All companies have certain ethical and moral responsibilities that they should uphold. For most companies figuring out these ethical responsibilities is done through a combination of the owner’s and/or shareholder’s moral and ethical views on their responsibilities, laws set for by the government one is working under, and the cultural traditions of the area one operates their business from. Multinational companies have a much harder time deciding where they stand on some ethical issues because they may operate out of many different cultural areas and countries with very different laws. Nike is one such multinational company and the focus of this paper. To begin I will focus I what I believe is Nike’s and other multinational companies …show more content…
After ensuring international laws are followed, a company should follow the local laws of each country they operate in. Facilities of the same company in different countries with different law and standards do not have to have the same rules, but obviously the local laws are the minimum. I believe if people expect all countries to have identical labor laws to them and try enforcing them, then that it is regulatory imperialism. International laws agreed upon by a majority of countries is not that because it isn’t just one nation or culture enforcing its will on others. Above I stated how I believe Nike and other international corporations should behave and which laws and regulations they should follow in our current system. This leads us to the issue of who I believe should be setting standards to follow in the first place. In an ideal system there would be an international organization that both has power to enforce rules, and can’t be unfairly influenced by any one country. This organization could then make rules with input from different countries, economic advisors, representatives from major multinational corporations, and representatives from nonprofits/labor unions. This would hopefully allow them to make fair and balanced rules that benefit the workers, without hurting the economy or corporations employing the workers. With the power to enforce the rules across the globe, the rules and regulations wouldn’t be able to be circumvented by any one country to gain
The corporate world has an unfavorable view of itself by being selfish, evil, and against the average American. Companies market themselves and their products in certain ways that makes them and their products appealing to everyone and if not everyone then a certain group of people. Every company has a mission to follow and values to go by, but some companies lack ethics and morals. In this paper I am going to talk about one company that engages in ethical behavior and another that doesn’t.
By joining a task force that helps promote fair labor practices, Nike is taking responsibility for its actions and showing the global market that is does take an interest in those working in the factory. This helps to alleviate any hesitation consumers may have with purchasing products made by Nike.
This paper describes the legal, cultural, and ethical challenges that confronted the global business presented in the Nike sweatshop debate case study. The paper determines the various roles that the Vietnamese government played in this global business operation. This paper summarizes the strategic and operational challenges facing global managers illustrated in the Nike sweatshop case.
What labor standards regarding safety, working conditions, overtime, and the like, should Nike hold foreign factories to: those prevailing in that country, or those prevailing in the United States.
A recent study done at the University of Chicago by Prof. Curtis Verschoor and published in Management Accounting found that companies with a defined corporate commitment to ethical principles do better financially than companies that don’t make ethics a key management component. Public shaming of Nike’s sweatshop conditions and slave wages paid to overseas workers led to a 27% drop in its earnings several years ago. And recently, the shocking disregard of ethics and subsequent
In many ways, it seems obvious to me that Nike should be held responsible for working conditions in foreign companies where products for Nike are made. In my opinion a company is not only responsible for itsʼ own employees but also for the employees that produce for them even though theyʼre not in their own company. I think that every part of the supply chain is partially responsible for the entire supply chain. As Nike is the
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).
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
They should be responsible for the legal, social and philanthropic aspects of its subcontracted factories. They are not paying their employees the legal minimum wage, caring about the working conditions and welfare of these employees and just not taking into consideration the well-being of others. Ten years ago, the company had been subjected to negative press, lawsuits, and demonstrations on college campuses alleging that the firm’s overseas contractors’ subject employees to work in inhumane conditions for low wages. With the introduction of the fair labour association and worker rights consortium, Nike is slowly trying to improve the working conditions on subcontracted factories and hopefully in 10 years, they would be able to re-establish themselves as a morally acceptable company.
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.
Globalization involves global interaction and cooperation between individuals, corporations, countries and their governments. As demand for products grows and the technology it takes to improve the process by which products can be manufactured more cheaply grows, globalization grows as well. It is supported by advancements in technology. These changes can have both short-term and lasting effects on issues surrounding economics, politics, the environment, and human rights. Thanks to globalization, companies like Nike are able to transform themselves. In Nike’s case, from a small local company to a global sports shoe and apparel superpower and a globally-recognized brand. However, as Nike
The ethics of businesses are under more scrutiny than ever before (Bones, 2014). Ethics can be considered as following a code of behaviour agreeable with the context of society and can also be defined as the application of moral and ethical considerations in a business environment (Hurn, 2008). Sport businesses have been targeted a lot more in recent years due to the conditions they place their workers in has become more apparent to the outside world. Nike are one of the world’s leading sports brands but have been faced with many allegations in recent years (Daily Mail, 2011) in regards to the conditions they put their workers in and their ethics and morals have been questioned. This report will critically evaluate the impact ethics has on the business operations of Nike and then analyse the reasons for why ethics impact the sport organisation. Finally, recommendations will be made to improve Nike’s business ethics.
International business ethics challenges the corporate world to deal with questions of what to do in situations where ethical standards come into conflict as a result of the different cultural practices in the nation. Since, there is this dilemma that has progressively troubled the large multinational corporations, international business ethics has arisen to help address these adhesive subject matters. There are several international business ethics discussions on the question of how to act in the home country as opposed to the host country is at the central point of most international corporations. The argument in question is how companies should practice their business according
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,
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