What It Means to NIKE

NIKE bears the uncomfortable role of the moral punching bag in the world’s struggle with the complicated issues of the justification for and practicality of creating international standards of human rights. Human rights activists assault NIKE for not leveraging its economic muscle toward concretely improving standards of human rights in the nations that produce NIKE shoes and apparel. Furthermore, activists criticize NIKE’s Code of Conduct and other labor-friendly initiatives as reactive, image-o riented public relations schemes rather than forward-thinking, genuine attempts to help the subcontracted workers.
One can understand the frustration that has led NIKE to claim that it has been unfairly targeted. Yet while the massive critical attention paid to NIKE might be excessive of that given to NIKE’s peer companies, such attention is most certainly not unfair. The practical business challenges and ethical dilemnas which stem from operating in foreign nations are quite complicate...