THE DOWNSIDES OF NIKE'S GLOBALIZATION

Superbrands such as Nike have been described as one of the central mediums of globalization and as symbols of a global economy. Nike is described as a transcendent superbrand that took branding to another level, beginning to focus principally on brands and brand management, believing that while products are made in factories, a brand is made in the mind and bought by the consumer. 

The result for Nike was innovative ad campaigns, superstars like Michael Jordan, superstores like Nike Town, and corporate campuses such as the Nike World campus. The Nike swoosh and « Just Do It » slogan are meanwhile believed to be the most recognizable brand icon or corporate logo, conveying "Nike" without need of words. Nike total’s profit was 25 billion dollars in 2017.

Although Nike’s impact on globalization has been beneficial for the developed world because it has supplied them with a vast variety of cheap athletic wear, but it has a less beneficial impact because of its poor worker rights and the negative image it has given America in developing foreign countries.       

  

Already in the 1980’s, the brand has been criticized for sourcing its products in factories which are located most of the time in poor countries and where low wages, hard working conditions, and human rights problems were rampant. Over the course of the 1990’s, there are a series of public relations problems involving underpaid workers in Indonesia, child labor in Cambodia and Pakistan, and poor working conditions in China and Vietnam. Today, Nike counts more than 147 000 stores in 140 countries around the world. Nike products were being manufactured in 6 Indonesian factories, employing more than 25 000 workers. As nike’s presence in Indonesia increased, the factories supplying its products (about 6 million pairs of shoes per year) came under greater scrutiny. Reports by a variety of ONGs and labor activists claimed that these plants were rife with exploitation, poor working conditions, and a range of human rights and labor abuses. Many of Indonesian shoe factories did not even pay their employees the minimum daily wage (2100 rupiah/ about US $1 per day). 

The logic of the new priority is not to spend money on machines that will rust, factories that need constant upkeep, and employees; resources should be used on sponsorships, expansion, and advertising as it is this that will help to build superbrands. The increased resistance to investing in labor and factories has led to the inevitable devaluation of the production process, producers and employees. Nike products are manufactured in more than 700 factories, in 51 countries, employing over 500,000 workers. Its direct employees are 22,658, most work in the United States in management, administration, laboratories and logistics, and none are involved in production. This is contracted to Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and China.

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