Nike and Ethica Problems Regarding Outsourcing and Sweatshops

Nike is an American multinational corporation that designs, develops, and sells footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories; however, it does not actually own any of the locations that manufacture their products. Nike has been under attack for having their products produced at facilities that exploit workers. Having previously admitted to less than ideal conditions at several of these facilities, Nike now claims to have improved their standards.

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.

While Nike should hold the safety of individuals employed to make their products at their highest regard, it is unrealistic to pay workers the same wages as what are paid in the United States because the cost of living is significantly less. Additionally, paying those types of wages abroad would diminish the need to outsource production and ultimately the employees of the factories producing Nike products would suffer horrifically. In a perfect world, Nike would invest into the factories manufacturing their products to make sure workers have safe work...

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...aps due to their size and popularity, seem to be an especially popular target of protesters. Inspecting every factory that manufactures products for U.S. companies would be nearly impossible. Relying on the countries who subcontract to factories abroad has proven unsuccessful. Resolve lies in establishing universal worker’s rights, relevant to multinational companies, which would include minimum age, minimum wage, and minimum safety requirements. Nonetheless, certain countries with low cost labor will undoubtedly exploit that advantage in the global marketplace but the variance between extreme differences in the cost of labor can be better balanced by improving the life of those living in developing countries where there is an abundance of low cost labor. The improvement in living conditions abroad is most likely to be achieved by continuing to promote free trade