believe that Nike will continue to grow and be successful in the future. However, with the recent concern of foreign labor abuse growing, I accept your request and would be happy to share with you my opinion on what Nike should do next. I will start by elaborating on the general, specific, and changing environments Nike is facing right now and will continue to face in the future. I will then share my recommendations in how to keep Nike afloat and out of the negative public eye. First and foremost, the general environment for many large corporations in the United States have moved portions of their factories overseas to avoid the working regulations in the United States. In the past, Nike has outsourced to several low-income countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, and currently has manufactures in China and Indonesia. As we both know, the purpose in doing so is to receive readily available, cheap labor. Revenues have reached over $9 billion and until recently, Phil Knight’s (Nike CEO) plan to outsource to the poorest countries has worked. However, it has recently become common knowledge to the public that the working conditions in these foreign factories are below the ethical standards. More specifically, the press is beginning to criticize Nike’s offshore exercises and advocacy groups are beginning to emerge. Jeff Ballinger, a labor activist and Nike’s original critic, compared a pay-stub from Indonesian factory to a Nike endorsement contract...
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...Nike, the athletic footwear and clothing manufacturer, is a good example of a multinational corporation that has incorporated corporate social responsibility into its overall business strategy. In fact, Nike might argue that the move was necessary for its survival. Nike is based in Oregon, USA. It operates in 120 countries and has over 20,000 employees. Fiscal year 2001 saw sales grow in each of its product segments in all four global markets. Total sales topped $US 9 billion. Nike formally endorsed the CERES principles in November 2000. In the 12 months that followed, the company implemented many new policies reflecting the principles, and addressed some areas that the company had traditionally overlooked. 'The endorsement of the CERES principles and the processes that will come with that step are, for Nike, an opportunity to engage important stakeholders in a broad and highly credible forum,' said a company statement. Dusty Kidd, Nike's vice president for corporate responsibility, adds: 'We hope that through this engagement with CERES, we can advance our work in environmental and social issues.' Officials at CERES are hoping that Nike's decision to endorse the principles will be a positive step for the apparel industry in general. CERES executive director Robert Kinloch Massie described the move as 'a tremendous opportunity for environmental and social advocacy organizations to positively engage with one of the highest-profile companies in the world on the issue...
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...instead of humanities. As a company moves into other areas of the globe and creates a multinational presence, the number of people affected by its policies and regulations grows along with it. If the company is being operated with questionable ethical principles, it can create cultural issues within the organization. This is what happened within the Nike Corporation as a result of their labor policies as they searched for cheap labor to increase the financial gain (Stabile, 2000). Nike, Inc. was started in 1964 by Philip Knight as Blue Ribbon Sports. Mr. Knight made a deal with the Japanese firm Onitsuka Company, Ltd., and they were among the first to take advantage of Asian-produced, inexpensive imitation footwear. In 1960, shoes that had been imported from other countries only accounted for four percent of the shoes sold in the United States. By 1969, that number had risen to 32 percent and by the year 1984 72% of the shoes sold in the United States were being imported from other countries (Stabile, 2000). During the first year of China's "economic adjustment" in 1979, the local monthly wage average was thirty dollars. Nike took advantage of this and open a manufacturing facility in China where nearly 90% of the workers were women who had to follow a long list of rules that included fraternization with men and curfews. In 1980, ninety percent of Nike's products were...
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...Nike Corporation is one of the largest marketers of athletic apparel and sportswear equipment in the world and was founded in Beaverton, Oregon, in 1964 by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman. According to Nike.com (2009) it had record earnings of 19.2 billion dollars and continues to grow at a steady pace. Nike sold its products in a 140 countries and successfully discovered that manufacturing its products was not the only method to successfully produce the results it was looking for but instead marketing and designing its products and contracting the manufacturing out to global factories 600 throughout the country. With the company’s success come painful lessons learned along the way. This paper will describe the legal, cultural, and ethical challenges that Nike Corporation faced as a result of its global business ventures. In addition, it will touch on the roles the host governments played in manufacturing Nike’s products and will summarize the strategic and operational challenges that Nike Managers face in dealing with the interworking of global business. Nike as well as other global companies in the industry has the option to manufacture their products domestically or internationally in either situation there are challenges. If a company chose to the domestic approach it could potentially be more expensive, however, the organization and its manufacturing facility contractors would have to adhere to U.S. labor and safety laws in the areas of wages, code of conduct, working...
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...CSR and globalization[1] Corporate social responsibility is at least in its name and formal recognition a relatively recent phenomenon. Yet, owners and managers of firms have engaged in activities that we would now consider CSR almost from the beginning of the industrial revolution (Davis, Whitman and Zald, 2006). But, until the 1990s, CSR was generally limited to corporate philanthropy. It is from the early 1990s that enlarged concepts and practices of CSR have come to the fore. What drove these radical changes in the conception and implementation of CSR? Scherer and Palazzo (2007) claim that, in a globalized world, it is necessary a shift toward a new politically enlarged concept of CSR. In fact, globalization is weakening the power of (national) political authorities to regulate the activities of corporations that globally expand their operations: for instance, globalization forces national governments into a race to the bottom in order to win the competition with other countries for attracting corporate investments. Thus, they reason that corporations should be understood as both economic and political actors. Davis, Whitman and Zald (2006) claim that, in addition to weak national boundaries that separate domestic from foreign companies, another crucial difference of the global competitive environment of the 21st century is the weak distinction between activities and transactions occurring inside as opposed to outside a corporate entity: while companies are moving part...
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...corporate social responsibility that companies in the apparel industry face in its supply chains around the world? Companies have started to outsource their products from a variety of suppliers who are often located in different regions across the globe. Availability of cheap labor and low production expenses attracts these companies to outsource their activities. This has brought about many challenges to these companies which includes cases reported regarding abusive treatment to employees in work place. Majority of the factories restrict access to toilets and drinking water during work day and even deny workers at least one day off in a week. The working hours often exceed the standard working hours set by law and workers are forced to do overtime without payment. (International Management-6th Edition-Helen Deresky, p.57) Q2. 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 invested a lot of money in improving the working conditions of their employees. They took up social responsibility and enforced many measures to be employee-friendly and even banned hiring of children. All these measures were implemented with a thought that people would reward their efforts by buying more products from them. However these efforts turned futile. This lead to the above statement, “consumers are not rewarding us for investments in improved social performance...
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...Corporations have a responsibility to the society in which they operate and not merely to their shareholders. They have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders and are in effect representing those shareholders in business, producing goods and services, amassing a return on the investment of the shareholders, and then returning a proper share of that return to those shareholders. If the corporation does not act with a sense of responsibility, however, that reflects badly on the corporation and also on the shareholders, reducing their return. In today's business environment, there are any number of actions which a company might take that would be perceived as socially irresponsible, and more and more companies are finding that if this does occur and is found out, the company and its shareholders suffer. A controversy involving the Nike Corporation shows how a company can be affected by situations they may not be able to fully control. The athletic apparel industry in which Nike is involved is a major money maker in the United States, but the fact that none of the factories are located in North America has brought some heat to the company. “Nike controls more than 40 percent of the U.S. market for sports related goods, but doesn’t have a single sneaker factory in this country” (Miller, 1995). Nike continues to make millions of dollars yet exploits workers overseas by paying them very little, while requiring long hours without overtime pay in factories that are not up to...
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...1. Examine Apple’s current position on the company’s ethical and social responsibilities, and determine whether or not the company has met these responsibilities. Provide two (2) examples that support your position. Answer: Apple has accepted there ethical and social and ethical responsibility as it relates to health and safety standards. They have implemented health and safety standards that they expect their manufactures to follow. Their health and safety reforms include short work weeks, a training course on safe manufacturing practices as well as informing workers of their rights (Apple Health and Safety). Apple publically displays this initiative on their website in order to inform the public of their social and ethical competency. As I was reading though the reforms that Apple has implemented I did see room for improvement although there initiates do meet basic responsibilities. The section that explains a maximum 60 hour work week could be improved. This section could include a clause stating that every hour past 40 hours the employees are paid over time and then after 50 hours they are then paid double over time. This might encourage Apple’s suppliers to stray away from the higher end of the maximum work week limit. Apple is has worked to encourage opportunities for their workers to advance themselves. The company offers educational opportunities including free college courses, classes in language skills as well as classes in computer skills. Employees are also...
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...The Responsibility Revolution Amid the decline of house prices, the government seizure of the infamous mortgage brokers Fannie and Freddie, increasing debt to countries such as China, and the recent budget cuts to the country's military spending, the stability of the American economy seems more than a little rocky. Consequently, the addition of numerous corporate scandals has left the American people's trust in their businesses and government officials on shaky grounds. The tainted view of the American business world is the product of corporations' greedy endeavors, more willing to do anything "for profit", than following the ancient 'for-consumer' mantra "the customer is always right". As our economy crumbles and people's confidences wane, surprisingly, some companies have survived through the deterioration of our economy, some have even managed to grow throughout the recession. Jefferey Hollender and Bill Breen, authors of The Responsibility Revolution, believe these companies have thrived because they have a different standard set for themselves. The standard of responsible contribution to society and the environment. Hollender and Breen believe that this standard is starting to revolutionize the business world by prioritizing integrity into their value system. Being responsible demands companies to do the right thing, doing the right thing starts with "Integrity". The lack of integrity that runs from the government through our businesses has resulted in a system that...
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..."Ethics, Corporate Governance, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) " Please respond to the following: From the e-Activity, determine the ethical theory or theories (from Chapter 1 of the textbook) that best support(s) the B-corp concept. Support your response. B Corp firms must have an explicit social or environmental mission and a legally binding fiduciary responsibility to take into account the interests of workers, the community and the environment as well as its shareholders. I think that best theory to support this concept would be the virtue of ethics. It states that humans are capable of being and can cultivate habits of good character that will naturally lead to their full potential (Ethics Moral, 2010). References: Ethics Moral (2010). Virtue Ethics. http://www.ethicsmorals.com/ethicsvirtue.html Halbert, T., & Ingulli, E. (2012). Law and Ethics in the Business Environment. Cengage Learning Evaluate the likelihood of traditional corporations using social responsibility as an effective competitive strategy. Specify at least one (1) way that a company with which you are familiar can use (or has used) social responsibility as a competitive strategy in the marketing of its products / services, supply chain, charitable activities, strategic investments, or operations. Heightened corporate attention to CSR has not been entirely voluntary. Many companies awoke to it only after being surprised by public responses to issues they had not previously thought...
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