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Compare And Contrast Nike And Patagonia

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Robert Swan once said “the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Two companies that understand this concept are Patagonia and Nike. How they address these issues regarding sustainable business practice vary, however. Both have made it their mission to deliver excellence and make the best quality products within their industries, Patagonia focussing more on outdoor active wear, while Nike is more sports oriented. Part of this process has been developing products from sustainable sources. Patagonia, for example, actively took a stand against chemical intensive cotton in 1994, and has since switched to less harmful means of organic cotton within all their cotton-based products. They are even going the extra…show more content…
Patagonia did this, when it first began making it’s fair trade efforts and stand for living wages. This can observed in their videos and active transparency efforts as a company. They’ve even gone as far as giving bonuses to their supply chain in order to further incentivize the employees. Another way this has been increasingly beneficial is by providing childcare for parents. This gives them peace of mind while they work, not having to worry about their children, and instead able to fully devote their time and attention to work, minimizing turnover rates and raising loyalty and morale of the employees. Nike, although making efforts, has failed to provide on this front, unable to fully isolate why they keep having missteps within their supply chain over sustainable and fair practice. Despite making efforts to alter their labor issues, they were able to identify some factors, such as “weak law enforcement,” “poor education,” and even some of Nike’s current business systems. Because of this, they restructured their entire model, increasing accountability and manufacturing standards in hopes that there’d be more of an impact on the supply chain. They even went as far as to increase educational opportunities for management in order to form and sustain better behaviors.
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