Social responsibility concepts and applications

Nike vs. Coca-Cola's sense of Corporate Social Responsibility

"Wouldn't it be nice," to use the first words of Coca-Cola's popular advertising jingle, to find that these two popular American companies, Nike and Coca-Cola, were paragons of social responsibility? Or, if one is of a more anti-conglomerate and anti-capitalist turn of mind, wouldn't it be nice to find that the picture of harmony, of all the world being taught to sing in perfect harmony were a lie? In fact, neither is true -- the legacy of social responsibility of both Nike and Coca-Cola is a mixed one, although Coke's abuses, when they have occurred, have been more apt to be denied by the company, while Nike as a more internationally focused company, with a less 'family friendly' image has thus had more of an incentive to be open about its transgressions.

For instance, according to a November 13, 2004 report filed by an independent corporate watch group, Mallen Baker, "Nike has become one of the leading global companies targeted by a broad range of campaigning journalists" as a symbolic representation of the negative impact of business in society regarding the conditions for workers in factories in developing countries. In the face of constant accusations, Nike has developed a considered response. True, because of the cheaper cost of labor, just about all of Nike's products are still manufactured by independent contractors, in China, Taiwan, Korea, Mexico and Indonesia. However, Nike continues to monitor itself, including producing a quarterly newsletter on corporate responsibility and has sought to rectify at least some of its abuses.

Recently, the Global Alliance reported on the Nike factories in Indonesia. It gave the following workforce profile, which it described as characteristic of many Nike factories abroad 58% of the workers are young adults between 20 and 24 years old, and 83% are women. Nearly half of these workers had completed senior high school. Few have work-related skills when they arrived at the factory, in contrast to after leaving the factory. 95% of the workers in the nine participating factories had received pay or wage increases in the last year, consistent with government minimum wage increases, and with small exceptions the bases wages in these factories are above the regions minimum wage " -- although critics would observe that doesn't add up to a great deal." ("Global Alliance," 2004)

In short, the conditions for Nike workers in Indonesia, as is representative of Nike facilities around the world, are not the worst one could imagine, but not the best -- they are in short adequate compared to indigenous factory conditions under appropriate government supervision. Coca-Cola, in contrast, touts its inclusively on its website, stressing that all of the world loves a coke, all the while it also makes use of its image as an American brand, produced in the Southern heart of the country. (Official Website, 2004) It has given back to the Atlanta community, earning nearby Emory University the moniker of 'Coca Cola U' but on a managerial level, Coca-Cola culture is often characterized as insular.

And Coke has not been immune from attacks from its international locations. In India, Coca-Cola has been attacked for toxic fertilizer gifts to farmers, when the Coca-Cola plant in Kerala has been providing commercial waste to local farmers as fertilizer, which has proved to be contaminated with toxic substances. But Coke, in contrast to Nike, makes no references, even to rebut these allegations on its official website, and when attacked by the Indian government, it stonewalled these allegations about toxicity. (Mallen Baker, 2003)