Nike the Sweatshop Debate
Running head: Nike and the Sweatshop Debate
Nike the Sweatshop Debate
Shelia D. Marshall
Global Strategies MGT 448 Shabbir Karim October 12, 2009
Nike the Sweatshop Debate Beneath all the hoopla and controversy about Nike being a successful company in the United States in which its earnings in 2009 according to Hoovers Inc., 2009, Nike’s revenue for 2009 was $19, 176.1 million and their gross profit was $8,604.4 million, made possible by the hands of women and underage workers who work long hours and in unsafe conditions in those sweatshops in foreign factories located in foreign countries as Indonesia, China, and more recently in Vietnam. Nike is a US sports company based in Beaverton, Oregon, Nike’s original name was Blue Ribbon Sports and its mission was and is today to be the world’s leading sports and fitness company (International Directory of Companies History). Nike has continued to soar in its market, being ahead of Reebok, Adidas, Fila, Converse, and New Balance however they are also ahead in the limelight with negative views on how their manufacturing companies are failing in their workplace ethics. There are two basic options for footwear companies in the manufacturing of their products, the first option is that the company can own and operate the factories in which their product is being made and the second option is to subcontract their products out to secondary manufactures. In either case the facilities can be located domestically or internationally and the company can have an innumerable amount of issues within its systems and processes. Companies that stay within the domestic territory have a better opportunity to manage the workplace such as the benefit of being able to evaluate and monitor workplace processes, skilled workers, job creation, government stability, and the ability to reinforce well understood labor practices. However, when using this option the company may suffer in paying higher wages to their
Nike the Sweatshop Debate
Shelia D. Marshall
Global Strategies MGT 448 Shabbir Karim October 12, 2009
Nike the Sweatshop Debate Beneath all the hoopla and controversy about Nike being a successful company in the United States in which its earnings in 2009 according to Hoovers Inc., 2009, Nike’s revenue for 2009 was $19, 176.1 million and their gross profit was $8,604.4 million, made possible by the hands of women and underage workers who work long hours and in unsafe conditions in those sweatshops in foreign factories located in foreign countries as Indonesia, China, and more recently in Vietnam. Nike is a US sports company based in Beaverton, Oregon, Nike’s original name was Blue Ribbon Sports and its mission was and is today to be the world’s leading sports and fitness company (International Directory of Companies History). Nike has continued to soar in its market, being ahead of Reebok, Adidas, Fila, Converse, and New Balance however they are also ahead in the limelight with negative views on how their manufacturing companies are failing in their workplace ethics. There are two basic options for footwear companies in the manufacturing of their products, the first option is that the company can own and operate the factories in which their product is being made and the second option is to subcontract their products out to secondary manufactures. In either case the facilities can be located domestically or internationally and the company can have an innumerable amount of issues within its systems and processes. Companies that stay within the domestic territory have a better opportunity to manage the workplace such as the benefit of being able to evaluate and monitor workplace processes, skilled workers, job creation, government stability, and the ability to reinforce well understood labor practices. However, when using this option the company may suffer in paying higher wages to their
References: Nike, Inc. http://www.hoovers.com/nike/--ID__14254,ticker__NKE--/free-co-fin-factsheet.xhtml, retrieved October 6, 2009 Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 36. St. James Press, 2001, http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/NIKE-Inc-Company-History.html, retrieved October 6, 2009 Hill: International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace, Seventh Edition, retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/classroom/ic/classroom.aspx, October 9, 2009 How Nike is changing the World One Factory at a Time by Gail Dutton, 2008, retrieved from http://ethisphere.com/how-nike-is-changing-the-world-one-factory-at-a-time/, October 9, 2009 Root Causes of Non Compliance, retrieved from, http://www.nikebiz.com/responsibility/documents/3_Nike_CRR_Workers_C.pdf, October 9, 2009 Sweatshop Labor in Vietnam, retrieved from www.stanford.edu/.../Swaetshop%20Labor%20Problem%20in%20Vietnam.doc, October 9, 2009 Vietnam 's labor strife worsens Series of strikes, protests over pay, working conditions, Aaron Glantz, Ngoc Nguyen, Chronicle Foreign Service Tuesday, May 30, 2006, retrieved from, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/30/BUGF8J3DID1.DTL#ixzz0Th13kZSh, October 11, 2009