Nike Social Responsibility

Nike’s employment of the cultural relativism philosophical approach, used to justify ‘sweatshop’ labor practices in developing countries, had a detrimental effect on the reputation of the company. In 1998, Nike had to lay off staff amid lagging sales resulting from the backlash against the company. Today, Nike is recognized as the leader in athletic apparel, and one of the favorite brands among millennials and teens. A significant part of that success is attributed to the company’s dramatic change in social responsibility, initiated by its then CEO, Phil Knight, in 1998 (Lutz,

The honesty that Nike has, I have experienced up close and personal. When I was in high school, my basketball team had a legit sponsorship from Nike. We got everything. Shoes, uniforms, backpacks, even socks. They paid for tournaments, travel gear the whole package. We were truly blessed to be in that situation.

The first subject to be considered is what exactly the CSR issue is and why it is significant. Nike is the largest producer and seller of sports outfit and apparel in the world. Phil Knight established the organization in 1964 by offering running shoes out of the storage compartment of his car at track and field competitions meets. The company grew radically and since then, Nike has developed and now possesses over $19.2 billion in revenue with its products sold in about 180 countries in the world. These products are sold solely through the Nike brand name to about 19,000 retail stores only in the US. Nike has approximately 33,000 employees in the world including about 5,500 employees at their global headquarters situated in Beaverton, Oregon. Majority of these products are produced in contracting factories in less developed countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, china, Malaysia, Bangladesh and other Asian countries.

The framework of corporate social responsibility is such that it is relatively complex and multidimensional. A three-dimensional

Nike, inc. is the largest and most successful brand of shoes, sports equipment, clothing, and controlling more than 60% of the market and becoming a pop culture icon. More so, founded by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. Did you know the company now has outlets in almost every part of the world? Now in days, nike products are known for its quality, style, trend and perfection. Perfection is the action or process of improving something until it is faultless or as faultless as possible. Although Nike has worked hard to be the largest most successful company, shoe wises, they still have slips and miscommunications. According to the China Central Television broadcast, the annual program said Nike had falsely advertised basketball shoes. The sporting-goods giant, claimed the sneakers had Zoom Air sole cushions inside when

Although this is advertised, what really matters is to be met, so hopefully within the program when finished, have minimally met these standards have been proposed. And if so, NIKE would be an example of a brand with a good Corporative Social Responsibility

Have you considered checking out news-related articles about them? There is actually a huge fallout going on in Nike right now. Manny Pacquiao, a boxer among other things is causing a stir with some controversial comments he made which prompted Nike to drop his contract. Just today, in fact, there was a story about his fans burning Nike shoes in protest. Sounds like a pretty serious event. Check it out here:

Similarly, Nike’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices were in question. Truly, their CSR was insufficient and lacked in moral obligation to the communities in which they operated. Conversely, supervisors in the overseas factories were just trying to ensure they met production goals and kept costs low so Nike would continue to do business with them (Nisen, 2013). As a result, Nike expanded their compliance staff, invested in the training of staff and overseas suppliers, developed additional auditing protocols, hired third-party auditors to check their internal audits, and spent millions of dollars to improving working conditions in overseas factories who made Nike products (Locke, 2013). According to a case study, “Nike auditors and compliance staff to be serious, hardworking, and moved by genuine concern for workers and their rights” (Locke, 2013, p.

Connor, T. (2001, May). Still Waiting For Nike To Do It | Global Exchange. Retrieved February 12, 2014, from http://www.globalexchange.org/sweatfree/nike/stillwaiting

“Nike is focusing on long-term supply agreements by having fewer factories that are getting in the way of product our strict standards of sustainability and product excellence.”(help-en-us.nike.com/)

I have been waiting for the Lebron342s for over a year! I come to get the mail everyday to see if I got my shoes. I'm disappointed every time I look because they aren't there, I paid 200 dollars for these shoes, and I also paid for 2 day shipping so they should be here. If they not here by tomorrow I will sue. However I will not sue if you send me an apology handwritten also my shoes.

They have created more sustainable products such as t-shirts made of recycled polyester and recycled plastic bottles. Recycling old shoes into new ones. Nike started numerous charities and has donated millions of dollars to organizations to help repair Nike's image. Nike must continuously work towards the enforcement of their corporate social responsibilities that they have presented to their suppliers at the same time they must remain competitive in the market place.

The purpose and intent of this paper is to describe the legal, cultural, and ethical challenges that face the Nike Corporation in their global business ventures. This paper will also touch on the roles of the host government and countries where Nike manufactures their products and the author will summarize the strategic and operational challenges that Nike managers face in globalization of the Nike product.

One of the ethical standards is employment practice, which pertains to ensuring that the company adheres to policies regarding the health, recruitment and safety of its employees (Newey 196). This way, Nike has been able to fix the labor practices issues in contract factories making Nike products. The other ethical standard is addressing the key environmental concerns that are as a result of the company’s continued existence. For example, Nike has been aiming at reducing the discharge of hazardous chemicals. Nonetheless, this might take time given that the company has to invest in innovation as well as research and development. Nike’s mission and corporate social responsibility is also premised on community investment as well as engagement. This is where the company engages in activities that aim at giving back to the community. An example is increasing access to sports for the disadvantaged youth. In addition, Nike is also determined to increase transparency and corporation with the outside world. The major stakeholder is the customer. For Nike, the customers have a top priority because they have a direct impact on the company’s revenues (O’Toole and Mayer 89). The major customer’s interest that Nike has to conform to is ensuring that it provides high quality products at reasonable prices. In fact, this is why Nike has heavily invested in research and development. The other interest of the customer is to see to it that the company acknowledges and adheres to the axioms of

(Nike, Inc Corporate Social Responsibility Report, 2014). Their goal is trying to incorporate sustainability principles as well as practices in whatever they do; develop sustainable materials, design and advocate for changes in the industry. The main reason to select Nike was because; it became a controversial company across the globe. Customers were protesting against Nike for excessive use of child labor and sweatshop allegations and failure to raise the wages in foreign countries. However, Phil Knight promised that they would ensure a change soon. Thus Nike was the first company to publish a list of contract factories as well as published a CSR report including the wage scales as well as the conditions in the factories. It also has started to recycle shoes into a material called the “Grind”, used in various ways. Nike has also given many donations to Oregon Cancer Institute, sports organizations and many more. Nike is at the discretional level of CSR where it has CSR has become a part of its