Nike and International Labor Practice Essay Example for Free

Nike and International Labor Practice Essay Problem Identification Established in the early 70s Nike, Inc., based in Beaverton, Oregon, USA faced a severe stream of criticism and experienced growing problems concerning their plants and employee treatment, mainly in Indonesia and Vietnam in 1988. Rising demand for Nike products, which almost doubled within a short period of time, led the company and its 350+ subcontractors to raise the production level. Series of labor problems and abuse such as cheap labor wages, poor working conditions, health and safety issues and underage workers exploitation, were the main issues Nike had to deal with. Furthermore, Nike, Inc. had to deal with managing the diversity of cultures and language barriers had to be overcome, while still be able to produce the high-quality product Nike is famous for. Throughout the 1990s Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, Inc. and the company itself lost their superb corporate image in the eye of the world and it became an international incident. Causes of Problem After establishing a name in the world, Phil Knight, decided to manufacture Nikes apparel in South Korea and Taiwan, and by 1982 already 86% of Nikes sneakers came from these two countries. Realizing that Asian countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and China provide cheaper labor cost, better government support and higher profit, Nike moved their production lines there, with Indonesia becoming an important location. In 1991, the daily minimum wage was barely $1 in Indonesia, compared to a typical daily wage of $24.40 in South Korea and a US hourly wage of about $8 in athletic shoe manufacturing. Even that the Indonesian government raised the minimum wage from 2,100 Rupiah ($1.00/day) to 2,500 Rupiah ($1.25/day), the new wage was still underneath the workers living expenses. In 1992, these issues went outside of Indonesia and even hit Washington D.C., when President Clinton introduced the task force Apparel Industry Partnership (AIP) to develop and control labor standards for foreign fact ories. Although Nike was the first one to join, they had trouble convincing people that everything went right in their plants in Asia. Ernst Young was being hired to control and audit the factories, but soon voices became loud, that there was not a really  objective view at the problems, since Nike was paying them. It hit the peak in 1997/ 1998, when TV shows, newspapers and even a movie (The Big One) were talking about the bad conditions within Nikes factories in Asia and publicly challenged Phil Knight to change the way workers were treated, compensated and how underage workers were employed. Adidas, Reebok and New Balance took advantage of Nikes down slope and gained in competitive advantage. This led to diminishing sales number, earnings fell 69%, and for the first time in 13 years Nike, Inc. had a loss at the end of the year 1998. Alternatives 1.Government regulation of Nike Advantages: a)Local Government would have a closer look onto what is happening in its own country and with their people b)US Government could also have a closer look onto what Nike is doing abroad and would be able to intervene any illegal activity from the motherland c)Both governments would work closer together and it would open doors for other US companies to invest in the foreign country Disadvantages: a)As indicated in the case, some governments just see the money that is brought into the country, regardless what is happening within the company, or better said to its people. b)Ties between the US government and the foreign country might not be the best, due to political tensions, and makes it therefore tougher to work together. 2.Improve employees working and living standards Advantages: a)A happy employee is a better worker improve the employees living standard by raising his wage, giving him more benefits (health insurance, vacation time), lessen his working hours, etc. b)Equal Opportunity give chances to workers to move up the company ladder, and not only bring outside people in. Furthermore, adjust workers compensation, working hours and labor conditions to human standards. c)Extensive training and development for managers All managers should learn foreign countrys language, living habits and adapt to culture. Training the workers on the job will also help to overcome workforce diversity and make the workplace a better place to be. Disadvantages: a)The changes will take time and will be cost effective. b)Adapt to western working habits, might be a huge change for Asian workforce and might not be adapted well 3.Documentation and Inspection Advantages: a)Factories will be supervised, by either the local government or organizations b)Inspections will lead to better working conditions c)Workers will have someone to talk to and will not be left alone Disadvantages: a)Again, organizations might be paid by Nike and not report the whole truth b)Reports from workers might be left alone and not brought up to people in charge Best Alternative The best alternative for Nike, Inc. is to undertake all three alternatives simultaneously. In order to gain back the market share and competitive advantage, their global view has to strengthen. They started off very well by implementing some of the above-mentioned ideas. These alternatives will just help them to become a stronger player in this fast growing and very competitive business world. Implementation Steps The actions, that Nike, Inc. should take are as followed: First they should work on getting their name back into the right spotlight, by implementing the alternatives. The governments will be more than willing to help them and since Nike is recognized all over the world, even the local governments/ countries are keen on keeping them in their country and employ their citizens. This might even bring countries like the USA and Indonesia closer together and more companies from the US will be ready to go to Indonesia and produce there. Secondly, the workers benefits, life standard and work habits are the most important of all of the alternatives. Nike, Inc. should invest most of their research and development in this field, since the wages are still not as they should be. An idea would be to start raising the wages to at least the countrys standard, so that people can live off their earnings a normal life. Nike started successfully the implementation of programs that involved increasing the workers living standard in the developing world, but still the compensation of the worker is the main problem that needs to be taken on right away. Secure working places, no lay-offs and safe working environments should be steps that must be taken immediately, only then we can see the difference and make a worker a happy  and productive employee. Last but not least, Nike should be watched, inspected and documented upon. It will not only help the factories in Vietnam or Indonesia, but also the company itself. Once outside organizations tell Nike where they need to improve on and do it after being told, then the company will also get into the positive spotlight, which will resume in higher sales and more profit. Nike will then be again the strongest contender in supporting and sponsoring universities, pro athletes and teams and most important a company that everybody wants to work for, regardless where.

Salems Lot and The Shining :: essays research papers

Stephen King sets up the perfect horror scene in room 217 by buliding off of Hitchcock and hos own previous work, Salem's Lot. King uses Hitchcock's definition of great horror to set for the scene in romm 217. He also uses background from his old work, Salems Lot. Alfred Hitchcock's idea of horror involves human suspense and teh realistic aspect of scary situations. Hitchcocks masterful directing leads the audience to be the frist to understand what is going on. The characters are left in the dark until the suspense reaches its climax. As the impending danger builds, the viewer is allowed to wtiness the situation before the character. This raises the level of suspense making it more realistic. Hitchcock takes normal situations and adds a terffiying twist. The twist is always something that has never happened, but is definetely possible. Hitchcocks The Birds is an excellent example of this. He takes normal situation with normal birds and turns them into killers. As the birds gather behind one unsuspecting victim, only the audience is allowed to see the impending danger. The woman is calm and collected as she waits on the bench. Hitchcock adds a little scare music and the woman suddenly realizes she is being watched. She whips around in horror a nd the birds are there ready to attack. This scfene is not a common occurance, but to an overactive imagination it could become a very real possibility. Kings early work Salems Lot helps to prove he has created the perfect horror scene in room 217. Salems lot was, at that time, a suspenseful story about vampires and things that lurk in the night. The plot was predictable, new guys come to town, vampires attack, suspcicious old man is accused. When King wrote Salems Lot his techniques for horror and suspense were still yound and under developed. The element of surprise was more evident than that of suspense. The writing of King matured greatly before he wrote The Shining. The scene in roo, 217 us a perfect horror scene as it takes a realistic situation and turns it frightening. As the beginning of the nover danny is warned by Hallorann not to enter room 217. The first step has been completed, the warning. The second step of building the action begins. Danny steals the passkey, but not only that as Jack has been having hallucinations along with Danny.

Corporation Rules and Regulations Essay

The group had been liable for 70% of Australian asbestos consumption. However, in February 2007, ASIC had started to impose civil proceedings against James Hardie, the directors and the officers, as ASIC alleged that JHIL and both executive and non-executive had breached their statutory duty. This short research report had outlined the role of ASIC and various penalty that ASIC can impose under Corporation Act 2001. Besides that, we will also discuss the position that ASIC had held from 2004 until current date in relation to the directors of Hardie group. At last, I had provided a summary of the ASIC’s media release that had been established on 13 May 2011, and indentified the element that ASIC is hoping the High Court to uphold. The Role of ASIC: The Australian Security and Investment Commission (ASIC) is a commonwealth statutory corporation that set up by Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act, and it is a regulator which in charge of monitoring the Australia’s Corporation, products, markets and financial services (Lipton, Herzberg and Welsh 2012, p. 736). On the other hand, ASIC is also a commonwealth authority that is responsible for governing the Corporation Act. ASIC Act provided that ASIC owned such powers and function that endowed by the corporation legislation to ASIC. Thus, what exactly is the corporation legislation means? Under Section 5(1), they had interpreted the term ‘corporation legislation’ to mean the ASIC Act and the Corporation Act (Baxt, Finnane and Harris 2012). Besides that, ASIC also owned the power to initiate prosecution for criminal offences or apply for civil penalty orders if they believed that there’s a contravention of the law. ASIC is also able to ban a director from managing a company for a certain period if they contravened their general duties. For instance, in the case of ASIC v Stephen William Vizard [2005], the court held that as a director of Telstra, Mr. Vizard has contravened the Corporation Act: Section 183, the duty of director to use the information in an improper purpose, and gain advantage for himself, thus, the court order pecuniary penalties and a disqualification order against Mr. Vizard (Price Waterhouse Coopers 2012). As a result of that, ASIC actually played a significant role in relation to initiate prosecution against companies directors for misconduct in order to ensure corporation and those related parties are complied with the corporation legislation. Now, let us look at the duties of a corporation’s directors under Corporation Act and what penalty can ASIC can imposed if the directors do not comply with the Corporation Act. The duties of a company’s director: The term ‘director’ is a person who is appointed to manage control or govern the affairs of a corporation. Under Section 9 definitions, the term directors extend to a person who is not formally appointed as a director, but they act as a director or whose instruction or whishes are followed customarily (Baxt, Finnane and Harris 2012). In chapter 2D. 1 of the Corporation Act, from Section 180 until Section 184, it dedicated that the principle duties of a director. They can be listed as followed: †¢Section 180 stated that a director or other officer of a corporation must exercise their power and discharge the duties in a manner with care and diligence (Mclnnes Wilson Lawyers 2011). Section 181 declared that, a director should exercise their power and discharge their duties in good faith where it’s in the best interest of the corporation and for a proper purpose (Mclnnes Wilson Lawyers 2011). †¢Section 182 stated that, a director must not improperly use their position to obtain an advantage for themselves or other or cause lesion to the company. (Armstrong Lawyers 2007). Having understood the general duties of a company’s director, we can now look at the penalties that ASIC could impose if the directors had breach their duty or do not comply with the Corporation Act 2001. The penalties: As we mentioned before, the Australian Securities and Investment (ASIC) is a national body that’s responsible to govern the corporation legislation and securities regulation in Australia. ASIC obtained the power to investigate potential contravention of the corporation law and significant penalties can be imposed on the directors who had failed to perform their duties. The section of the Corporation Act attracting civil penalties under Section 1317J (1), ASIC can apply to the court for a: †¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœDeclaration of contravention’ †¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœPecuniary penalties ‘ †¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœCompensation order’ (Baxt, Finnane and Harris 2012) 1)Pecuniary penalty order: The court may order a pecuniary penalty of up to $200,000 to a director who breaches his duty under Corporation Act. Once the declaration of a contravention by the person had been made (Section 1317E), and the contravention is a corporation penalty (Price Waterhouse Coopers 2012). (2)Compensation order: Under Section 1317H, the court may order a person to compensate the company where loss is suffered because the person had contravened a corporation civil penalty provision (Price Waterhouse Coopers 2012). (3)Disqualification from managing a company: The Corporation Act Section 206C conferred ASIC the power to disqualify the directors from managing a company for a certain periods of time due to the contravention of their general duties (Price Waterhouse Coopers 2012). This concept can be illustrated by the following case: ASIC v Vines [2006], it had been found that Mr. Vines had breached his duty of care and diligence by misleading and an inadequate disclosure of material information to the board of directors and failure to ensure the statement was incorrect. The board was relying on Mr. Vines to make complete disclosure to all material matters. The court held that, as the director had breach their duties of care and diligence b providing fault statement, thus, he had breach civil penalty provisions. The court decided that, Mr. Vines will have to receive a 3 years disqualification, pay a pecuniary penalty of $100,000 and 22% of the ASIC cost (Price Waterhouse Coopers 2012). ASIC’s position that held from 2004-2012: The position of ASIC held from 2004-2012 in relation to the directors of James Hardie case had not altered. Why would I say that? Below is the details of ASIC’s position in relation to the directors of James Hardie: On he 27th February 2004, the NSW government had authorized Mr. David Jackson to conduct a special commission of Inquiry into James Hardie newly founded foundation-Medical Research and Compensation Foundation (Australian Council of Trade Union 2007). At first instance, it had been found out that, the foundation was in fact had a nearly 1. 5 billion of shortfall, and a media release saying that the MRCF is ‘fully founded’ to meet all the current and future asbestos claims to the Australia Securities Exchange through the approval of the board directors during the directors meeting. Thus, ASIC had alleged that JHIL had made a misleading and deceptive statement. As a result of that, it had raised a principle issue for the board of directors of JHIL, whether or not they had knowingly voted in favor of releasing the ‘misleading’ announcement to ASX (Alcorn 2011). In addition, the sub issues that had been raised are under Section 180(1), was a general counsel can be treated as an officer? The Original Decision: In April 2009, ASIC held that all of the executive, non-executive and company officer had breached their duty of care by approving the media statement to be made in ASX. In particularly, ASIC had alleged that, the company chief executive officer and company secretary or general counsel, Mr. Macdonald and Mr. Shafron had breached the director’s duty of care and diligence under Section 180(1) as they had failed to advice the board to disclose the DOCI information to ASX (Hargovan 2009). Thus the court had imposed penalties on both of them: †¢Mr. Macdonald was disqualified from managing a company for 15 years and a pecuniary penalty of $350,000. According to the Corporation Act 2001, Section 180(1), an officer obtain the power in decision making which affected the whole or substantial part of a business, thus, Mr, Shafron had a positive obligation to advise the board of the disclosure of DOCI. In relation, he was given a disqualification order for 7 years and a pecuniary penalty of $75,000 (Baxt, Finnane and Harris 2012). †¢Mr. Morley had been banned from the management for 5 years and paid a pecuniary penalty of $35,000. †¢However, all of the seven former non-executives directors were disqualified from management for 5 years each and a pecuniary penalty of $30,000. The Appeal: In December 2010, the NSW court of Appeal overturned the finding in relation to liabilities and penalties of the non-executives directors, the CFO and secretary general counsel of James Hardie Industries Ltd as ASIC had failed to prove that the ASX media statement was approved by the board, and as the appellate court had established that some of the directors had acted honestly without any intention to gain benefit from themselves, which is under Section 1317 of the Corporation Act 2001 (Hargovan 2011). Thus, amendment had been made in relation to lessen the liabilities and penalty of the directors and officer can be found in later section (summary of media release). Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that Mr. Shafron, Mr. Morley and ASIC had filled application for special leave to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal. In May 2011, ASIC had issued media release that stated that they had granted a special leave to appeal the James Hardie decision. ASIC didn’t change their position in relation to the directors of James Hardie and they are still seeking to uphold the finding that the directors of James Hardie had breached their duty by approving the ASX announcement made by the company (ASIC 2011). Media Release’s Summary: This article talk about the ASIC had granted a special leave from the High Court to appeal the decision of the New South Wales Court of Appeal in the James Hardie matter in relation to the former non-executive directors and the former company secretary and general counsel of James Hardie Industries Limited. The ASIC has actually filled his application in the High Court on 14 January 2011. The purpose of ASIC to strive for a special leave is they are seeking clarification about the nature, content and scope of ASIC’s obligation, while the Court of Appeal had concluded that ASIC had breached their duty of fairness, as they failed to call the witness Mr. Rob in the trial judge of James Hardie case (ASIC 2011). The failure to call the witness, Mr.Rob had make a tremendous impact on the decision of the court, as they cannot attest the non-executive directors had voted in favor of the ASX announcement’s draft (Thomas 2011). As a result of that, ASIC is hoping the High Court to uphold the finding if the trial judge that the directors had acted in favor in regards of the ASX announcement made by the company (ASIC 2011). Decision: As a result of that, in August 2009, the NSW Supreme Court had imposed pecuniary penalties on JHIL and all the non-executive officers and executive officers, plus a disqualification order on them for an extensive period.

walden two Essay - 812 Words

Walden Two nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;In B.F. Skinner’s Walden Two, Skinner presents many positive changes to society in his utopia, such as: division of labor, encouragement of perusing your own interests in education, and absolute equality. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;In Walden Two, a member is paid in credits that are required by the society. Each person earns a certain amount of credits per hour for every job they do. Everyone is expected to work to receive 4-6 credits for one day. The amount of credits-per-hour depends on the job. A more physically demanding or unpleasant job would receive more points then something less taxing. This is an effective way or contracting society because it has people work enough to get the†¦show more content†¦When a child reaches high school they study when, what and for how long according to what they want. It is completely student driven and allows the students motivation to be the driving force for study. This is the opposite of today’s student who is driven by fear of failure, parents, and competition, as stated by Frazier. Since they will not be learning to become a high paying professional, they are learning for the sake of knowledge. This becomes something that is h ighly prized and children are motivated by to gain for themselves. It is important because it translate into other parts of their life; they do things for their own interest producing an all around happier individual and therefore a more productive whole. The happiness of a productive society member can also be attributed to equality of all society members. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Arguably the most enticing component to the Walden Two society is its belief in complete equality for all within the community. There is no distinction between men and women, they are all allowed to do their own work and live as they please. Work is not chosen because this is what a certain â€Å"type† of person should do (e.g. women should be n the kitchen etc.), but are rather selected for the job itself. They are driven to work for themselves and study for themselves. No one is denied or segregated for any reason. Managers and Planners, people who may beShow MoreRelatedUtopia Viewpoint in B.F. Skinners Book, Walden Two924 Words   |  4 PagesIn 1948, B.F. Skinner published his novel, Walden Two, based on an utopian viewpoint that once arose from a dinner conversation with a friend. Skinner shared his thoughts with his companion about soldiers returning from war. Skinner was curious as to how soldiers could abandon adventure only to tie themselves down to pursue the â€Å"American Dream† when they could be exploring the world caught up in their own personal experiences (Altus Morris, 2004). However, Skinner’s utopian viewpoint was not aRead More Walden Two Essay952 Words   |  4 Pages Book Title: Walden Two Author: B.F. 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