Nike

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Case Study: Nike, Inc. International Business and Trade Unit II (Prof. Sosland) Vera Tillmanns 1. Company Ethics: Nike Inc. in Cooperation with its suppliers 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. Nike does not merely sell products these days. They spend billions of dollars for advertising contracts with famous athletes like Tiger Woods to increase the value of the brand by associating the factor of lifestyle to their products. The company's image has been damaged many times by press releases as well as a variety of NGOs who have long pointed out the inhumane working conditions in the production facilities of sporting goods manufacturers. This leads to the question whether should Nike orientate the regulations of the suppliers to the labor standards in their respective countries or those in the United States? The labor conditions are so inhumane that Nike at least should try to converse to the US standard to improve the situation. The following analysis of an abstract of Nikes’ Responsibility Concept, including SHAPE and their Code of Conduct, should give an insight into the difficulties of the Sweatshops. 1.1 Nike Responsibility Concept: Explanation and Critical Analysis Since the pressure of the NGOs on the company has been growing, Nike developed a concept that promises to improve the monitoring of social and environmental standards for their contractors. According to Nike’s principle “Nike was founded on a handshake” , the company wants to work together and bind their business partners on the Responsibility Concept. Nike presents a symbiotic relationship of all parties based on their stated values of “trust, teamwork, honesty and mutual respect.” SHAPE stands for Safety, Health, Attitude, People and Environment and is combined with the Code of Conduct. The Responsibility Concept has been distributed to the manufactures since 1992. Nike introduced a new version of the Code of Conduct in 1997 which is oriented on the basis of human rights. According to article 23, a person has a right to work, which will remunerate him/her to such a degree that he/she will be able to live humanely.

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