Contemporary Ethical Issue of Sweatshops Being Used by Nike Inc

Nike Inc. - Sweatshops
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Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc85631417 \h 2Nike Sweatshops PAGEREF _Toc85631418 \h 4Purpose PAGEREF _Toc85631419 \h 5Nike’s Purpose PAGEREF _Toc85631420 \h 5Sweatshops Impacts on Nike’s Purpose PAGEREF _Toc85631421 \h 6Nike’s Corporate Social Responsibility PAGEREF _Toc85631422 \h 7Adopting a More Ethical Purpose PAGEREF _Toc85631423 \h 7Sweatshops and the People PAGEREF _Toc85631424 \h 8Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc85631425 \h 9Sweatshops and Profits PAGEREF _Toc85631426 \h 9Sweatshops and Planet PAGEREF _Toc85631427 \h 10Staff Techniques PAGEREF _Toc85631428 \h 11Leadership PAGEREF _Toc85631429 \h 11Bureaucracy PAGEREF _Toc85631430 \h 12Rewards PAGEREF _Toc85631431 \h 12Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc85631432 \h 12References PAGEREF _Toc85631433 \h 14
Nike Inc. – Sweatshops
Introduction
Taking an opportunity to bridge the gap in the market is often considered a genius business maneuver and has been the case for decades. However, there comes a time when being opportunist becomes a question of ethics and is most prevalent among most multinational companies whose operations span a large geographical area. The use of sweatshops and child labor among multinational corporations have been considered a leading ethical concern among most companies taking part in international business. Sweatshops are a term used to refer to places of work, normally a factory, where the workers are treated with total disregard of morality and below the expected levels of a firm that cares about humanity (Berkey, 2021 p.58). Sweatshops and child labor are most commonly applied in developing and under-developing countries where employment from multinational corporations is the only viable option to earn a better living. These multinational corporations often take advantage of the vulnerability and the little resistance to these kinds of exploitation to lower their costs of production. However, these corporations have come under intense criticism in recent decades from an ethical perspective. Nike's use of sweatshops in developing countries can be evaluated from an ethical point of view.
Business ethics demand that corporations extend their responsibilities beyond the economic responsibility as they have a role to play in the community they operate within and the environment (Ferrell et al., 2019 p.492). This has led to the perception of international corporations' overall performance from an economic and ethical perspective. For example, Nike Inc, one of the leading brands in the apparel and sportswear industry, has been popular for the last few decades because of its prevalent use of sweatshops around the globe. Nonetheless, Nike's actions in some of the developing countries that paint a picture of an unethical company through the use of sweatshops can be subject to varied interpretations, depending on the contexts in which the ethical dilemma is approached. The company's use of sweatshops is unethical as it damages its purposes, people, long-term profits, and the planet.
Nike Sweatshops
Nike has its presence in more than 42 countries around the globe, with its manufacturing plants outsourced to companies present in Asian and South American countries. This makes Nike the most apparent subject of sweatshops due to the countries where the company's factories are located: Argentina, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam, among other developing countries (Costello, 2019 p.3). By merely having most of their factories located in most third-world countries, Nike presents itself as an opportunist for cheap human labor, consequently setting itself up for ethical scrutiny. There have been allegations, protests, and even boycotts claiming that Nike abused workers, underpaid them, and even subjected some workers to awful working conditions that sometimes necessitate medical attention. Nike has worked tremendously hard to fight work injustices, workplaces abuses, and other attributes that paint a picture of an unethical company, eventually elevating it into a top brand in the apparel industry. Its major concern as a sweatshops brand was at the top in the 1990s; however, there have been recent developments that strongly portray the company to have gone back to the old days.
In the recent past, Nike Inc. has been accused of many things that merit as attributes of a sweatshop company. In 2016, there were reports that women working in Nike's factories reported mass fainting that was heavily linked with the working conditions (McVeigh, 2017 par.1). In 2015, the Workers Right Consortium in Vietnam found Nike guilty of wage thefts, coercing workers to work overtime, and even limiting their basic rights, including the use of toilets, sometimes locking the exit doors to prevent workers from walking out when their schedule is up (McKay, 2019 par. 13). In addition, exposure to hazardous chemicals and gases was once reported to have led to the fainting and hospitalization of over 120 workers in 2018 and were only given a day off after recovery (Duffy, 2018 par. 2). Portraying attributes of a company reliant on sweatshops affects Nike's brand name on all fronts and can be evaluated based on the four different contexts that define the company's ethical behaviors and sustainability: purpose, people, profit, and the planet.
Purpose
One of the core components of sustainable business is having strong company purposes. Aside from the company's mission and vision statements, there needs to be a purpose statement to represent the real reason why the company is in business and the expected overall impact as a result of its existence (Leape et al., 2020). A company's purposes can be communicated in several ways aside from writing and conveying the historical, ethical, emotional, and practical aspects of an organization. For a company to make its purpose real to the employees, customers, and all other stakeholders, the focus should be on its actions rather than what is written on paper because actions have the greatest impact in portraying the culture, vision, and purpose.
Nike's Purpose
Nike has grown to be the world's most admired brand in the apparel and sportswear industry. As a result of its well-regarded brand, the company is compelled to have a greater purpose that aims to make the company profitable and impacts the world as a whole. Mark Parker, former President and CEO of Nike Inc, reiterated that Nike has a greater purpose of moving the world forward through sports (Nike News, 2019 par. 1). The CEO's statement is in agreement with the long-lasting purpose statement from Nike that seeks "to unite the world through sports to create a healthy planet, active communities, and an equal playing field for all" (Nike News, 2019 par.3). A critical analysis of Nike's conduct in the past few decades certainly complements the company's purpose statement.
Nike has been at the forefront in fighting all sorts of discrimination, leveraging on its popular brand name to create the most impact. Through the company's recruitment of sports personalities of diverse races, while focusing on the minority group, Nike has spread the equity campaign and encouraged the world to ditch the discriminatory attitude in line with its purpose of enabling the world to move forward. Furthermore, in a bid to elevate sports to the next level, Nike has incorporated new technologies into its products to enhance sports (Nike.com, n.d. par.2). One notable example where Nike's product has played a part in elevating sports is through its production of Nike Air Zoom Alphfly Next% that has been mentioned for aiding Eliud Kipchoge, a Kenyan marathoner and world record holder, break the two-hour mark.
Sweatshops Impacts on Nike's Purpose
As much as Nike is striving to create a greater purpose in the whole world, its use of sweatshops has significantly impacted its purpose, both negatively and positively. The establishment of sweatshops in developing and under-developing countries by Nike Inc has led to the creation of employment opportunities for people living in these countries. Moreover, Nike Inc. can offer better pay than most of the local industries in these countries, thus promoting the welfare of the members living in these countries. This is in line with the company's purpose to move the world forward by creating employment and better wages. On the contrary, sweatshops employed by Nike Inc. and other notable brands in the apparel industry have no regard for humanity, sometimes being accused of using coercive means to achieve their objectives. This can be damaging to the company's purposes in the sense that, instead of striving to move the world forward by promoting the wellbeing of its employees, it is doing the exact opposite, making the lives of those working in the sweatshops even harder.
Nike's Corporate Social Responsibility
Over the past years, Nike has committed to promoting positive social change across the globe. However, the idea behind offshore manufacturing in search of cheap labor hardly benefits the society but rather benefits the company, portraying an element of social irresponsibility within the company (Haleem, 2017 p.15). Furthermore, the restricted access to toilets, coercive means for overtimes, and even harassment of employees within Nike's factories have been reported on many occasions. This gives the impression of Nike as a company that pays little or no attention to the welfare of its employees. Nonetheless, the company has made significant strides to enhance its corporate social responsibility. Its partnership with the Livestrong Foundation will go down as one of the greatest moves towards making it a socially responsible company, in addition to other moves that the company has taken part in, such as the production of environmentally friendly products and championing for policies and measures that help with the growing concern over climate change.
Adopting a More Ethical Purpose
The continued use of sweatshops negatively impacts the company's purpose while also portraying an element of an unethical company. For Nike's purposes to be strongly regarded as ethical, the company ought to put more emphasis on the actions that are in line with the purpose statement rather than focusing on what is written on paper. Actions tend to be more visible than mere statements, and there are tangible outcomes that come along with taking actions toward achieving the company's purpose. In addition, the company needs to design an ethical framework that takes into account all the concerns and needs of all the stakeholders. In so doing, the company can create a conducive work environment where every person is happy with the decisions made.
Sweatshops and the People
The other dimension to look at the ethics of sweatshops used by Nike Inc is the impact it has on the people. Modern disciplines on organizational behavior regard human resources as the greatest asset that an organization can have (Chams and García-Blandón, 2019 p. 110). It is therefore vital for organizations to put in place measures and policies that will help enhance people's wellbeing and happiness. People's happiness is crucial in ensuring long term and short-term succe...