Mgt 448 Nike Sweat Shop Debate Essay

“Nike” The Sweatshop Debate
Mgt 448
6-6-12

“Nike” The Sweatshop Debate

“We’ve run the course – from establishing codes of conduct and pulling together an internal team to enforce it, to working external bodies to monitor factories and engaging with stakeholders” (Nikebiz, para. 2). The creation of this code of conduct came after serious allegations of using sweatshops with women and children working in hazardous conditions for less than minimum wage in overseas factories scattered across the globe to make their product. This paper uses the case study entitled, “Nike: The Sweatshop Debate,” to describe the legal, cultural, and ethical challenges that confront Nike’s global business. This paper will also determine the various roles that host governments have played as well as summarize the strategic and operational challenges that face global management for the Nike Corporation.
Bill Bowerman, a track and field coach at the University of Oregon, and Phil Knight, a talented middle-distance runner from Portland, “shook hands to form Blue Ribbon Sports, pledged $500 each, and placed their first order of 300 pairs of shoes in January 1964” (Nikebiz, para. 1). In 1965, they hired their first employee, Jeff Johnson, to manage the growing requirements. In 1971, he conjured up the name Nike.
According to the case study, the profits and success that the Nike Corporation has gained has affected hundreds of thousands of workers in other countries that have worked in harsh conditions for very little pay. The case study states that, “Nike is now one of the leading marketers of athletic shoes and apparel on the planet. Nike does not do any manufacturing. Rather, it designs and markets its products, while contracting for their manufacture from a global network of 600 factories scattered around the globe that employ some 650,000 people” (Hill, p. 154). Nike subcontracts its manufacturing to countries such as China, Indonesia, Taiwan, and a Vietnam factory owned by a...