Research a global organization and a cultural issue that affects this organization’s interactions outside the United States.·         Define the cultural issue within the global organization.

 Learning Team Assignment:   

·         Research a global organization and a cultural issue that affects this organization’s interactions outside the United States.·         Define the cultural issue within the global organization. ·         Prepare an analysis of the ethical and social responsibility issues that your selected organization deals with as result of being a global organization. ·         Write a 1,450- to 1,900-word paper summarizing the results of the analysis. Include the following:

 o        Identify ethical perspectives in the global organization.o        Compare these ethical perspectives across cultures involved in the global organization.    

Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Below is what I have so far

Cultural PerspectivesThe Nike Corporation is a well known global organization. From the very

beginning the company has turned to other countries as a means of cheap labor.

According to DeTienne & Lewis (2005), Nike first emerged as Blue Ribbon Sports and

was founded by Philip Knight and Bill Bowerman who turned to other countries such as

Japan to save money on the cost of labor and production.

As the organization continued to expand their line of products, they also expanded

their outsourcing to more countries including Pakistan. It is in Pakistan where the

company faced serious allegations of poor work conditions and the use of child labor.

The allegations were that there were young children stitching the soccer balls that the

company produces. Boje & Khan (2009) state that soccer balls have been produced

mainly in Sialkot, Pakistan for years in organizations like Nike, and it has been estimated

that thousands of children have been hired to stitch the balls.

Different cultures have different views on how much responsibility children should

have. . Khan (2010) states that the way childhood is perceived not only differs between

countries but also from culture to culture. “Childhood experiences do not simply vary

across countries but also within a single culture and across different ethnic groups”,

(Khan 2010). For example, in some poor, underdeveloped areas such as Sialkot, Pakistan,

parents see nothing wrong with their children working to help support their families. Here

in the United States we have child labor laws protecting our kids from having such

responsibility put on them at a young age. For such struggling families like the ones in

Pakistan, having their children work to help the family is a necessity.

Child labor is an issue that affects the Nike Corporation and its interactions outside of the

United States. After the news about what was going on in Pakistan broke there were some

serious changes to the way the organization operates. They started abiding by stricter

regulations and paying more attention to how their contracted offshore factories produced

products and who they hired.

Analysis of the ethical and social responsibilities Nike faced with global expansion yields

several factors that need consideration. The first is cost. In order to stay competitive in

price while not reducing their workforce, Nike – like many corporations have chosen to

do – outsourced some of their manufacturing on a global scale. This gave them cost

advantage over their competition and allowed them to expand into emerging markets.

While some may see this as unethical because it takes jobs away from manufacturing

plants in the US, Nike was acting in the best interests of the company which includes the

current employees. If a corporation cannot maintain a competitive edge in their markets

while expanding the business, growth dwindles and jobs are lost. No one wins when the

company is no longer competitive in their industry.

The second consideration lies with the customers. This area of ethical responsibility was

severely overlooked. Nike underestimated the impact of not adhering to its base market

ideologies when it did not require stringent labor regulation at the offshore production

facilities. It is hard enough to justify moving or creating jobs outside of the US, but when

the customer views those jobs being taken by young kids, the problem is severely

compounded. America has demonstrated its willingness to look beyond outsourcing

labor, but child labor is a public relations nightmare. Unfortunately Nike did not apply

the ethical obligations early on, and they paid dearly for it.

References

Boje, D. M., & Khan, F. R. (2009). Story-Branding by Empire Entrepreneurs: Nike,

Child Labour, and Pakistan's Soccer Ball Industry. Journal of Small Business and

Entrepreneurship, 22(1), 9-24. Retrieved September 24, 2011, from EBSCOhost.

DeTienne, K., & Lewis, L. W. (2005). The Pragmatic and Ethical Barriers to Corporate

Social Responsibility Disclosure: The Nike Case. Journal of Business Ethics, 60(4), 359-

376. Retrieved September 24, 2011, from EBSCOhost.

Khan, A. (2010). Discourses on Childhood: Policy-Making with Regard to Child Labour

in the Context of Competing Cultural and Economic Perceptions. History &

Anthropology, 21(2), 101-119. doi:10.1080/02757201003730574