Activist Keep Nike on the Run, Essay Example

Introduction

The consensus is Nike has been violating human rights since the 1990s. They were so arrogant that the public soon found they continue these practices of sweatshops and unethical behavior. It has been reported that activist are spreading the word that Nike is still violating human rights by closing one sweatshop but opening another sweatshop in another distressed and poverty. Nike learned the hardest lesson is public opinion can impact sales.The media news has presented Nike Inc.,as a corporationthat does not care about human rights or workers’ rights. It has been stated by several activist groups that Nike Inc. is involved with slave labor, poor working conditions, and unlawful hiring of children. The Nike Corporationmakes millions of dollars while the families of poor countries work for pennies.Without laying all the blame on Nike Inc.that have the tag as a human rights violators. Conversely, the activist indicate Nike Inc. is still using slave labor and sweatshops. They are only making some appearance changes but overall still creating sweatshops and still allowing unhealthy working conditions.

Identify the Problem

The primary problem is large corporations are moving some of their business operations to third world countries to find cheap labor.The most publicized abusers of human rights is the Nike sweatshop that still operating abroad and making profits in environments with poor working conditions. Many of the corporations like Nike have paid the fines, changed their internal practices, and closed down the report workshops. It is very difficult to determine the true state of the sweatshops. On the other hand, you have activist who have believe that Nike does just enough for the public views but are guilty of opening sweatshops in another country.

In a summary of the issue, activist are in the spotlight pointing at Nike as not caring about human rights while Nike has taken the stance improvement and changes have been made. Nike has a diversified set of stakeholder which include consumers, governments, and community.

Key Stakeholders

The key stakeholders for Nike is the stake holders are individuals or groups that have an interested in Nike and they are directly or in-directly affected by the companies decisions.The stakeholders are far-reaching to the environment, individuals and groups who all have a shared interest in maximizing their return on investment.The stakeholders are concerned with the stock price dropping because of the human rights issues. However, the stakeholders has some resources to use to improve the perception such as positive reports about Nike working to make changes. The relationship between the activist groups and Nike would be beneficial because the public would see two opposite organization trying to make improvements to our children’s future environment.

Activist

The activist understand that many organizations like Nike that depend on cheap labor to pad their bank accounts. The goal was to stop sweatshops in the world but the activist found that it is so wide spread that exposing Nike would put others on warning. Nike has made some changes such as more goodwill to people in the community, providing alternatives to negative situations and they have addressed the sweatshop issues. The activist are using media tactics to bring as much attention in the news to force Nike to comply in all countries not just to exploit the area. The activist have indicated they are only spending money to make a spin to the community. Nike public relations team failed the company miserable because they were doing damage control for ages yet these human rights stories can brought to the forefront. Nike should have never allowed for some many pictures to be taken of the Indian children working. This type of arrogance is what cost Nike in the public. The Nike problems began with hiring contractors to complete the sewing of the shoes. The contractors would chose the poorest places in Asian. They would strategically find the worst economy to find the cheapest raw materials and cheap labor. The first glance Nike was helping the people of Asia with jobs and security, however they would hire children and women to work in the worst conditions. “As a result, the activities has started a global and human rights groups to address these destructive work conditions.Nike has been losing stocks at the market while they revamp their images as a corporation that does not care. Nike is pushing the campaign to revamp their brand brining back some old customers in the process. It now apparent that Nike had did not realized the important of doing things the right way and make sure all the employees are training on ethical and unethical practices in another country.The perception of Nike concerning the labor and human rights issues continue to be the major problems for Nike. Nike underestimated the power of the people who have brought the issues to the forefront.

The best example that Nike is still using sweatshops is the China incident where Nike had contractors go on strike because of working conditions. The employees pick a representative that discusses the changes but Nike refuse to make the changes with the whole word watching. The conditions were so egregious that China fired the manager of the labor group. The employees decided to hold a strike because of working conditions, wages, salaries, and benefits. “The strike at Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Ltd. (551)’s factory in Dongguan, China, extended to a 10th day today, George Liu, a spokesman for the Hong Kong-listed company, said by phone. Employees at the complex, where more than 40,000 people work, have been striking since April 14 in a dispute over pay and benefits” (Bloomberg News, 2014). The activist were right all along that big companies tend to just take the sweatshop to another country. This proves that the Nike is still opening sweatshops but tried to disguise them as factories. The Chinese people knew it was time to stop Nike from continued human rights violations.

Reference

Bloomberg News. (2014).China frees labor activist Nike strike on 10^th day. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-25/china-frees-labor-activist-as-nike-contractor-strike-in-10th-day.html