Nike

<2> What labor standards regarding safety, working conditions, overtime, and the like, should Nike hold foreign factories to: those prevailing in that country or those prevailing in the United States?

There are two such standards regarding the working conditions, safety, overtime:

a. PELs: Permissible Exposure Limits

b. OSHA: Occupational Safety & Health Act Since there is no such a functioning standard in Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines etc., I suppose the formation of these standards should be the responsibility of non-profit international organization, such as ILO. The two standards mentioned previously don’t work because they are formed in U.S, in which the terms are favorable for Nike, not for manufacturers. It is impossible for Asian countries to form these standards, because once it is done, the cost and expense of manufacturers will rise to a higher degree, and Nike won’t accept to raise the working standards in the light of losing low labor cost advantage from these countries.

<3> In Indonesia, an income of $2.28 a day, the base pay of Nike factory workers, is double the daily income of about half the working population. Half of all adults in Indonesia are farmers, who receive less than $1 a day. Given these national standards, is it appropriate to criticize Nike for the low pay rates of its subcontractors in Indonesia?

Here I have to mention the social responsibility of a corporation. In term of international business, the social responsibility of one corporation indicates how to deal with the externality that corporation has incurred. E.g. the Gulf Oil Spill in 2010, the EP was responsible to compensate the loss, environmental, economical, social, and so on. In this case, Nike is not exceptional. In the manufacturing process of shoemaking, the working environment is filled with toxic substance. To plus the low wage rates, Nike has become the major target of public criticism. Nowadays, it is an overwhelming rule that social...