What Are The Ethical Issues Affect Nike?

In the beginning, Nike probably selected countries like Indonesia and Vietnam because of the vast poverty level and wage demand given the demographics. I highly doubt Nike moved into Indonesia and Vietnam thinking that their ethical demeanor was about to be challenged. That all changed when Global Alliance exposed Nike and forced them to take an account for their unethical

In my point of view Nike was responsible for compensating the workers in Honduras because of corporate social responsibility. Nike should be socially responsible to do the “right thing” before their corporation decided to closed down their factories in Honduras. The right thing such as established proper procedure for employees benefits for post-employment, implement appropriate compensation, and set-up a wide-operational meeting in helping the employees understand the reasons of the closure.

One major key component that allowed Nike to get to the elite status they are today would have to be the expectations they have for their employees. In their code of ethics book they clearly state on the fifth page that “every employee must reflect standards of honesty, loyalty, trustworthiness, fairness, concern for others and accountability” (NIKE Code of Ethics). These expectations of their employees shows how much Nike values its company, and it ensures every employee knows what is expected of them. None of these expectations has hindered Nike’s ability to get employees. Most, if not all, of Nike’s employees claim there’s a great work environment at Nike, which all starts with the expectations they put on them in the beginning.

In 1997 it was reported by the New York Times that the manufacture plants in Vietnam were considered unsafe when it was discovered that workers were exposed to a high amount of carcinogens (Greenhouse, 2016). Exposure to Carcinogens cannot only cause respiratory problems but as well been linked to cause cancer. Many workers who worked at the plants suffered from such neglected conditions. The company faced backlash over backlash until the year 1998. Information of stakeholders ratings were not revealed because in this situation Nike did not own these factors they such worked with them. For eight years Nike did nothing to change such business habits or even accept fault for they believed it was the owners of these factories who should be held responsible. Throughout those eight years of silence Nike faced backlash by college students protesting against wearing Nike products, athletic spokesmen as well received backlash for having connection with Nike. Sales for Nike plummeted when everyone began to boycott the company.

During the outcry, It was discovered that Nike contracted manufactures that cared little for the treatment of their employees; they viewed the employees as a commodity. When confronted about the issues, Nike stated that what was happening to the factory workers was not their concern. What made them act this way? Before the 90s, big corporations were able to be unethical and go unchecked. This was mainly because ethics never played a part in business.

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.

NIKE denies some ethics of social responsibility and makes the company's reputation suffered, which forced the NIKE to change its

Legally, it's interesting to note that Nike contractors were paying wages that were below minimum wage laws in several countries, such as Indonesia and Vietnam. By doing its business offshore, Nike got more favorable cost of goods prices, due to substandard and illegal wages. A secondary legal issue was the child labor one. While many of these countries have child labor laws, the enforcement of them is non-existent. Being in violation of law has been the status quo for Nike factories for quite some time, and probably still is today. Culturally, we also see a difference. In the US, wages under 3 dollars and 10 hour days for 13 year old girls is not acceptable. That why people here get so upset. Over there, they are working to support their families

Despite extensive efforts and investments beyond this monitoring, Nike continues to grapple with incidents of worker mistreatment and exploitation. A recent internal report showed that nearly two-thirds of 168 factories making the company’s Converse product line still fell short of Nike’s standards [408].

Nike is a giant company with vast resources. Nike utilized a combination of marketing and public relations to resolve its problems. It has unlimited money for advertising and marketing. With enough money behind a company, the public will quickly forget about its wrongdoings. One example of another company that was in a bad ethical situation was Subway. It was found that Subway used the same material found in Yoga mats in their bread. As time went on and advertising continued, people forgot about what happened. Nike agreed to correct some of their discrepancies. Nike agreed to stop using a hazardous material that proved to be very harmful to its workers. Nike also agreed to raise minimum wage in many of the countries in which it operates. In addition, Nike launched an education initiative for workers in many of the countries that it operates. These

Although Nike may be technically removed from responsibility in some areas, it clearly has the obligation to be certain that exploitation by subcontractors do not occur. Certainly the pay and working conditions that the workers of subcontractors receive is due in large part to the contract that has been negotiated by Nike. If Nike had chosen to make improved working conditions a part of the arrangement, them those benefits may have been passed on to the workers. Still, Nike is a publicly owned firm whose goal is to improve the wealth of its shareholders. The workers in these Asian countries were happy, even eager, to accept the conditions that were provided as a manufacturer of Nike. The reason is that those wages were probably equal or superior to wages available from other sources. If Nike were to leave the country because of the pressures placed upon it, the workers would undoubtedly suffer greatly.

Instead of spending millions of dollars on their workers, who are the backbones of making the actual shoes, they are spending it on their advertisements to promote their company. I realize that advertisement is essential to the success of a product, but it should not be at the cost of another human being to make a profit. I know that Nike is just one of thousands of companies that have taken their labor overseas, so that the product can be made at a fraction of its cost. Unfortunately the public sees Nike as a company whose product is worn by the rich and famous, therefore it is something that they would want for themselves. We the consumer enable them to continue this kind of business, because we buy the product. Through global media, we the public are becoming more aware of this kind of exploitation of workers. Overall, I think there is no pride to be found in companies that exploit their employees at the cost of a better profit for themselves. Awareness is going to be the key to hopefully fix it in the near

production was on the peak with over 40,000 shoes unit a month according to Locke (2002) the company was ready for globalization trades and worldwide expansion. Nike Inc. had hundreds of factories and thousands of employees, producing different designs and style of shoes. The Company was able to create new line department such as apparel athlete clothes and other equipment, they were selling high quality products which increased their sales and allowed the company to make considerable profits. The outsourcing jobs that Nike Inc. brought overseas were creating jobs for the population in those countries which also help boost the economy of those outsourced countries. As negatives impacts we can cite the poor working conditions for the labors in those outsourced countries, the health issues the product used to manufacture the shoes have engendered to the labors that are touching them every day and the low salary paid to the workers that don’t comply with the minimum wage. Murphy and Matthew (2001) argued that a high percentage of the workers were under aged which mean that Nike Inc. was involve in child labor, there were strong allegations of abuse and violence to women working in some of the factories of Nike Inc. all those were situations that have suffice to affect Nike Inc. image and ruin its public relationship with the media

Nike’s ambushing of Euro ’96 and World Cup ‘98 was not the first time the American giant had courted controversy through such ambush campaigns (Emmett, 2010). For sure, all through the eighties and nineties, the organization 's showcasing men courted the picture of Nike as the awful kid of sportswear. The 1996 Atlanta Olympics gave a tremendous stage to the sportswear organization to demonstrate its showcasing muscle, and it didn 't speak the truth to let the way that Reebok held the authority Olympic sportswear sponsorship hinder that. Nike went on the assault promptly, developing a Nike outlet

Nike could have observed the ethical and social guidelines of how an organisation should be managed. They should not have hired minors under 16 to work. And instead of purchasing two shoe-manufacturing facilities in the United States, Nike could have just purchased one plant and see how their operations went before thinking about purchasing another plant. When the firm finally saw success in 1980, eight years after the company was founded, and became the largest athletic shoe company in the world, they could have finally purchased the shoe-manufacturing plants in the United States and it would probably have been a success, without having the need to subcontract factories and