Corporate Social Responsibility Press Release
provided by 
12.01.2008 - 04:40pm ET
News from:
CSRwire's Video, Commentary and Research
Nike’s Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts Falling Short?
Commentary by Sasha Dichter of Acumen Fund
(CSRwire) December 1, 2008 - Here's what struck me in Fortune's recent article on
Nike titled, "Citizen
Nike" that looks into labor conditions in Nike's supply chain: despite
real, serious efforts on Nike's part, conditions in the factories that
manufacture their shoes hasn't improved significantly in the last
decade.
Want proof? If you make it to the last page of the article, you'll find a
sobering quotation by Richard Locke, a professor at MIT's Sloan School of
Management, stating that:
Despite 'significant efforts and investments by Nike…workplace
conditions in almost 80% of its suppliers have either remained the same or
worsened over time.
The article goes on to say that in Nike's fiscal 2006 audit of its 42
factories, 7 got an 'A' (best) rating and 13 got D's (worst rating)
because of multiple transgressions.
(An aside here is how incredibly friendly Fortune is to companies in these
sorts of profiles. If they wanted to write an article titled "Sweatshops
Still Haunt Nike" or something similar, I'm sure they could have.)
This is incredibly sobering. Nike has taken CSR - specifically, improving
conditions in their supply chain and lessening the environmental impact of
their products - very seriously. They've appointed Hannah Jones, a well
respected, senior person in the organization, to lead this effort and
given her a team of 135 people around the world. Plus, she reports
directly to CEO Marc Parker. Nike has taken a leadership role in
disclosing who their suppliers, have been transparent about conditions in
their supply chain, and they've been very public about their commitment to
change. And in some areas (like the environmental impact and amount of
waste in their products) they seem to have made some real strides (pun
intended).
But on the question of Nike's factories, things are either the same or
have gotten worse.
My point is: if it's this hard for Nike to move the dial on these issues,
then it’s REALLY hard to make an impact as a "responsible corporate
citizen." Plus, the areas where Nike has made the most progress are those
where there's a strong business case (reducing $800M a year in material
waste in shoe manufacturing), which gives me more hope for initiatives
that have to do with efficiency and cost savings (read: green) and less
hope for those that involve real tradeoffs (read: wage levels, healthcare,
benefits, workers' rights).
I’m incredibly glad that "corporate social responsibility" has gotten
traction in recent years, but my personal experience resonates a lot more
with what I read in this article about Nike (even with great intentions,
commitment and resources, making real headway is hard and slow) than when
I see advertisements proclaiming how a given company gives back and makes
a difference.
In those cases, I’ll believe it when I see it.
About Sasha Dichter
Sasha Dichter is, among other things, the Director of Business Development
at Acumen Fund, a
global non-profit venture capital fund that invests in enterprises that
fight poverty in the developing world. Click here to
read more of his blogs.
About CSRwire.com
CSRwire is the leading source of corporate social responsibility and
sustainability news, reports and information. CSRwire members are
companies and NGOs, agencies and organizations interested in communicating
their corporate citizenship, sustainability, and socially responsible
initiatives to a global audience through CSRwire's syndication network and
weekly News Alerts. CSRwire content covers issues of Diversity,
Philanthropy, Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) Environment, Human
Rights, Workplace Issues, Business Ethics, Community Development and
Corporate Governance.
News Categories:
Human Rights and Corporate Governance
|
