Preview

Hitting the Wall: Nike and International Labor Practices

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1358 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hitting the Wall: Nike and International Labor Practices
1) Which criticisms leveled against Nike do you consider to be "fair"? Explain.
Nike 's corporate practices are good indicators that the company is only interested in exploiting low wages in third world countries. This is indicated by investing in these countries through worker training or human resource investment but has continually shifted its operation to the country with a lower wage.
Nike is in control of its subcontractors – They dictate the price of a shoe and the cost of operation to its subcontractors forcing them to set high quotas for their workers and to pay low wages.
Based on the Ernst & Young report to do an "independent" inspection of Nike 's factories, Observers found the following:
• 77% of the employees suffered from respiratory problems
• Thousands of females, mostly under the age of 25, worked 10. 5 hours a day, six days a week for $10
• More than half of the workers dealing with chemicals did not wear protective equipment, nor did they understand the nature of the hazards around them.
Ironically, despite these observations, the report concluded that most employees were happy with their pay and working conditions.
The issue of exposing workers to harmful chemicals has also arisen. Observers readily have brought attention to a characteristic smell inside shoe factories. Toluene, a solvent in primers and glues which has been used to bond shoe components, has been identified as one of the culprits. It has also been found to be a cause of brain damage, cancer, head aches, impaired coordination, and lassitude.
2) Which criticisms do you consider to be "unfair"? Explain.
One of the most difficult issues facing companies such as Nike is their willingness to profit from the impoverishment found in third world countries. Most factory workers have little formal education, are poor and come from rural areas where opportunities to earn a leaving are meager. Consequently, the salaries paid by Nike factories may be attractive in comparison to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Over the last 20 years, many corporations of the United States have moved their factories overseas as a way of reducing taxes, avoiding strict government regulations, and reducing overall costs. Nike Inc. is no different. They have hundreds of factories in various countries like South Korea, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Pakistan and China. US based companies view this as an opportunity fulfil the consumers’ needs while maintaining much lower costs of production. The poor decisions of these corporations have been highlighted by the media with Nike getting a major portion of the scrutiny and highly criticized based on its organizational culture. Issues that have…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nike was incorporated in 1968 and has become arguably synonymous with elite footwear/apparel amongst the world population (Nike 10K, 2009). Nike’s primary business “is the design and development and worldwide marketing of high quality footwear and apparel” (2009, pg.1). In addition, Nike also designs/markets sports equipment and accessory products. Nike puts a heavy emphasis on investing in the innovation and design of their products to give their customers a high-quality product. Nike is the largest seller of athletic footwear and apparel in the world (2009). Nike sets the bar for other companies in the sports apparel/footwear industry, like Under Armour.…

    • 5144 Words
    • 21 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nike Sweatshop Analysis

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Nike is one of the largest, most popular and profitable shoe and clothing companies in the world. This is why it is a wonder that the reality for many workers overseas making Nike shoes and clothing is far less rosy. Workers are paid wages insufficient to meet their basic needs, they are not allowed to organize independent unions, and often face health and safety hazards.…

    • 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

    If Nike would require certain conditions to be met and hold true to these standards, then things might get better. But the relax attitude Nike has to leave it up to each facility has put them in the spotlight and until this can be corrected Nike will always be plagued with being connected with child labor, they may have established the minimum age of 18 for manufacturing jobs and 16 for clothing manufacturing jobs but unless they take an active stand on verification, child labor will continue. The low wages that are paid to workers in other countries is considerably lower than the United States wage, yes each country is different but employees should be able to make enough to care for themselves and their families in their respective country. The standard of living is different everywhere but Nike needs to take more action in showing they care for all their employees regardless of nationality. All stakeholders need to be willing to step in and assist with this transition. Nike is making a considerable profit off all products produced in other countries, paying a respectable minimum wage would help untarnish the image that has been bestowed upon the…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good 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
  • Better Essays

    According to the case study, Nike is well-liked and popular shoe and athletic wear company, and carries a slogan of “Just Do It”. The case study indicates that, “Nike is now one of the leading marketers of athletic shoes and apparel on the planet. Nike does not manufacture its own product. Rather, it designs and markets its products, while contracting for their manufacture from global network of 600 factories scattered around the globe that employs some 650,000 people”, (Hill, 2013, p. 154). Nike Corporation’s success and billions of profits has affected hundreds of thousands of workers mainly in Asian countries. These workers, toiled in a cruel working conditions and environment with a slave pay. The production of Nike products are subcontracted to Asian countries such as China, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Nike products are produce overseas to avoid higher taxes in the United States and the benefit from hiring workers for very low wages.…

    • 1023 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nike sells to approximately 140 countries around the world and currently boasts an approximate revenue of $8,776,900,000 These revenues are based on product sales of shoes, clothing, and other sports products. Advertising expenditures currently total $223,300,000 and include the following allocations: $64,975,000 for network television, $31,447,000 for consumer magazines, $7,700,000 for spot television, $343,000 for newspapers, $134,000 for outdoor postings, and $36,000 for radio. (Reed Elsevier) Most footwear products are made outside of USA. However apparel products are produced in the USA and abroad. (www.statcan.ca) In this article we will try to explore the interaction between the company Nike and its external business environment, as well as the internal strengths and weaknesses of the company. We will attempt to discover some of the significant changes and events in the external environment that have occurred in the last 5 years and have directly impacted Nike. We will describe how the company adapted and responded to these changes and what the effects of these events were. Also we will identify and describe some of Nike's internal strengths and weaknesses.…

    • 4587 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nike - Hitting the Wall

    • 1344 Words
    • 6 Pages

    1) The intension with which it has acted: any corporate’s acts are a manifestation of the values of individuals responsible for making decisions. In my view the most relevant reading that applies to Nike is Kant’s philosophy of acting in good will to others and out of moral duty. Kant believes people should respect the rights and dignity of others. However, by having a supplier selection criterion, which focuses on lowest cost and does not include any information on how the goods are manufactured, by who, where they come from, and how the supplier manages such a low cost, Nike has committed a serious oversight of its duties and moral responsibilities. In the process it has acted in sheer self-interest and has ignored the workers’ rights and dignity. It becomes even more important in Nike’s case because it commands a really high bargaining power and could have easily got any information it wanted.…

    • 1344 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    Nike- Ethical Issues

    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Some areas of concern for Nike include poor working conditions, low wages, child labor, as well as health concerns in the factories. These are all areas of concern where ethics is involved. Ethics is the generic term for the science of our morals. The executives at Nike have been accused of many ethical dilemmas.…

    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nike has around 700 contract factories, within which around 20% of the workers are creating Nike products. Conditions for these workers have been a source of heated debate, with allegations made by campaigns of poor conditions, with harassment and abuse. Nike has sought to respond to these allegations by putting into place a code of conduct for all of its suppliers, and working with the Global Alliance to review around 21 of these factories, and to pick up and respond to issues.…

    • 571 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nike as innovating business, it grew rapidly, manufacturing cost, and resale goods became challenging, leading the organization to change the market conditions. Nike an Oregon-based company moved a large portion of the operations overseas. Nike established plants on third world country as Pakistan, South Korea, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia, providing access of a cheap labor and iniquitous labor laws. Thus Nike’s social responsibilities and ethical issues became a criticism on public eyes. Indeed Nike labor practices failed to comply with such. The press reported Nike Pakistan plant employed children as young as seven stitching soccer balls. As implied Nike waged workers in Asian countries $ 1.60 per day, less than daily necessary meals. Nike forced workers to put outrageous hours of overtime to meet quota productions. As stated Nike exposed pregnant working women to hazardous fumes. Sam Young, Vietnam a Nike plant 15 women were reportedly beaten with the Nike sole by a supervisor for poor performance (Michael Clancy, 2000). Nike ditched synthetic shoes parts…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    As previously mentioned, ethical issues surrounding Nike have been, in my opinion, the foundation and catalyst for the entire debate and the building block for the legal and cultural challenges that were examined thereafter. In regard to legal and cultural challenges, Nike was found to have had major labor practice issues, including hazardous working conditions, violations of overtime laws, and violation of wage laws. The…

    • 1065 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nike sweatshop

    • 1148 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Nike doesn’t own any manufacturing facilities and outsource its production. Therefore, it can’t be directly blamed for terrible working conditions. Nike can influence indirectly on working conditions at contracting factories thorough refusing to work with sweatshop factories. However, Nike, like any other capitalistic enterprise, is looking for economy of scales and making more money for its shareholders, so each dollar counts. In this case, Nike business ethics is being questioned. From another point of view, workers and employers have a voluntarily contract engagement and working conditions are on the same level as at other local enterprises. However, if Nike claims to be a social responsible corporate citizen, it has to maintain business practices accordingly. They have to influence their partners to provide better working conditions and avoid long hours for child labor. Otherwise, they should be like everybody else and benefit from prevailing business practices in the third world countries.…

    • 1148 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    ”(History.com Staff. “Water and Air Pollution.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/water-and-air-pollution.) Working in these factories with all of the pollution caused serious health problems and side effects. An example of a harmful experience to workers had is the Phosphorus poisoning of 1898.…

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays