Preview

Cultural and Ethical Issue of Globalization

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1143 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cultural and Ethical Issue of Globalization
Cross-Cultural Perspective: The Cultural and Ethical Issue of Globalization
Many American companies that are outsourcing jobs to other countries create a problem in the economy of the Unites States and also creates a cultural effect in a global scale. To this day, The United States had lost millions of manufacturing jobs compared to two decades ago (Heffner, 2012). Americans can no longer compete to international manufacturers, which put the United States economy in doom. There are many factors involved as to why American companies’ decides to do its manufacturing business outside of the United States. The most obvious reason is the cost of labor. International wages from third world countries cost way less than wages in the United States. For example, manufacturers in China get paid 33 cents an hour (Heffner, 2012). As a company, the cost of doing business outside of the Unites States is way cheaper than hiring workers in the United States, which would cost more than 20 folds. In addition to wages, outsourcing jobs outside of the United States would also save companies cost for payroll taxes, benefits, and dealing with unions that are common in The United States. Moreover, doing business outside the United States increases a company’s capital because the cost of labor wages and manufacturing are less, yet the sales remain the same. The cost of real estate and plant cost is less than in the United States. Companies don’t have to worry about maintenance, property taxes, insurance, and cost for operations (Samuels, 2013).
Although there are standards created by the International Labor Organizations when it comes to doing business in other countries, there are still fewer regulations set forth in other countries compared to regulations that are mandatory in doing business in the United States (Samuels, 2013). Companies will need to follow set rules and regulations in the United States, which means more paperwork, more taxes, worrying about workers rights,



References: Azam, F. (1999, June). NIKE: Nike Shoes and Child Labor in Pakistan. Retrieved from http://www1.american.edu/ted/nike.htm Boggan, S. (2001, October 20). 'We Blew It ' Nike Admits to Mistakes Over Child Labor. Retrieved from http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1020-01.htm Cushman, J. (1998, May 13). INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS; Nike Pledges to End Child Labor And Apply U.S. Rules Abroad. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/13/business/international-business-nike-pledges-to-end-child-labor-and-apply-us-rules-abroad.html Heffner, T. (2012, May 15). American Manufacturing Can No Longer Compete. Retrieved from httphttp://economyincrisis.org/content/american-manufacturing-can-no-longer-compete Samuels, D. (2013). Pros & Cons of Outsourcing Manufacturing Jobs. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/pros-amp-cons-outsourcing-manufacturing-jobs-40320.html The Poorest Countries in the World. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.gfmag.com/tools/global-database/economic-data/12147-the-poorest-countries-in-the-world.html#axzz2O7xjxV00

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Nike Sweatshop Analysis

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Nike publicizes itself as one of the leaders of corporate responsibility. However, they do not comply with several human rights obligations overseas in countries like Thailand, Pakistan, China, Vietnam and Indonesia. In these countries, production facilities called sweatshops have been running for almost 35 years employing workers as young as…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The success of Nike, however, has not come without controversy. In its efforts to rapidly expand and grow to a worldwide business, the corporation has had its share of ethical controversy, mostly stemming from its largely outsourced factory work. Asian countries like Pakistan, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, China, Philippines, and Thailand contain the majority of Nike’s factories (Professional Ethics Articles, 2012). This has presented Nike with a substantial amount of bad publicity and negative public response.…

    • 1245 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nike plays an enormous role in our youth fashion and athletic attire and has a huge role in our world’s economy and the global effect it has on our earth. Working in the enormous Nike factories around the world is an opportunity to help these people survive. It is not slavery; it is a chance for the poor to get a job and support their families. Nike said they would change their practices and they have. Nike had a few steps to get back into the game. The first step was to identify the problems such as workers’ wages, working environment and then make the improvements, and while doing that they were helping the poor. In the past,…

    • 1816 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Children are working in very rough and abusive conditions, Nike, the worldwide famous shoe brand, has admitted to having fourteen year old children working in their factories with dangerous heavy materials. They have the children sewing 24 hours of the day with heavy rough materials. The children are stuck in these dangerous factories losing out on their childhood. The work includes solvents that cause the spread of toxic air (page1, paragraph5). This can cause major health issues that the children with have to deal with at an age as young as 14. This abusive work habitat is just the start of all the bad things about child labor.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nike Corporation

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Because Nike came under fire for this unethical and inhumane practice, the organization attempted to reduce this practice. Pakistan and Cambodia have strict child labor and slavery laws, however, the government has done very little to regulate it.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ethics refer to what is defined as right or wrong in the morality of human beings and social issues are matters which could directly or indirectly affect a person or many members of a society. In this case study, Nike has been accused of subjecting employees in their subcontracted factories overseas to work in inhumane conditions for low wages. The CEO and cofounder of Nike lamented that “The Nike product has become synonymous with slave wages, forced-overtime and arbitrary abuse.” Initially, the firm purchased two shoe-manufacturing facilities in the United States but eventually had to shut them down due to tremendous loss in profits. Today, practically all of Nike’s factories are subcontracted and located in countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, China and Thailand, where the labour costs are significantly lesser than those in the United States. The founder of Vietnam Labour Watch, Thomas Nguyen, inspected several of Nike’s plants in Vietnam in 1998 and reported cases of worker abuse. At one of these factories which he inspected, a supervisor punished 56 women for wearing inappropriate work shoes by forcing them to run around the factory in the how sun. Twelve workers fainted and had to be taken to the hospital. He also reported that workers were allowed only one bathroom break and two drinks of water during each eight-hour shift. The ethical and social issues in this case are that Nike unethically takes advantage of these labour markets because it provides them with a higher profit.…

    • 1476 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nike and Child Labor

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Nike has been accused of using child labor in the production of its soccer balls and shoes for Nike in Pakistan. While Pakistan has laws against child labor, the government has taken very little action to terminate it. It is said that only a boycott by the United States and other nations will have any impact on child-based industries. In addition, the U.S constitution states that child labor is an illegal and inhumane practice and any U.S. company found guilty practicing and encouraging it will be prosecuted. The World Trade Organization (WTO) prohibits member nations, like the United States, from discriminating against the importation of goods made by children.…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sialkot, Pakistan, where many Nike soccer balls are produced, has a model economy, especially in such a poor country. The lack of poverty is mainly due to the fact that children are able to work to help support their families financially. David Montero, Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor, explained that a majority 70 percent of the local marketing system of Sialkot depends upon income from child laborers, which is approximately 20,000 families that would be forced into poverty if the United States banned Nike from importing their products due to the makers being underneath working age. Without the consumers from the United States, families in Sialkot and a myriad of other third world countries would would go into a state of poverty. For the sake of all these children and their families’ well-being, the U.S. should continue to buy products that have been manufactured with the use of child…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Levis Case Study

    • 1140 Words
    • 5 Pages

    American Univeristy. (2000). “TED Case Studies – Nike: Nike Shoes and Child Labor in Pakistan”. The Website of American University, Trade & Environment Database.…

    • 1140 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nike and Child Labor

    • 2109 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Nike has been accused of using child labor in the production of its soccer balls in Pakistan. This case study will examine the claims and describe the industry and its impact on laborers and their working conditions. While Pakistan has laws against child labor and slavery, the government has taken very little action to combat it. Only a boycott by the United States and other nations will have any impact on slavery and child-based industries. Futhermore the U.S constitution states that child labor is an illegal and inhumane practice and any U.S. company found guilty practicing and encouraging it will be prosecuted.GATT and WTO prohibits member nations, like the United States, from discriminating against the importation of goods made by children. Are dolphins becoming more important than children? A question making WTO to reconsider the children's appeal of the third world.…

    • 2109 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nike’s decision to manufacture shoes overseas has prompted critics to claim that it exploits workers in poor countries. Did Nike make a rational decision, and is the decision socially responsible?…

    • 21444 Words
    • 86 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Would you buy something that a 10-year-old made? I know I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t buy it because I wouldn’t like to make it. Those kids in those hot, musty factories are only getting paid about $1 to $2 a day, according to The New York Times. Kids are having to work in horrible conditions. They are dying while working. They also have very heavy machinery in the factories. Along with many other companies, Nike took the pledge to End Child Labor. They also applied the rules abroad the United States.…

    • 321 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Levi Strauss

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages

    As one attempts to assess the business ethics of Levi Strauss and Nike in this writing assignment, we are again compelled to revisit the critical distinction of conduct that is legal, yet still unethical. In both instances, Levi Strauss and Nike behaved with the parameters of legal conduct, yet few would argue that profiting from exploitive work conditions is an ethical behavior of any socially responsible organization (broad view social responsibility). Obviously, it’s very tempting to just condense this argument to the point of “bad companies boosting profits from lower labor costs via exploiting foreign workers in sweatshops”. I am going to take a much broader approach here in my assessment, as complete fairness to the two corporations here requires a bit of an indictment of the legal, regulatory, political, and socioeconomic environment that they operate in. So, let’s start there … how is it that both of these large corporations are permitted (and driven) to outsource (with relative impunity) labor to countries with poor labor laws? In order to fairly assess their conduct, one must first examine the system under which they operate.…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    hgfh sds

    • 3439 Words
    • 31 Pages

    2. The major reason for U.S. firms to locate overseas is often lower labor costs, but as this chapter, Chapter 2, and…

    • 3439 Words
    • 31 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Child labor is an increasing problem in the world. The children who work in factories are more likely to become physically and mentally underdeveloped than children who go to school. Asia and Africa have over 90% of the children who work in the world. These places also have the highest death rate for children 10-16 years old. That isn't a coincidence due to the fact over 60% of children who work at factories die before they earn $1,000. The major reason for these deaths is they live in poverty. Major companies (i.e. NIKE) take advantage of this by hiring children and paying them less money than adults. This is a major problem and it can be solved.…

    • 338 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics