Mending The “Swoosh”

As a world-renowned corporation reputed for its innovative sportswear and acknowledged for its “swoosh” trademark, Nike was placed under the spotlight when the company was revealed to have adopted the operations of sweatshops,

According to Max Nisen’s article “How Nike Solved Its Sweatshop Problem”, despite of the garnered contention, Nike was able to mend its broken reputation by building a nearly transparent business through practices such as the corporate social responsibility reports.

From the preparations that were done for class 3, Nike’s predicament obliquely divulges the significance of business ethics and its impact on the corporation. As R. Edward Freeman deliberately discloses how the stakeholder theory renders to the success of a business: “to create values for customers, suppliers…community”, the equal importance of each group was emphasized as well. Nike’s triumph in obtaining a new image corresponds to this idea as the transparency reveals the brand’s recognition for the “issues of corporate responsibility” and its effort to correlate with the customers. Thus it is by shifting the focus on every faction of the stakeholders, the company is then able to obtain success. Although one is to argue the real intention behind Nike’s endeavor to appease the unsatisfied consumers. Nike has indeed made effort toward the publishing of CR reports and has delineated its sustainability prospects – which means the company has divided its focus towards becoming an ethical business.