Governance and Sustainability at Nike

Governance and Sustainability at Nike

Summary

        As the world’s largest supplier of athletic footwear, clothing, apparel, etc. Nike has made some major efforts focusing on sustainability and its impact on the community/environment. A series of events took place, one of these being a push from customers to act against the unethical slavery and child labor practices in some of its factories, which led to Nike looking at sustainability as a part of its growth strategy. Nike has since incorporated its corporate social responsibility initiatives into all areas, by creating a team/board of directors solely focused on the sustainable practices of the company.

        There are a plethora of changes that could take place around the world which would impact what Nike needs to focus on in terms of sustainability. However, there is some uncertainty around exactly what those changes are and what impact they’ll have on sustainability. It can be said, however, that much of the sustainability issues that we have today will remain in the future; such as, water pollution, unfair labor practices in developing companies, and the use toxic materials in products. It is safe to say that given the large strides Nike is taken to improve their impact on the environment and within communities, much of their focus on sustainability in the future will focus on maintaining their good practices and influencing the practices of other companies. Nike could potentially develop a committee that will work with other companies to clean up their production processes and decrease the footprint they leave on the world’s communities and environment.

        Based on Nike’s social responsibility report, they have set the following goals for fiscal year 2020: 1) 0 waste from contracted footwear manufacturing, 2) source 100% of products from contract factories that meet the company’s definition of sustainability, 3) continue creating products with maximum performance and minimum impact on the Earth, 4) to reach 100% renewable energy in owned or operated facilities and to encourage the broader adoption of renewable energy. 

        To address the social responsibility of Nike there was a series of organization restructuring. These restructuring efforts have allowed Nike to really focus on their corporate social responsibility and make a culture shift within their organization. The company was able to incorporate this new social responsibility into their culture by incorporating the environment, people and community groups and clearly communicating all of the necessary actions. They added the responsibility of social conscious to all parts of the organization, including making social responsibility part of the corporate decision making process, focusing on addressing the root cause of sustainability and labor problems. Social responsibility has become such a part of the culture, that each function takes into consideration their actions, making it easier for Nike to accomplish the goals its displayed in its corporate social responsibility plan.