Nike Sweatshops

Nike Sweatshops

Nike is the largest seller of athletic footwear and apparel in the world. The company is primarily engaged in the design, development, and worldwide marketing of footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories. The company operates in the US, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. It is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon. (Datamonitor, 2006, p 4) By shifting manufacturing to developing countries, Nike is able to achieve significant cost savings owing to the lower cost structures in these countries. (Datamonitor pg. 5) No successful company can exist and succeed without utilizing its human capital.

While Nike has had various policies in place, weaknesses still exist in regards to labor policies in overseas locations. Nike has received quite a bit of bad publicity as well as experiencing a decrease in sales as a result of poor labor policies and lack of policies established abroad. Because of this and Nike’s goal to be a responsible citizen of the corporate world, Nike has committed to goals to better the problems as part of the aforementioned labor initiative:

• Increasing the minimum age of footwear factory workers to 18, and minimum age for all other light manufacturing workers to 16;

• Expanding education programs, including junior and high school equivalency courses, for workers in all Nike footwear factories;

• Increasing support of its current micro-enterprise loan program to 1,000 families each in Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan and Thailand.

Despite these initiatives, Nike remains one of the central targets of the anti-sweatshop movement. Non-governmental organizations, many college students and many average citizens still associate Nike with sweatshop conditions in its factories. (Strategic Analysis of Nike, 2000, p. 17)

Can Nike turn this around to their advantage? An opportunity produced by pressure groups is the ability to react in a positive manner to concerns of the public as well as customers. Consumer watch groups are paying close attention to Nike’s use of sweatshops and child labor. Nike’s opportunity lies in being able to show the consumer force that they are indeed taking steps to reduce and eventually eliminate sweatshops and child labor through new policies and strict implementation procedures. Also by responding to such consumer activism, Nike will portray a positive image in that they are promoting ethics even while they are trying to be efficient and economical. (Strategic Analysis of Nike, 2000, p. 15) Will this effort carry over to the 14 to 18 year old age group? It probably will not since all that matters to theses teenagers is how good they will look in their new footwear or apparel. Most of the adults in their mid 20s and early 30s were introduced to Nike when Michael Jordan was the prominent sports figure for the company. Most of them have remained loyal to this brand even after he has left the seen. My own children who are 25 and 31 respectively have continued to buy Nike products based on their early fascination with Michael Jordan. When I asked them about their knowledge of Nike’s association with sweatshops, they believed that all companies operated sweatshops of some kind. While they believe that everyone is entitled to fair labor practices, the only way they would not buy Nike products is if Nike would stop