Strategic Management and Corporate Responsibility
NIKE AND ITS APPROACH TO CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY Nike is building a new approach to corporate responsibility (CR) that consider how it can harness the power of its business to influence social and environmental change, and the power of that change to help its business grow. Nike is made up of many smaller business units as well as functions, regions, distinct profit and loss centres and the like. As of 2006, its over acting goal was to see each and every business unit incorporating CR goals into its growth strategies, business scorecards, and team accountabilities. It will measure success by the extent to which businesses meet their milestones for corporate responsibility as well as business growth. The company stated:
CR must evolve from being seen as an unwanted cost to being recognised as an intrinsic part of a healthy business model, an investment that creates competitive advantage and helps a company achieve profitable, sustainable growth. For that to happen, we saw we needed to transition our corporate responsibility efforts beyond that of standard risk and reputation management approach usually taken, and beyond the work of an isolated function within the business model. We realized that effective strategies are ones that embrace the whole enterprise. Responsible competitive outcomes result from holistic approaches and business processes that extend from factory workers to consumer, from sources or raw material to communities, where we can influence social and environmental change, from our workplace to the world we all share. An environmentally friendly product made under poor labour is a hollow success. A product made under good conditions but that is bad for our planet is a missed opportunity. We don’t believe in trade-offs. We do believe – passionately so – in innovating to create new and better solutions.
In 2004, NIKE began an intensive, large-scale review of its strategies and long-range goals, based on four essential premises: 1. Leverage market
CR must evolve from being seen as an unwanted cost to being recognised as an intrinsic part of a healthy business model, an investment that creates competitive advantage and helps a company achieve profitable, sustainable growth. For that to happen, we saw we needed to transition our corporate responsibility efforts beyond that of standard risk and reputation management approach usually taken, and beyond the work of an isolated function within the business model. We realized that effective strategies are ones that embrace the whole enterprise. Responsible competitive outcomes result from holistic approaches and business processes that extend from factory workers to consumer, from sources or raw material to communities, where we can influence social and environmental change, from our workplace to the world we all share. An environmentally friendly product made under poor labour is a hollow success. A product made under good conditions but that is bad for our planet is a missed opportunity. We don’t believe in trade-offs. We do believe – passionately so – in innovating to create new and better solutions.
In 2004, NIKE began an intensive, large-scale review of its strategies and long-range goals, based on four essential premises: 1. Leverage market