Doing Business Right

æ Written Work #2 – Case Study: 30 pts

æ Topic: Ethical Challenges in Doing Business
æ BERS01B

Name: Edlyn V. Ching Grade & Section: Abm 121 Score: ____

Case Study: Nike Sweatshops

Case Study Report

This ethics is concerned with what is considered right or wrong in human morality and
societal concerns that may affect an individual or a group of individuals currently. Business
ethics is the study of professional ethics that deals with human behavior or ethical dilemmas
that may arise in the workplace. Business ethics creates moral norms that regulate how firms
should run, how business choices should be made, and how people or workers should be
treated. Furthermore, business ethics are mandated by legislation as something that the
company must do. In this case study, Nike has been accused of utilizing sweatshops to
manufacture footwear and clothes/apparel. The company says it has no control over
subcontracted companies in Asian countries where labor is cheaper and unions are outlawed.
Nike has also been accused of subjecting subcontracted factory workers in other countries to
deplorable working conditions in exchange for poor pay.

Nike has been accused of using sweatshops to produce footwear and apparel since the
1970s, and the company has said that it has no control over subcontracted factories in Asian
countries where labor is cheaper and labor unions are prohibited. In this case study, Nike
products have been linked to slave wages, forced overtime, and irrational mistreatment. In an
article published in the journal Politics and Society, the advocacy groups discovered that
sweatshop workers, the majority of whom are women in their teens or early twenties, clock in
nine to thirteen hours of exhausting labor a day for six days a week, have little time to rest, and
are sometimes forced to work overtime. Despite their efforts, they only make PHP 100 each
day, which is not even close to the cost of daily living expenses. Furthermore, the article stated
that superior abuse of employees is common in some workplaces and that workers are
subjected to physical punishment if they do anything wrong, such as being forced to run in
circles outdoors or having a worker's mouth taped shut after shifting to an improper position. In
this case study, Nike believes that its profit will increase despite the fact that unethical behavior
may be detrimental to a company.
The ethical and social concerns in the case include that Nike unethically takes advantage
of labor markets in order to increase profits, yet it has only had problems as a result of its
unethical activities in employment, minimum wage, social responsibility, and many other
aspects. They should be in charge of the legal, social, and humanitarian elements of their
subcontracted factories. That they do not pay their employees the legal minimum wage, that
they do not care about working conditions, and that they do not care about their employees'
wellbeing. That they just do not care about the well-being of other people. Nike's theoretical
premise is that they measure the health and safety monitoring of workers and subcontracted
factories. That factory should be chosen by an independent authority, such as the worker's
rights consortium, which includes substantial representation from unions and human rights
organizations. Furthermore, Nike must reconsider their perspective on making a lot of money
when their activity becomes unethical because people's well-being is dwindling. Furthermore,
Nike could improve working conditions in subcontracted factories and reestablish itself as a
socially respectable business. Nike should have followed the ethical and social principles of how
a company should be operated.
Human and labor rights organizations have accused Nike of having a bad working
environment, poor health and safety conditions, and low pay. Either that addresses the
problem, or they must strengthen their system to avoid a repeat in the future. They must
enhance their monitoring efforts, raise the minimum age of workers, and increase factory
audits. Furthermore, Nike should raise the minimum wage it pays its employees as a result of
the advocacy organization's report, which investigated whether sweatshop workers do so.
Furthermore, they must strengthen their monitoring of labor conditions and ensure the safety
of the factories. That these enhancements and resolutions to this issue will aid in enhancing
Nike's public perception.
In conclusion, the major findings of this case study show that the company is involved in
many environmental and human rights problems in order to address labor rights issues, which
in this case study include sweatshop employees who no longer have adequate rights to their
jobs and are also subjected to abuse. As a result, Nike should take the initiative to be socially
responsible and inspect the working conditions of its employees. Nike has to form a fair labor
union and a worker rights consortium, as well as improve working conditions at subcontracted
factories. Furthermore, Nike must adhere to the right moral and social principles for organizing
and managing. Moreover, no matter how large or successful a company is, it must adhere to its
code of ethics since ethics is what governs business decisions made by people or groups inside
the organization. It has influenced whether the decision is right or wrong. Businesses must
make decisions that will not affect the company since they will be unethical if there are small
difficulties, such as workers, subordinate factories, and other issues, as there are in this case. As
a result, an unethical business decision has already been made. In order to continue to
generate a profit and appear good in public, Nike must also enhance the business and
production circumstances for its workers.
References:
Essential in Business Ethics