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ADETOYESE ODUOLA
International Business in the Global Environment:
Management and Strategy
NIKE
Executive Summary
In the mid-1990s, Nike, one of the world's most successful footwear companies was hit by a spate of alarmingly bad publicity. After years of high-profile, media attention shift to NIKE as the company that can "just do it." Nike is suddenly being portrayed as a firm that relies on low-cost, exploited labor in its overseas plants. Managing public perception and labor relations in the globally outsourced sports footwear and apparel manufacturing operations, allegations of coerced overtime in China, dangerous working condition in Vietnam and public relation nightmare, series of labor problems and abuse such as cheap labor wages, poor working conditions, health and safety issues and underage workers exploitation were the main issues Nike had to deal with, while the problem has to do with the rising demand for NIKE products.
Analysis
The case is all about NIKE, which is the leading sports shoe and apparel merchandiser, which later became a principal target of activism against sweatshop labor conditions in developing countries and why it has faced persistent public relations problems in its response to anti sweatshop criticism. Nike has become a major target because it has successfully integrated different forms of corporate communication into the promotion of a high-profile corporate identity. The reflexive character of Nike’s promotionalism, however, has allowed for activist criticism that contrasts Nike’s claims of social responsibility with the labor conditions in its manufacturing ope ...