Nike is a multinational design company whose headquarters are situated in Oregon, United States.
The company is a popular international brand that engages in the design, manufacturing, and marketing of all kind of stuff in the sporting world (Ramaswamy 2008).
Ethical Issues in Nike
Low wages and poor working conditions in some regions.
More working hours with no day offs and public holidays.
Use of child labor is some of their manufacturing points across the world.
Unethical business practices through sweatshops in some countries.
Impact of Ethical issues in Nike
Existing ethical issues acted as barriers to marketing planning of the corporation in the following ways.
This discouraged marketing of the company’s various products in some regions.
This also led to weak audiences in emerging markets.
Low product demand and unending criticism.
This dealt a real blow to the company’s reputable social responsibility.
How Nike Responded to the Issues
A contractors’ code of conduct was formulated to respond to increasing criticisms.
The company moved fast to address the issue of sweatshops.
Improved human resource management practices were established to address high employee turnover rate.
A campaign aimed at addressing negative allegations against the company was initiated through newspaper advertisement, among other effective mediums of communication (DeTienne & Lewis 2005).
Consumer Ethics
Examples of unethical consumer behavior include the following:
- Warranty deception.
- False insurance claims.
- Returns of merchandise.
- Misredeeming coupons.
All the above are deceptive approaches used by consumers to wrongfully access relevant business services or compensations.
Effects on Consumer Ethics on Marketing Planning
Unethical consumer behavior has serious implications on marketing planning as follows:
- While ethical consumer behavior promotes businesses, non-ethical consumer habits serve as an obstacle to business success (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh 2009).
- Unethical consummation contributes to poor economy.
- There is also a big threat to brands due to piracy and other illegal market practices perpetrated by unethical consumer behavior.
References
DeTienne, K & Lewis, L 2005, ‘The pragmatic and ethical barriers to corporate social responsibility disclosure: The Nike case’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 359-376.
Hawkins, D & Mothersbaugh, D 2009, Consumer behavior building marketing strategy, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Ramaswamy, V 2008, ‘Co-creating value through customers’ experiences: the Nike case’, Strategy & Leadership, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 9-14.