Reebok and Nike are the two largest athletic footwear companies in the world. Much of their work is focused on product design and marketing, not on production of the shoes. Starting in the 1970s, Nike and Reebok really began using Asian contractors (mainly in Taiwan and South Korea) to manufacture their shoes because this offered the advantages of lowered costs and flexibility in terms of how many different kinds of shoes could be produced, but many questions have been raised in regards to the treatment of workers in the Asian countries and corporate responsibility for these human rights. With worldwide sales revenues at $25.33B for the 2013 fiscal year (June-May), Nike would rank higher than many countries, including Honduras, Nicaragua, Jamaica, and Afghanistan, in national GDP according to the 2014 IMF World Economic Outlook. As a result, companies like Nike, Apple, and Sony dominate not only their own industries but also dominate the world economy and as a result have more actual power, even abroad, than the governments of all but the largest countries. As the profits of these companies rise, the world economy grows, and as they fall, the world economy suffers. Any policy changes they implement internally have a huge impact on the economy as a whole.
Domination as a result of globalization (the process of internationalizing all aspects of an institution or company) is not a good thing as it can have disastrous effects. First off, domination eliminates competition and therefore takes away from the experience of the consumer. As the case study indicates, in 1993, Nike and Reebok combined had 52.9% of the athletic footwear market share. Companies like Nike and Reebok that dominate the world markets even have the capacity to purc...
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...sively thinking about the bottom line rather than thinking about the betterment of the world as whole. Low costs and high profitability are important, but no company wants to be labeled as “THAT company that exploits 12 year old child laborers” or “THAT company that fired a single mom who now can’t support her own son” because that destroys brand loyalty and reputation and ultimately decreases sales and revenue. Instead, companies must find a balance, whether it be cutting work hours to make a detrimental part of the workforce temporarily no longer a key figure to moving production back on-shore or even tightening individual corporation labor laws and conducting inspections more often to demonstrate that a positive effort is in fact being made. In business, image is everything, and today more than ever ethics are playing a key role in determining business practices.
Corporations in the United States have proved time and time again that they are all about profit and not about what is good for America. One example of this is the fact that many corporations have factories in other countries, or buy from other corporations that do. Nike (an athletic shoe and clothing company) produces most of their shoes and apparel in factories in other countries, including Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, China, Vietnam and Malaysia. According to Nike’s factory disclosure list released May 2011, only 49 of it’s over 700 factories are located in the U.S. (Nike, Inc.) This means that thousands of jobs that could be filled by needy Americans are instead being filled by workers in other countries. This reason that Nike and other corporations outsource is very simple, it is very cheap to do so. In an excerpt from Jeffrey St. Clair's book “Born Under a Bad Sky” the author describes the vast differences between Nike’s production costs and retail prices. “In Vietnam, it costs Nike only $1.50 to manufactu...
This article is real case of a particular factory in Indonesia which produces shoe, primarily for Reebok. It reveals how one of the world’s most powerful companies is influencing lives and working conditions in one of the poorest countries in the world.
It's difficult not to be cynical about how “big business” treats the subject of ethics in today's world. In many corporations, where the only important value is the bottom line, most executives merely give lip service to living and operating their corporations ethically.
There is only one way to describe Nikes financial position, that is strong and grew from a five hundred dollar idea to a billion dollar industry. Nike is known everywhere and its products are distributed worldwide, its geographies include North America, Western Europe, and Japan, NIKE expects to generate average annual growth at a high single digit rate for the four-year period from fiscal 2014. The Company expects North America and Western Europe to reach over $14 billion and $6 billion, respectively, by fiscal year 2017. In its developing geographies in Greater China, Central & Eastern Europe, and Emerging Markets, the Company stated it expects to grow at a low double-digit average annual growth rate. For the Company’s Emerging Markets geography, it expects to grow at ...
Currently, Nike is the world’s leading innovator in athlete footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories. The company has had many successes since its’ beginning such as being named the No. 1 Most Innovative Company in Fast Company magazine’s annual ranking of the world’s top 50 innovators in February 2013, being awarded top honours by the Corporate Register Reporting Awards (CRRA) for Innovation in Reporting and Best Overall Report in April 2013 and also having Nike VP of Sustainable Business & Innovation, Hannah Jones, honoured as one of the three recipients of the 2013 C.K. Prahalad Awards, a prestigious award giving to companies, individuals and...
In today’s global society, a Code of Ethics policy is used to label established, acceptable behaviors among that industry’s business associates, potential investors, and the corporation’s executive officers and employees, and most important, the consumer (Ethics Resource Center, 2003). In an attempt to promote an increased efficiency and productivity potential level, among employees and prospective clients, a corporation’s standard Code of Ethics should guide its members toward a more in-depth examination of their personal moral activity, and how these actions affect the people or acquaintances they encounter. A company should utilize this strategy as a model for the professional behaviors and responsibilities of its constituents, and proves the occupational advancement of that business. Ethics are important in every level of a corporation, but specifically in the day-to-day actions of its members, and the image the company broadcasts to its associates is fundamental in building a stable business foundation. These pledges are a vital communication tool used to covey the firm’s standards for business operations, and predominantly, its relationships with the surrounding communities (Ethics Resource Center, 2003).
Many global companies like Nike, Inc. are seen as role models both in the market place as well as in society in large. That is why they are expected to act responsibly in their dealings with humanity and the natural world. Nike benefits from the global sourcing opportunities, therefore areas such as production and logistics have been outsourced to partner companies in low-wage countries like China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. As a result the company is limited nowadays to its core competencies of Design and Marketing.
Business ethics simply can be defined as the application of business values in the business practice of a company (Seawell 2010, p. 2). For a multinational company, business ethics is one of the critical aspects need to be taken into account in business decision-making processes. Failure to give attention on ethics may bring consequences on company’s reputation (Meyer & Jebe 2010, p. 159). The company is expected not only to pursue its own profits but also contributing to the environmental and social welfare of the community where it operates (Svensson & Wood 2008, p. 308).
Nike is not responsible, technically, for the conditions in the factories that manufacture their products; however, deliberately and selfishly subcontracting to factories that exploit their workers is of questionable ethics. From an ethical standpoint, Nike should be sure to only contract with factories which are in compliance with the laws of their respective country. Ideally, Nike would employ full-time field representatives at all factories who manufacture their products to oversee the operations and ensure laws are abided by. In the event that a contracted factory is not in compliance with local laws, and refuses to make the necessary changes within a reasonable amount of time, Nike would be obligated to terminate the partnership.
I discovered how sticking to one’s morals should be the topmost priority for everyone involved in business, whether personal or professional. Regardless of what the consequences may be, the intensity of the problem, and the complexities it may bring, sacrificing one’s integrity should never be an option, as integrity goes hand-in-hand with the morals of an individual (Duggan & Woodhouse, 2011). They further go on to say that having individuals take part in building a code of ethics that supports employee integrity, they will act ethically. Also, I believe that companies should place more emphasis on the moral behavior of their employees, and clear-cut policies should be set regarding such ethical situations. Furthermore, I realized how serving justice while making decisions really helps in the long run, and that opting to go for the ideal rather than they deserved is not always the best option, and could hurt a company in more than one
Nike’s goal is to remain unique and different from others in terms of the items offered on the market. Arguably, Nike belongs to a monopolistically competitive market as there only a few organizations with the ability to regulate the amount charged for their product which means they cannot make their prices high as this is likely to make customers move on to other available choices (Nike, Inc., 2012). However, Nike can find a balance between the prices to charge for their products and remaining competitive with other companies in the industry. Nike has formed a distinction between the appearance and performance of their footwear and that of their competitors. Although products are differentiated from other companies, they still influence each other because they are items of the same
As we can see in the essay, “The Noble Feat of Nike” by Johan Norberg, the globalization of companies like Nike isn’t all bad. There is some positive light to it, for example, the fact that workers are finally making enough money to live a decent life and send their children to school. In addition to this, workers are guaranteed jobs and don’t have to endure the tough labor of working on farms in the harsh weather conditions. So from these effects we can conclude that the globalization of Nike in third world countries like Nike isn’t a disadvantage to these workers, in fact it serves as an advantage.
Nike’s Asian operations had previously continued to soar generating US$300 million in 1994 in revenues to a whopping US$1.2 billion in 1997. However based on the Asian economic crisis, this had adversely affected revenues, while regional layoffs were inevitable. Nike also performed well in the European market generating about US$2 billion in sales and a good growth momentum was expected, however, some parts of Europe were only slowly recovering from an economic downturn. In the Americas (Canada and the U.S.A.), Nike experienced a growth rate for several quarters. The U.S. alone generated approximately US$5 billion in sales. The Latin American market at this point was exposed to economic volatility; however Nike still saw them as a market with “great potential for the future”.
Business Ethics are much more than the buzz word stories on late night news. The Corporate Social Responsibility of a company goes well beyond that. “Business Ethics are moral guidelines for the conduct of business based on notions of what is right, wrong and fair.” (Bellow, 2012). Individual backgrounds play a huge role in person by person code of conduct can vary from employee to employer. To help solve some grey areas in what is ethically correct, companies now make a code of conduct that is over everyone in the company. This code of responsibility helps employees have better understanding of what is required of each and every one of them. “Corporate Social Responsibility is a business philosophy which stresses the need for
manufacturing products overseas, specifically in Bangladesh. The focal point of the article was how Nike was attempting to achieve the lowest possible manufacturing costs while still maintaining worker safety and producing high-quality products. Both consequences and benefits of manufacturing in foreign companies was discussed in the article. In addition to how manufacturing costs affect the financial outlook of the company, the article addressed how having factories in less-developed countries has an impact on public opinion of Nike.