I chose this optional article from the class 3 prep specifically because I couldn’t help but realize how the levels of ethics practiced within a firm varied according to the time they faced bad publicity (how earlier on were they caught compared to others).

Nike is known to be one the firms that highly vocalizes its ethical practices as well as aiding in the founding of the FLA. They are constantly used as an example when being compared to other firms such as Apple. However, my argument for this case is that the only reason that Nike is ahead in the game is because they were caught much earlier on and had to take certain actions so as to protect their brand image.

What this tells me is that firms aren’t automatically trying to be ethical be it Nike or Apple, but are rather doing so once they are caught and all in order to maintain their public image. What I would like you to do is ask yourself what the situation would be like if firms practiced being ethical from day one?

Also do check out the article and some of the conclusions made by Richard Locke. They’re pretty interesting.