Contemporary Management Issues

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Today’s global business environment is more conscious than ever about adopting the corporate social responsibility into their business framework. People are getting more conscious about the human impact on the environment. The adverse effects of human behavior on the society and Contemporary Management Issues environment have also added responsibility on the corporate world to protect their CSR reputation.

The advent of globalization is one of the key factors that triggered the importance of incorporating CSR and compliance practices into the corporate framework which had brought both positive and adverse effects on the economic prospects and development around the world and piled on more responsibility on the companies to be socially responsible.

Companies around the world enjoy the benefits of the open market which provides immense growth opportunities but on the other hand is exposed to risks and issues like following the strict sustainability regulations and ethical guidelines no matter what kind of external environment they operate in (Yüksel Mermod and O. Idowu, 2013).

The multinational companies have shown great progress over the years by extending their efforts to capture global markets and contributing into the local economy. Contemporary Management Issues Participating in community activities and campaigns in order to raise awareness regarding global environmental and social issues is also one of the main motives of these companies.

About Nike Inc.

Nike, Inc. is a public limited multinational corporation headquartered in the US. Founded originally as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) in 1962 by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, it officially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1971. Nike is counted among the pioneers in designing, development, and manufacturing of athletic gear including footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services (Nike.com, 2017).

The brand offers a wide array of products for athletes as well as fitness enthusiasts. The product line consists of shoes for runner and professional sportspersons. Over the years Nike has also evolved itself and incorporates ongoing fashion trends into its designs and has gained a reputation of a Fashion Powerhouse. This strategy helps the brand to grab the attention of the younger audience.

Numerous of the Nike products show glimpses of pop culture in their designs as the brand work on the philosophy of “moving forward.” Contemporary Management Issues Nike also collaborates with other reputed brands, labels, and celebrities for product promotion. In the recent New York Fashion Week, Nike collaborated with renowned designers like Errolson Hugh, Riccardo Tisci, and Comme Des Garçon and unveiled the new version of its vintage shoe Air Force One (Segran, 2017). Nike also takes the standards of corporate social responsibility (CSR) seriously and is among the top three firms when it comes to following environmental regulations.

Nike’s marketing strategy is the backbone of its growth and development. It fuels the brand to sustain a competitive edge in the market and meet all the set targets.  Nike’s marketing philosophy views the sports world as a “pyramid influence.” The communication model believes that the preferences of a small group of famous influencers/ top athletes can shape up the consumer perception about the product and the brand (Kotler and Keller, 2016).

Impact of CSR regulations on business

The globalized business environment demands the companies to adopt socially responsible practices in their business process and be sensitive to issues like global warming as well as the consumer, stakeholder, and labor rights in order to stay competitive in the market.

Almost all the globally operating organizations are stressing on the need to communicate positive CSR image to its stakeholders to establish lasting business relations with them and ensure the safety of their investment in the company. CSR also enables the company to build valuable assets and improve productivity (Jonikas, 2012). Some companies also exploit the concept of CSR and use it as an image-building tool irrespective of their view regarding this notion.

This is due to the ambiguous nature of the CSR regulatory standards in some cases which indirectly assist the companies in getting away without meeting them for a longer period of time. The incoherent guidelines sometimes are being used as a shield by the companies to mask their inability to run the business as per the ethical standards because in most cases they are unaware of the concept of CSR (Bauer, 2014).

Some companies use CSR to create a socially responsible image just to improve its economic prospects without being concerned with the demands of compliance and sustainability (Visser, 2014).  However, companies solely cannot be held responsible since they are under constant pressure of the stakeholder groups to improve profitability to fulfill their expectations which is why CSR is not the core focus of the organizations while building commercial strategies.

The stakeholders also influence the CSR communication by forcing the companies to emphasize more on the economic progress rather than highlighting the CSR initiatives (Barnett, 2007). Hence the lack of clarity in the CSR guidelines leads to a lot of avoidable problems like accurately assessing the ethical and socially responsible measures taken by a company and to what extent their impact is causing damage to the environment or how effectively the firm is applying the codes of ethical conduct within the working environment.

Five Faces of Corporate Responsibility:

Nike was associated with numerous issues like slave wages and was accused of environmental and labor abuse in the past. This whole scenario demanded a complete 360-degree turnaround in the CSR structure to display a higher level of corporate responsibility. Zadek, Raynard, and Oliviera (2005) proposed five stages that a company goes through in order to achieve the maximum level of corporate responsibility.

Defensive:

In this stage, the company is n the state of denial of conducting any harm and breaking the code of conduct. Phil Knight initially refused to accept any allegations regarding the working conditions of the overseas factories (Turner and Johnson, 2010)

Compliance:

In this phase, the company uses all platforms to protect its corporate reputation to avoid any legal action. The founder Phil Knight proposed several new codes and regulations that were to be imposed on the overseas workstations/factories to address the compliance issues (Turner and Johnson, 2010)

Managerial:

This phase requires the managers to take charge of the situation and collectively work to find the sustainable solution. Nike appointed Hannah Jones as a chief sustainability officer who turned out to be a game changer for the company (Abnett, 2016).

Strategic:

During this phase, the company builds up strategies and alters its business plan in order to achieve competitive advantage and maximize future growth prospects. Hannah Jones did just that, and it’s been close to two decades that Nike has now been recognized as a sustainability leader (Abnett, 2016).

Civil:

At this stage, the company has a comprehensive crisis management plan and understanding to identify and address compliance issues. Now the firm takes further steps to give it back to the community and work with nonprofit and concern…….