Nikes CSR Policy Ethical Issues and Dilemmas

Nikes CSR Policy Ethical Issues and Dilemmas NIKE – ETHICAL ISSUES AND DILEMMAS INTRODUCTION Nike has been dodging accusations of employing people in the developing and under-developed economies, at low wages and poor working conditions for a considerable period of time. Having tried course correction and public relations as a measure to salvage the bad image generated by the sweatshops that Nike is accused of running, Nike has undertaken massive efforts to overcome these hurdles. Herein we will analyze Nike’s international business operations with a critical eye over the ethical issues and dilemmas that this organization has faced while manufacturing its goods in foreign lands. PROBLEM AREAS There are a number of areas that are seen as weak points or links in this Nike case. We shall first highlight the problem areas and then dive into the ethical theories that are supposed to govern them. According to the Wikipedia dictionary, ethics is defined as a general term for the science of morality.[1] While this branch of study can be further sub-divided into various categories, we have to remember that what is appropriate in a given situation may not be so among different circumstances and the decision of right or wrong is relative to its surroundings. Elaborated here are the issues and problems that stand out due to their ethical nature as issues or dilemmas faced by Nike and its operations towards its employees and customers as mentioned in the case study: Poor Working Conditions – In Nike factories, the laborers were provided with poor working conditions that were certainly below the norms accepted in the developed world. While lower standards of living may apply in the countries that have Nike factory contracts, the inhumanity of these conditions drives attention to Nike’s responsibility towards its employees. Considerable overtime and long working hours had to be endured by Nike employees desperate to remain employed in their country. An example states that Nike factory workers in Korea had to work for seventeen straight hours in silence. This indicates almost barbaric behavior on Nike’s part towards workers in these conditions. Low Wages – Nike contracts with companies to do all of their manufacturing in developing or under-developed countries. While the wage levels there are lower than the ones in developed nations, Nike still fails to employ people at a rate that can sustain their basic needs. The wages provided are much lower than the wages needed and as such cheap labor is thoroughly exploited. Nike has attempted at correcting the problem and employing people at a rate at least equal to the minimum wages prescribed in the country. Child Labor – Child labor laws in many countries are overlooked by Nike and children as young as 12 and 13 years of age are made to work long hours and treacherous conditions. Nike has taken steps to meet the starting age limit subsequently. Operations in Countries with Union Restrictions – Nike has been known to set manufacturing efforts in countries like Indonesia and China that prohibit union operations. This leads to lack of revolt and protests that leave the employees with little choice regarding work conditions and wages. Ethically, it is hard to argue against these countries as their laws do not have provisions for employment governance. In fact these countries often do not have minimum wage requirements and abundant labor is put to use by companies like Nike for the absolute minimum. Expensive Endorsements – While Nike has been continuously targeted by human rights committees, they have unceasingly maintained a high profile image by getting celebrities like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods to endorse their products. Over five years, Tiger Woods is expected to earn 80-90 million US dollars of Nike money.[2] Ethically it would have been more beneficial to engage a part of that money in Nike factory and employee enrichment. Expensive Products – Nike sells its products at steep prices, while we all know that the products are manufactured in contracted factories on foreign lands for low costs. The cost of production being low leads Nike to generate massive profits from the sales revenues. Cover-up Public Relations Efforts – Being involved in child labor initiatives was undertaken by Nike to handle the issue at large and also to rectify the public relations pitch for Nike. The actual problem is being pointed out as adequate wages problem as opposed to the child labor initiatives that seem like a cover up for the bigger issues plaguing Nike. Lack of Development Work at Factory Locations – While one constantly hears stories of sweatshops and defense by Nike regarding its work force problems, one rarely hears of philanthropic activities adopted by Nike in the area of the factory location. For example, at Hershey, PA one hears of the development the company Hershey’s has done for the community. Likewise it reflects as selfish behavior from Nike in not supporting the causes faced by the community occupying Nike’s workforce. Health Hazards in Factories – Skin and breathing problems are observed in factories that makes Nike products. Nike has to make sure that it performs by the standards set by OSHO in protecting employees from hazardous chemicals and processes in the manufacturing cycle. ETHICAL THEORIES Ethical theories can help rationalize certain decisions that Nike has made as a company and highlight the issues pertaining to its followed consequences. Let us now examine some ethics theories and observe the case of Nike in this light.[3] Egoism – This theory states that individuals or corporations have a right to guide their conduct placing ones own interest foremost in rational decisions. Through this theory one can justify the placement of profits or revenue generation as the high attained goal of an entity. In this regards Nike has played to the theory as far as possible. They have not only conducted manufacturing with cheap labor but also ensured that the factories do not earn even a little extra than they were supposed to. This theory states that every person that promotes self interest bring about social good. In this context we could see that while the founder of Nike, Phil Knight performed with self interest in mind, he was propelling Nike ahead by huge proportions. Doing so, he did manage to bring about the rise of one of the most well known brands in the world today. Social Group Perspective – It is not only self that determines all decisions but the surrounding that forms the social group under which the individual or company resides. It is the norm or standard in social groups wherein an entity can determine the wrong or right in that particular case. For Nike this social group has become a collection of customers, shareholders, employees, foreign contractors and others. The perception of right and wrong is determined by these social groups that operate differently in different places. For example, while the minimum wage in Indonesia, Korea and China may be less that that in the United States of America, the standard of living there will meet the minimum wage requirements and Nike has to ensure that they abide by that. Cultural Relativism – Every country has its unique culture that accompanies it. For Nike, a company that has a presence in many countries in the world, minding the cultural relevance can prove to be an effective means to growth. For example, while bribes are seen as a cultural norm in some countries, they are seen as unlawful in certain other countries. Society as a whole in certain countries is known to consider bribes as a normal occurrence, which for some countries is a crime. This culture makes or breaks certain laws in place and as long as Nike abides by these laws, in the respective country, and at the same time minds its home country standards, controversy for Nike will be minimized. Utilitarianism – This theory works under the premise that the greatest good is for the greatest number. Herein it is the majority that counts above anything else. If only a few elements of the entity think that the decision is wrong, the decisions must be right which is what is said by the majority. In the case of Nike, the decisions that were enforced by the majority are responsible for the sustained controversy surrounding it. The board obviously took certain steps in clearing the controversies that have affected the company. Since these decisions are taken with the view of the company good in mind, with the majority of the people agreeing to it, the decision must be seemed as right. Deontological Perspective – This view goes by the saying ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ The duty to make this world a better place is a duty that one has to take upon themselves, besides following certain obligations. For example, telling the truth is an obligation and that is seen as ‘right.’ In the same way for corporations, it is the giving back in return concept that needs to be perfected. The corporation is obliged to provide a good product and it is entitled to bring positive changes to its constituents. Values Clarification[4] This ethical theory expects that one is familiar with ones own views, reasoning and rationale. It is for this reason that companies try to build cultures within the organization in the same way that Nike has evolved its corporate culture. Nike’s branding, products and apparel indicate its image and success. ETHICAL DILEMMAS Nike has faced ethical dilemmas in operations and manufacturing for a while now. The definition of ethical dilemma states that it is a situation wherein exists conflicts between moral imperatives and choosing one situation consequence over another can lead to compromising of what also seemed like a viable solution in the situation[5]. Let us go over the ethical dilemmas that Nike has faced over its functioning. Manufacturing Ownership – Nike chooses to contract its manufacturing to factories in foreign lands where the wages and conditions do not meet developed nation’s standards. Yet they have their products made there at low costs after enforcing their product controls. While they could manufacture these products in the United States of America, profitability of these products wins over providing the home country with employment and opportunities in the manufacturing segment. Advertising Budgets – Nike has endorsed many athletes and celebrities like Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan paying them exorbitant amounts of money. While the brand has succeeded in maintaining an image of athleticism, it has compromised on how the money could have been used to better serve the country where they have their factories. Public Relations – Nike has had to go lengths to protect its public image and had to employ many legal experts and public relations individuals. The dilemma occurs when Nike may have to admit to its mistakes but doing so would cost them greatly, hence the truth may have to be manipulated and then disclosed, which does not conform to ethical standards. Employee Enrichment – With the profits that Nike generated from manufacturing products in foreign countries at low costs, a dilemma in front of them can arise from the fact that even if the country’s wage and standards are met they fall way below the US standards. While Nike can invest in employee welfare, it is not a norm in the country that runs their factories. Besides a lot of these factories are contracted to do Nike manufacturing and Nike as such is not obligated to conduct factory and employee welfare. CONCLUSION While Nike has faced severe criticism due to its manufacturing decisions, it as a brand and product has fought and sustained its success. Ethics experts will continue to question Nike in unfavorable ways, however when we apply the ethical theories that have relevance in the business world, we observe that Nike does its best to meet the requirements. This is especially evident when Nike made decisions to conduct independent audits and engage in human rights activities. On the other hand Nike faces ethical dilemmas due to its operations and these dilemmas will continue to exist in the world economy. Nike has gone with the route of foreign contracting in its earlier phase and has received tremendous criticism through it. Faced with its plenty of ethical dilemmas, Nike has managed to sustain the product, develop new products and continue to be a force to reckon with as a consumer brand. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics [2] http://www.golftoday.co.uk/news/yeartodate/news99/woods12.html [3] http://www.mgmtguru.com/mgt499/TN2_PAGE3.htm [4]http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:ofLIUDDIiW0J:jan.ucc.nau.edu/~dgs2/theories.pdf+theories+in+ethicshl=en [5] www.ethicsscoreboard.com

Effects of prejudice, racism and discrimination in society

Discrimination involves treatment of an individual or a group of people based on class or category. It can be personal, legal or institutional discrimination. It involves denying an individual or a group of people an opportunity that is available to other individuals or groups. Discriminatory actions can be done in different ways but they all involve in one way or the other some form of rejection.There are different forms of discrimination which include but not limited to the following: Age discrimination, gender discrimination, castle discrimination, employment discrimination, sex orientation and gender discrimination, language discrimination, reverse discrimination, disability and religious discrimination (Camponovo, 2003). According to Dunn & McDonald (2004), age discrimination involves unfair treatment of an individual or a group based on age. It usually occurs in one of the three different forms: Adultism (discrimination against adults), discrimination against people older than 40 and also discrimination against elderly people.It mostly happens in employment where by employees prefer younger people for employment ignoring older people with their experience although laws have been put in place to help reduce the practice. Gender discrimination involves negative believes and attitude based on gender. Employment discrimination involves locking out a group of people from applying and receiving jobs because of race, disability, religion, age and sexual orientation (Michinov, Dambrun, Guimond & MÃ ©ot, 2005).Racism refers to discrimination of individuals based on social divisions that may not always be connected to race. Prejudice involves an opinion or judgment made before facts are verified. The judgment is mostly based on gender, race, ethnicity, social class, disability and also age. There are different forms of prejudice; cognitive, affective and behavioral (Guerin, 2005). These types of discriminations have led to unequal distribution of jobs and resource s in general. Because of inequality, most groups have been denied justice.Examples include legal discrimination against Black South Africans and also different post-civil war laws that exist in the southern American states which disadvantaged blacks living there in regard to property ownership, employment and other factors such as movement, where Blacks are not allowed o pass through Whites’ residential areas. This has led to increased crimes and hatred among people. It has raised tensions between countries like the Muslim countries and America (Mcdonald, 2009). For peaceful co-existence, there is need to ensure equal treatment amongst people regardless of their age, religion and other differences that may exist.

Parens Patriae Definition and Examples

Parens patriae is a legal term referring to the power of the government to act on behalf of people who are unable to care for themselves. For example, the doctrine of parens patriae empowers a judge to assign or reassign custody of a minor child, regardless of the parents’ wishes. In practice, parens patriae may be applied as narrowly as representing the interests of a single child and as broadly as protecting the wellbeing of the entire population. Key Takeaways: Parens Patriae Parens patriae is a Latin term meaning â€Å"parent of the fatherland.It is a legal term that refers to government’s power to act as the legal guardian for people who are unable to care for themselves.Parens patriae is most commonly applied to cases regarding the custody and care of minor children and disabled adults. However, parens patriae is also applied in lawsuits between the states and in suits dealing with the wellbeing of a state’s entire population, e.g. environmental concerns or natural disasters. Parens Patriae Definition Parens patriae is a Latin term meaning â€Å"parent of the fatherland.† In law, it is the power of the government—through the courts—to intervene on the behalf of individuals or groups of individuals who are unable to represent their own interests. For example, children and disabled adults who lack willing and able caregivers often require the intervention of the courts through the doctrine of parens patriae. Rooted in 16th century English Common Law, parens patriae was considered in feudal times to be the â€Å"royal prerogative† of the king, as the father of the country, to act on behalf of the people. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the term became more closely associated with the power of the courts to protect the rights of children and incapacitated adults. Parens Patriae Doctrine in the United States In the United States, parens patriae has been expanded by the courts to include the power of the state to act on the behalf of all of its citizens regardless of their age or health.  Ã‚   Precedence for this far broader application of parens patriae was established by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1900 case of Louisiana v. Texas. In the case, Louisiana sued to prevent Texas from using its public health quarantine regulations to prevent Louisiana merchants from sending goods into Texas. In its landmark decision, the Supreme Court acknowledged that Louisiana had the power to bring the suit as parens patriae representative of all of its citizens rather than any individual person or business. In the 1972 case of in Hawaii v. Standard Oil Co., the State of Hawaii sued four oil companies seeking to recover damages to its citizens and general economy resulting from price fixing. While the Supreme Court ruled that Hawaii could sue as parens patriae guardian of its people, it could do so only to force the oil companies to end their illegal pricing collusion, not for monetary damages. The citizens, said the court, would have to sue individually for damages. The Broader Applications of Parens Patriae In 1914, the U.S. Congress enacted the Clayton Antitrust Act, granting broad powers to the state attorneys general to file parens patriae suits on behalf of their citizens or corporations harmed by violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This broader application of parens patriae was tested in the 1983 case of Pennsylvania v. Mid-Atlantic Toyota Distributors, Inc. In this high-profile case, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court in Maryland ruled that the attorney generals of six states had legal standing to act as parens patriae plaintiffs in a lawsuit to recover damages for their citizen who had been overcharged in a price-fixing scheme by a group of car dealers. The court reasoned that since the price-fixing scheme had violated federal antitrust laws, state laws, and state constitutions, the states could sue on behalf of their citizens. Since the states have thus been empowered to act as the trustee of the public, a growing number of parens patriae suits are being filed in cases involving the wellbeing of the general population rather than specific monetary damages. Often involving natural resource disasters, such as oil spills, hazardous waste releases, and the effects of climate change, the prevalence of parens patriae actions is likely to increase in the future. For example, in 2007, Massachusetts led a group of mostly East Coast states in suing to force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gas emissions they claimed were causing rising sea levels due to global warming. â€Å"These rising seas have already begun to swallow Massachusetts’ coastal land,† stated the petitioners. In the resulting case of Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court ruled that the states had legal standing as parens patriae to sue the EPA. In April 2018, a coalition of 17 states led by California filed a preemptive parens patriae lawsuit against President Donald Trump over his proposal to rollback implementation of tougher national vehicle fuel economy standards established by President Barack Obama. In its petition, California called the EPA’s plan to weaken auto emissions rules an unlawful violation of the Clean Air Act. â€Å"This is about health, it’s about life and death,† former California Governor Jerry Brown said at the time. â€Å"I’m going to fight it with everything I can.† Sources â€Å"parens patriae.† Nolo’s Plain-English Law DictionaryHimes, Jay L.. â€Å"Two Enforcers Separated by a Common Mission: Public and Private Attorneys General.† The Federal Bar Council (2008).â€Å"Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency.† Ballotpediaâ€Å"Supreme Court: Heat-Trapping Carbon Dioxide is Pollution.† Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (2007).Tabuchi, Hiroko and Davenport, Coral. â€Å".†California Sues Trump Administration Over Car Emissions Rules New York Times (2018)

The Ethics of Fast Food Essay - 2395 Words

So, what exactly is fast food? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, fast- food is food that is designed for ready availability, use, or consumption and with little consideration given to quality or significance. So, is there even a link between fast food and its technology with ethics? At first, I thought what I am thinking? Ill never be able to find any information linking the two. To my surprise, there is a plethora of information regarding fast food... And, due to the large number of restaurant chains today, I will mainly focus on McDonalds, perhaps the most popular fast food restaurant today. Professional Issues From humble beginnings in 1955, McDonald’s grew steadily until 1980, when it had 5,213 outlets†¦show more content†¦Nevertheless, the change had a profound effect on the nations agriculture and diet. With technology, a familiar food had been transformed into a highly processed industrial commodity. McDonalds fries now come from huge manufacturing plants that can peel, slice, cook, and freeze two million pounds of potatoes a day. (2) One starts to think, are these frozen potatoes good for ones body? What is the nutritional value of those French fries? Oxidized cholesterol is a type of cholesterol found in fried and processed foods, such as French fries and much of everything else on a fast food menu. It is a particularly harmful form of fat and could speed the clogging of arteries and increase the risk of heart disease, according to researchers at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (SFVAMC) and UCSF. (3) So, one must consider these executive decisions that McDonalds has made. Have these decisions been consistent with the values of a particular profession, in this case, food industry? (4) Because the rapid expansion of McDonalds and because of the popularity of its low-cost, mass-produced fries, the way Americans eat has definitely changed. In 1960 Americans consumed an average of about eighty-one pounds of fresh potatoes and four pounds of frozen French fries. In 2000 they consumed an average of about fifty pounds of fresh potatoes and thirty pounds of frozen fries. TodayShow MoreRelatedBusiness Ethics Of The Fast Food Industry1681 Words   |  7 Pagesis an interesting coming when it comes to ethical behavior. They try to do such a good job building a public image supporting illnesses and other contemporary issues, however they continue to have awful menus leading to many health problems. The fast food industry is despicable when it comes to healthy lifestyles, and if we continue to promote this to our children and grandchildren the obesity issues facing our country will continue to be a serious problem. It is a travesty for the all stakeholdersRead MoreThe Ethics Of A Tuition Fee Hike Essay894 Words   |  4 Pagessituations a local fast food chain, however, one decides that he needs napkins for the rest of the week. 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