Nike & Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept that has blossomed over the last fifteen years. Rather than being narrowly focused on the pursuit of profit at the expense of all else, businesses practicing CSR, should at least in theory, be behaving responsibly in the course of their profit-making, taking into account their economic, environmental and social impacts on society.

However, there is a lot of debate surrounding CSR practice, regarding both to what extent certain companies are living up to their responsible promises and regarding some of the possible ulterior motives involved in practicing CSR.

Reasons why Nike might practice CSR other than just on moral grounds include:

• Defending their important public image
• Differentiating themselves from their competitors
• Helping to prevent financially damaging boycotts, strikes, lawsuits, etc
• Appealing to the ethical consumer
• Appealing to the ethical investor
• Appealing to the ethical employee
• Pressure to do so from NGO's, Government or to combat public relations disasters
• Using CSR policies as evidence that they do not need to be regulated any further than they already are at present

Nikes CSR Policy

Nike maintain that their business is built on trust, teamwork, honesty and mutual respect. In order for this to be achieved, the company has put in place a set of corporate governance policies and practices and this has been extended in recent times to attempt to include corporate responsibility issues as a central part of their governance system. Nike's codes and policies are outlined below:

Our Codes and Policies

Our code of ethics is called Inside the Lines; it defines the standards of conduct we expect of our employees. Every year, all employees are required to verify that they have read and understand Inside the Lines.

We operate a global toll-free Alertline for employees to report in confidence any suspected violations of the law or our code of ethics. Any reported concerns around accounting, auditing or internal control are communicated to the Audit Committee of the Board.

We expect our suppliers to share our standards and to operate in a legal and ethical manner. While Inside the Lines covers the behavior of Nike employees, our Nike Code of Conduct covers contractors who manufacture Nike-branded products. It directs them to respect the rights of their employees, and to provide them with a safe and healthy work environment.

       http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/nikebiz.jhtml?page=7&item=responsibility

CSR in Practice

Examples of what nike do sponsorship, ethical issues,

• sweatshops and how they have got better?

environmental issues

You might want to include some of the following some of this as part of your piece Euan

4. A Small but Important Step Forward – Nike Reveals Factory Addresses Oxfam Community Aid Abroad welcomes Nike's decision to release its address list of factory suppliers for Nike-branded products. The release of factory addresses is an important step forward in terms of transparency and we strongly encourage other brands to follow Nike's lead. We also encourage Nike to release the addresses of factories making the other brands which Nike owns, including Converse and the discount sportswear Nike produces for sale in Wal-Mart stores. The addresses were made public in April as part of the launch of Nike's latest Corporate Responsibility Report. Another positive aspect of the report is Nike's openness in admitting that between 25% and 50% of its supplier factories are: 1. failing to provide workers with one day off in seven, and 2. paying wages below the relevant legal minimum wage Nike also acknowledges that the company's business decisions—including manufacturing timelines and pricing—may contribute to negative impacts on workers. More information is needed in order to assess whether Nike's "balanced scorecard" approach to selecting factories will reduce this problem. While openness and transparency are important, there is a difference between admitting to problems and solving them. Oxfam Community Aid Abroad remains concerned that the great majority of workers producing Nike product are still not paid enough to meet the basic needs of their dependents and are denied their right to freedom of association. It is good that Nike acknowledges that trade union rights represent a key challenge for the company and admits that some suppliers are actively and illegally opposing organising efforts. However, Oxfam Community Aid Abroad is aware of only a few isolated cases where Nike has helped increase the space for Nike workers to exercise their trade union rights and in those cases Nike only acted positively in response to sustained campaign pressure. On wages, whereas Oxfam believes companies should commit to a living wage, Nike's report makes it clear that the company does not support this approach. Nike's moves to increase transparency in its supply chain are welcome. We encourage Nike to match this with a commitment to ensuring that workers are paid a living wage and with concrete action to ensure that workers' trade union rights are respected.

      http://www.oxfam.org.au/campaigns/nike/newsletters/05_05_NikeWatchNews.pdf

The alternative viewpoints

http://www.toolness.com/nike/swoosh.jpg33 http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jerome.lafourcade/Documents/Detente/Images/Anti-mondialiste/nike.jpg33

Nike might see themselves as a victim of their own sucess. As one of the biggest manufacturers of sportswear, they are under considerably more scrutiny than many of their competitors, targeted by a broad range of campaigning NGOs and journalists as a representitive of the "Multinational". In Nikes case, the issues are those of human rights and conditions for workers in factories in developing countries. In the face of constant accusations, Nike has developed a considered response and even publicly apologised for its past wrongdoings last year. However, some criticism continues.

Find out for Yourself

References