Preview

Unethical Business Practices: Nike Case Study

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1515 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Unethical Business Practices: Nike Case Study
The role of the government also plays a major role in these challenges that are faced by Nike. As we know that government laws and regulations differ from country to country and this makes manufacturing of products very difficult challenge for the international companies like Nike. The host governments have laws concerns against consumer protection, information and labeling, employment, wages and salaries and safety of the workers who work in those firms. The international organizations must keep these rules and regulations in their minds and should abide by them. The most visible changes in the legal-political factors develop and grow out of international trade agreements and the emergence of international trade alliance between different countries for example, GATT or EU etc. (Stockdale & Crosby, 2004)

What happened is that the various roles that the host governments of different countries like China, Vietnam or Indonesia played in this particular global business’s operations were that they turned a blind eye towards the poor working conditions of the manufacturing plants. Another role that these governments played was that they did not do anything about the very low wages of the workers for example, in Vietnam the workers were paid 20 cents per hour or a mere $1.60 per day but in actual the living wage in Vietnam was actually $3 per day. And neither of these governments did do anything about child labor problems or the sweatshop problems. The ethical challenges (that is the sweatshop debate) that confront the global business of Nike are as follows:
On 17 October 1996, CBS News ran a 48 hour program covering the inhumane treatment of workers by their supervisors, the payment of wages below the legal minimum wage, and the sexual abuse of several women workers at Nike 's shoe manufacturing plants in Vietnam. Workers had been physically assaulted on the job. Temporary workers were paid, on an average, 20 cents per hour while team leaders were paid $42 per

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
  • Good Essays

    mark kasky vs nike

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages

    1. What responsibility does Nike have for conditions of work at foreign factories making its products?…

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nike Sweatshop Analysis

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages

    to produce its products. The issue was that the government of these countries didn’t enforce any labor laws or human right laws and therefore sweatshops were legal. The ethical aspect of this case was if Nike should be held responsible for its subcontractors.…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nike Ethics Case Study

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages

    For Nike, labor and human rights continues to be a top priority and corporate concern. Ethics is essential in crisis communication. Nike’s sweatshop labor crisis demonstrates the importance of ethics. To defend its practices and public reputation during this crisis, Nike responded to allegations in ethical ways, employing truthfulness and transparency, disclosing their corporate social responsibility statements, including a fair employee treatment and a labor report, and commissioning external investigations for the company’s foreign workers (Kim, 2015). Nike’s response is an example of “contingency thinking” (Schermerhorn et al., 2012) and resulted in the company developing its own code of conduct. Eventually, Nike’s ethical…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nike and Human Rights

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ethical issues may include the violation of fundamental human rights of ‘sweatshop’ workers such as freedom, speech and discrimination. The treatment of their workers could be deemed ‘unethical’ by media who construe this view to consumers. Such allegations can and will have damaging effects with Nike having been taken to court already in the past.…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good 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 has been a provider of athletic apparel for years, the Nike Swoosh is a global icon seen from New York, Philippines, China, and Manila just to name a few countries. Nike is synonymous with sporting events of every magnitude and is seen as a multinational presence. In the early 1990’s Nike began to outsource its supply chain operations to contract-factories operating in nations such as Bangladesh, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Moldova, Argentina, Nicaragua, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Turkey, China, and India with more that are not mentioned (Nike, Inc., n.d.). Nike has a reputation to uphold regardless of what country they…

    • 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

    This paper is about a case study entitled: “Nike: The Sweatshop Debate.” Legal, cultural, and ethical challenges that confront Nike’s global business will be described. In addition, various roles that host governments have played in the debate will be determined and a summary of the strategic and operational challenges facing global managers for the Nike Corporation.…

    • 1023 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The initial reaction from Nike was to say that it was not their responsibility to oversee what was going on overseas. Nike did try to have someone investigate the situation; however Nike only had the private investigator look into the poor labor conditions. The problem was that the world wanted to know about the issues about child labor, and compensation. If Nike had wanted to let this bad publicity die down, they should have allowed an independent company investigate the entire situations. After their findings Nike should have apologized for any wrong doing and then Nike should have tried to correct the problem. Nike would have looked bad for a short period of time. But they would have looked more accountable had they acknowledged their mistakes and try to alleviate the problems. In the end Nike created more of a problem for…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nike has become one of those global companies targeted by a broad range of campaigning pressure groups and journalists as a symbolic representation of the business in society. In Nike 's case, the issues are those of human rights and conditions for workers in factories in developing countries. In the face of constant accusations, Nike has developed a considered response but the criticism of Nike still continues.…

    • 571 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nike is the world’s single largest producer of sporting wear, clothing, shoes and accessories. An Oregon based company founded in 1972 by Phillip H. Knight and William J. Bowerman. Nike’s broad range of products is the key to it’s success, it’s range includes Nike Skateboarding, Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Nike +, Nike Air Jordan and owns other big names such as surf brand Hurley; shoe manufacturer Cole Haan; and two large sports companies – Converse and Umbro. Having such huge sponsorship contracts with many of the world’s biggest athletes and sports teams, these huge profiles are simply another outlet for Nike to promote their products. Nike currently employs over 31,000 people across more than 30 countries, Nike’s revenue for 2008 was a staggering $184 billion which is more than many small country’s GDP. However since this huge multi-national corporation has moved nearly all of it’s production to cheaper Asian countries there has been much concern brought forth about the legality and ethics of the company’s operations in these countries, many claiming exploitation of labour and human rights abuses are taking place.…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 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
  • Better Essays

    Environmental Factors

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Nike’s influence on global economic interdependence is very great. Nike has several countries that they not only market to but outsource work to such as a company called Silver Star in the country Pakistan who has been producing their soccer balls since mid 2007 (Nike Biz, 2010). Because Nike does a great amount of global production business they have a very influential effect on trade practices and agreements as it pertains to their business deals. For example Nike has created the Workers in Factories “Freedom Association” (Nike Biz, 2010). This association is committed to bringing all trade practices and agreements up to human standards for all its workers in the factories who are committed to producing Nike’s products across the globe.…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Little Women” written by Louisa May Alcott in 1868 has been recreated in four television series, four made for TV movies, and five feature length movies since 1918. The most recent version made in 1994 featuring such well known actresses as Wynona Ryder as the beloved Jo, and Susan Sarandon as Marmee. Rarely does a reader find satisfaction with a movie after reading the book, as the book most always brings us more depth into the lives of our favorite characters.…

    • 2352 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics