Nike Globalization Strategy

Today, there is no doubt that Nike is one of the most famous and popular athletic footwear, apparels, and accessories companies in the world. Nike has been supplied attractive products over the years, and I am also one of the Nike product users. Nike founded in 1964 and

Nike business model has started since then, and its model stays the same even today (Locke,

2012, p.4). Nike business model is to invest in design, development, marketing, and sales then contract with other companies to manufacture the products (Locke, 2012, p.4). While Nike 's global business looks successful, various unethical practices in their products’ manufacturers and suppliers were revealed to the world in the 1990s.

• Explain how Nike came to that situation through

However, the significant issue was, as Nike’s business has been growing, Nike did not seem to care much or to pay much attention to their product manufacturers ' working conditions. In other words, Nike seemed to aim their business growth and expansion with only consequentialism approach.

THE PROMISE AND PERILS OF GLOBALIZATION: THE CASE OF NIKE 3

• Explain the positive and negative impacts of this strategy

The strategy worked out well on a superficial level, and Nike rapidly expanded their business thus recognized as a fascinating sports gear worldwide brand successfully. Nike could take advantage of global lower cost sourcing to product and invest in the company growth

(Locke, 2012, p.9). However, along with the rapid expansion, Nike fell into a pitfall. Nike seemed underestimated their production lines management, monitoring, conditions, and circumstances. As a result, in the 1980s, Nike started to be accused of low wages, poor working conditions, and human rights problems at its products factories and countries (Locke, 2012, p.9).

In the 1990s, "underpaid workers in Indonesia, child labor in Cambodia and Pakistan, and poor working conditions in China and Vietnam" (Locke, 2012, p.9) were unveiled to the

Thus totally seemed to ignore the rest of the requirements as a company and a global citizen, who is supposed to have responsibilities for the public and social missions. The lack of respect, in any relationship fields, in anywhere, usually end up with unfavorable results, as we have seen and experienced daily basis around us. If Nike could implement “The Nike Code of Conduct” (Locke, 2012, p.34-35), concept and principle as the company motto from the beginning for all concerned Nike production lines, Nike’s positive company brand image had been maintained robust. It was quite unfortunate that Nike did not take it seriously enough from the beginning.

• What would the consequences have been then? If Nike could implement “The Nike Code of Conduct,” perhaps, the sales of Nike had been much less, and the growth rate and speed had been much slower. However, Nike had not suffered severe damage to its corporate image; hence, Nike had received higher respects as a public and social mission compliance company, and it may influence the company business sustainability. Because of globalization and IT technologies, the information sharing in the world became much easier and faster. In other words, it gets quite challenging to hide an inconvenient