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Ethical Ethics Of Nike

992 Words4 Pages
Nike is a clear example of a company whose previously unethical practices led to bad PR and motivated them to get involved in CSR. Similarly to Bowen’s concept of the evolution of CSR, Nike too has gone through an evolution that first started from profit focus, then progressed to community affairs, and finally to their now sustainable business (one of the carroll citations - not entirely sure if you’re supposed to put in citations twice though). In the 1990’s there was a lot of controversy surrounding Nike, this was mainly due to their profit focused initiatives and lack of ethics. Nike initially had hyper-growth in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. At this time, Nike outsourced the assembly of it’s products to third parties in Asia in order to both drive efficiency and lower labour costs. When asked about their questionable business practices with some of these third-parties, Nike publicly stated that they couldn’t be expected to be responsible for the practices of its suppliers. This statement led to national media and activist groups sharpening their focus on the business practices of Nike suppliers and by extension Nike. The problems started in 1991, when activist Jeff Ballinger published a report documenting low wages and poor working conditions in Indonesia. Then in 1992, Ballinger published an exposé of Nike. His Harper 's article highlights an Indonesian worker who worked for a Nike subcontractor for 14 cents an hour, less than Indonesia 's minimum wage, and documented
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