Case Discussion Questions
1. Should Nike be held responsible for working conditions in foreign factories that it does not own, but where subcontractors make products for Nike?
Some people probably think that designing and marketing its products is what Nike is responsible for. But outsourcing its manufacturing divisions into foreign countries doesn´t release Nike from the responsibility. During a developing process manufacturing is one of the most important intermediate steps and because of that it belongs to Nike´s responsibilities, no matter if they own the manufacturer or not. Everybody knows that it is hard to keep the overview about every developing stage but if you decide to put this step into a foreign country, you have to
…show more content…
The next step is the improvement of working conditions. Here an employee should work maximum “54 hours a week” and of course the monthly salary of the employees is supposed to be minimum “103$”. The combination of a safe workplace and fair adjusted working conditions lead to a positive feeling for the employees and gives critics no space to create negative press.
3. In Indonesia, an income of $2.28 a day, the base pay of Nike factory workers, is double the daily income of about half the working population. Half of all adults in Indonesia are farmers, who receive less than $1 a day. Given these national standards, is it appropriate to criticize Nike for the low pay rates of its subcontractors in Indonesia?
Of course it is! If a farmer is sick and needs to go home, he can. If he did not finish the minimum amount of crop he is not supposed to stay at the field. He is not imperiled to toxic chemicals and does not have to remain silence. The working conditions in those low-wage factories are worse than in every other job. On the one hand I understand Nike and I do know that it is impossible to keep an eye on everything but on the other hand if you know that people have to work for you in those bad situations you have to pay them at least more
Qualitative Research (QR) is very important to all facets of industry today. Collecting data to ensure an organization is running properly is the goal of most stakeholders. QR methods can possibly enhance the development of other quality measures, dissemination of comparable quality reports, as well as many other quality improvement efforts. Conducting exploratory research is important in each endeavor. The field of qualitative inquiry now has its own journals, scientific associations, conferences, and faculty positions (Denzin, 2001). QR is used to go deeper into issues of interest and explore nuances related to the problem at hand. Expectations are kept in check when it comes to qualitative research as the information may not always be what is expected.
Nike started to open up manufacturing factories in countries like Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam. Due to the wants of Nike to increase their revenue they tried to outsource the labor of their products since labor work in the US is very high and expensive. This was a bad idea due to that Indonesia pays their workers extremely low wages. Pakistan doesn’t have an age limit for them to be able to legally to work so many children in Pakistan were making
Unfortunately, the same factor that contributed to Nike’s exponential growth (low-cost labor and production) also contributed to hurting Nike’s public image as a leader in “athleticism, health and fitness, and innovative marketing and design” (Locke, 2002). Nike was criticized for unethical practices by their subcontractors, which included underpaid workers, poor working conditions, child labor, and abuse (Locke, 2002).
This paper describes the legal, cultural, and ethical challenges that confronted the global business presented in the Nike sweatshop debate case study. It illustrates Nike’s part in the sweatshop scandal and it also takes a look at the ethical issues that surround this touchy subject. This paper
One of the biggest and most popular brands in America, Nike, who targets athletes of all ages to be better athletes engages in unethical behavior by exploiting people from other countries by providing bad working conditions and low wages. Nike produces athletic equipment as well as apparel that is not only appealing to athletes, but also to the general public. However, the people that work for Nike and make these products are people being physically abused by supervisors and have to deal with horrible working conditions. According to an article written by Zaid Jilani, he said that thousands of women in Indonesia are being exploited by companies such as Nike where the wages being paid to these women are not enough to survive. Nike is well aware of what they are doing to these people in Indonesia, but still continue with it because the profits they receive at the end of the day is more valuable to them than the poor working conditions they offer to these Indonesian women. This shows that Nike uses the the Utilitarian approach because the company weighs out the pros and cons of the situation and still decides to produce products in Indonesia where it’s perfectly legal to pay low wages and have bad working conditions even though it is
The aim of this paper is to use the “Nike - The art of selling air.” case study and concepts from strategic marketing theory to identify marketing challenges and how those challenges could be best addressed using marketing principles. The paper will:
The company Nike operates in over 50 different companies. This makes them a very large global company. Nike makes all kinds of products including gym shoes, clothing and apparel, equipment and accessories. “In 2004, Nike products were manufactured by more than 800 suppliers, employing over 600,000 workers in 51 countries” (Locke, Kochan, Romis & Qin, 2007, p. 6). Nike came under fire because of their workers that work outside the United States. In other countries, labor laws are unlike those within the United States. Large corporations often exploit the fact that they can pay laborers significantly less outside of the United States. Companies may also provide less than favorable working conditions to its labor force outside of the United States.
Should Nike be held responsible for working conditions in foreign factories that it does not own but where subcontractors make products for Nike?
Nike does own many responsibilities, but the main responsibility that Nike has for their conditions of work at their foreign factories that make product for them was to have a safe working environment. Their main tactic for improving and turning a new leaf was to improve their labor conditions by monitoring to check compliance with the Nike Code of Conduct. (Bethel University, 2017) Nike has a self-monitoring program. Labor audits were a part of the improvement process, which requires inspectors to check off boxes in certain areas wages and work hours.
For years, Nike has been sourcing from factories that seek to meet the company 's minimum standards for good labor performance. The policy of Nike is to evaluate potential contracted factories before they enter the supply chain. Throughout their business relationship with Nike to assess compliance with high standards of social and environmental performance, including country-related risk for issues including forced labor, human trafficking and slavery Nike (n.d).
1. Should Nike be held responsible for working conditions in foreign factories that it does not won, but where sub-contractors make products for Nike?
Not only does Nike have a responsibility to be in compliance but also the host governments have a responsibility to protect the citizens who live and work in these countries. The enforcement of
1. A decision to retain an in-house arm of agency Weiden & Kennedy by Nike exemplify the concept of organizational design by allowing Nike use the agency’s creative designers to focus solely on Nike work, giving them un-parallel access to executives, researchers and anyone else who might provide Nike advertisers with their next inspiration for marketing greatness before listening to any other organization. Having the agency in the building is having them at their disposal at anytime they need them and also the agency will have to consider them first incase of any new ad or good idea discovered by the agency or when Nike needs to salvage a problem with the help of the agency. Thus, the agency at their finger-tips serves great advantages
Time and time again, there are stories of dishonest companies who take advantage of the fact that they have money, try to create more wealth and subsequently forget their workers well being. Although they have more then enough money, greed takes over and good morals are overlooked. Nike, a popular sports brand, makes billions of dollars a year selling various products. To manufacture them, Nike has created many sweatshops throughout the world. Although they can definitely afford to pay their workers fairly, it has been found that these workers,
Report on the Case Study Nike This report has been produced to provide an insight into the consumer decision-making process, buyer behaviour factors that consumers of Nike are influenced by. The report also details recommendations based on the findings. 2.0 Summary = =