Ethics and the Sportswear Industry
Ethical Issues affect every kind of business, from the smallest to the largest multinational company, for this essay I shall limit my investigation to the ethical concerns surrounding the very lucrative sportswear industry, the sports wear supply chain, and how it impacts on the lives of people world wide.
Sportswear marketing is now aimed at all sectors of society, irrespective of age, sex or social class, it has grown into a multi million dollar industry (Lancaster & Reynolds, 2005). Although sportswear is essential for athletes and sports players, millions of people the world over buy and wear branded sports clothes and shoes, and every year the market is increasing. Powerful Global brands in the west, such as Nike and Reebok, spend millions of dollars on advertising and promotions (Douglas, 2004). These global brands do not own their own factories but contract factories in third world counties to do the manufacturing keeping the cost down and maximising the profits. These factories are able to make cheap deals and quick deliveries unlike western factories (Douglas, 2004).
If a less developed country does not have local regulations equal to the tough western standards, should the firm investing in a developing nation adhere to the local standard or to the western standard? An important ethical issue is whether an international firm should adhere to the same standards of product safety, work safety and environmental protection that are required in its home country (Hill, 2005). Western nation’s laws are amongst the toughest in the world, where product safety, worker safety and the environment are all regulated and enforced rigorously. These ethical issues have received plenty of media coverage in recent years following revelations that western enterprises have been using child labour or very poorly paid sweat shop labour in developing nations (Hill, 2005). Multi million dollar sports companies such as Nike and Adidas were criticised for using sweat shop
Sportswear marketing is now aimed at all sectors of society, irrespective of age, sex or social class, it has grown into a multi million dollar industry (Lancaster & Reynolds, 2005). Although sportswear is essential for athletes and sports players, millions of people the world over buy and wear branded sports clothes and shoes, and every year the market is increasing. Powerful Global brands in the west, such as Nike and Reebok, spend millions of dollars on advertising and promotions (Douglas, 2004). These global brands do not own their own factories but contract factories in third world counties to do the manufacturing keeping the cost down and maximising the profits. These factories are able to make cheap deals and quick deliveries unlike western factories (Douglas, 2004).
If a less developed country does not have local regulations equal to the tough western standards, should the firm investing in a developing nation adhere to the local standard or to the western standard? An important ethical issue is whether an international firm should adhere to the same standards of product safety, work safety and environmental protection that are required in its home country (Hill, 2005). Western nation’s laws are amongst the toughest in the world, where product safety, worker safety and the environment are all regulated and enforced rigorously. These ethical issues have received plenty of media coverage in recent years following revelations that western enterprises have been using child labour or very poorly paid sweat shop labour in developing nations (Hill, 2005). Multi million dollar sports companies such as Nike and Adidas were criticised for using sweat shop
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