Nike is by far one of the most recognized and branded multinational corporation around the world. Lets be realistic anyone who is economically able to purchase a pair of Nike shoes or any of Nike apparel will do it without any type of doubt because the first things that comes into everyone’s mind are the unbelievable and highly-creative advertisement campaigns featuring the top soccer and basketball players, the extravagant collections ranging from clothes to equipment but definitively not all the abnormal activities that happen underground at the production stage.

Using military strengths to motivate, not paying the minimum wage and treating the labor force as dogs and pigs are definitively the underground decisions that have not been guided by morale principles. As for this Nike’s brand reputation is put into doubt. How can a company making  $24 billion dollars of revenue a year act in this unethical manner? Indeed it is true that not a single firm wants higher costs but come on Nike is already diminishing its costs by producing in developing countries where labor is not only cheap but also unprotected. Although having to pay higher salaries is turning into an ethical dilemma for Nike it is absurd use violence as a form of motivation when other legal ways could be used to make workforce more productive.

This is not the worst part because although they have done this a repeated number of times not only in Indonesia but other countries around the world they still have a perfect corporate image and customer loyalty. Could this mean that ethical behavior is not really needed or easily replaced by business techniques such as marketing? Is this why governments must come into hand because businesses only drive themselves by profit maximization and not social responsibility?

Bibliography

Kavoussi, Bonnie. “Nike Factory In Indonesia Used Military To Intimidate Workers Into Giving Up Pay: Report.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 15 Jan. 2013. Web. 11 Sept. 2014.