Ethical Companies with Unethical Practices

Ethical Companies with Unethical Practices
Introduction
American business should not be permitted to claim it is an ethical firm if it ignores unethical practices by its international suppliers. For the purpose of this assignment I will use the Nike Company to highlight its unethical practices. Despite the popularity of Nike in the American market, it has been accused of exploiting employees abroad. The corporate social responsibility stipulates that a company should maximize its profit and minimizes its cost in operations and manufacturing, also at the same time benefit the community it operates in. This paper will further elaborate on the global strategy employed by Nike Company as it outsources its goods and the unethical issues its practices. Nike has been accused of violating labor and human rights, deficiencies in health and safety conditions, low wages and poor working environments.
Most businesses in the world use outsourcing of goods abroad to improve competitive advantage and minimize the cost of its production. Nike uses Greenfield outsourcing by hiring start up companies and independent contractors to provide manufacturing of footwear. The outsourcing business practices are very profitable to Nike. However, at the same time the company has attracted international attention because of its unethical practices in these outsourced working conditions and environments. Nike is engaged in designing, developing and marketing of products, footwear, equipment and apparel. It sells athletic footwear worldwide and the major buyer of its products is the United States. Products from Nike are made by independent contractors based in third world countries manufacture footwear products like Thailand, China and Indonesia (Bartley and C...

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