Case Study Levi Strauss

CASE STUDY 1

LEVI STRAUSS & COMPANY

The question we are asked in this case study is whether or not we would buy shares of stock in Levi Strauss knowing that its managers are willing to trade off some economic efficiency to operate according to their collective view of what is “ethical”. On the surface, it appears that Levi Strauss & Co. upholds the highest ethical standards. However, what is ethical to some may not necessarily be ethical to others. Like any business, Levi Strauss strives to position themselves well in the minds of stakeholders and they have maintained their good name and position in the market. “The company’s approach to ethical management is as familiar to business leaders as its jeans are to teenagers” (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012, p. [Page 69]). Levi Strauss unmistakably has a distinct company culture in that they provide strong guidelines for how their employees should act. Their company values include empathy, originality, integrity and courage. These values direct how employees are to be treated and how they are expected to treat others. Empathy means to have compassion, originality means to make every effort to be innovative and unique, integrity means to have strong moral principles, and courage means to be brave and stand for what you believe is right. These are impressive values for any company to assume! Along with these extraordinary values, Levi Strauss takes “an active role in international trade, labor, environmental sustainability, [and] nondiscrimination” (Bergh, 2014). Part of the strategic importance of managing human resources is satisfying multiple stakeholders. Levi Strauss is visibly working hard to do that. If you take a look at their website, they appear to be one of the most socially responsible companies in the world! The company is represented as socially responsible leaders in the community. The website is formatted to make

9/14/2014

Case Study 1

1

it easy for users to find a vast amount of...