Nike †Social and Ethical Issues Essay

Nike has become one of those global companies targeted by a broad range of campaigning pressure groups and journalists as a symbolic representation of the business in society. In Nike’s case, the issues are those of human rights and conditions for workers in factories in developing countries. In the face of constant accusations, Nike has developed a considered response but the criticism of Nike still continues. Nike produces footwear, clothing, equipment and accessory products for the sports and athletic market. It is the largest seller of such garments in the world. It sells to approximately 19,000 retail accounts in the US, and then in approximately 140 countries around the world. Just about all of its products are manufactured by independent contractors with footwear products in particular being manufactured in developing countries. The company manufactures in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Mexico as well as in the US and in Italy. The Global Alliance report on the factories in Indonesia gave the following workforce profile: 58% of them are young adults between 20 and 24 years old, and 83% are women. Few have work-related skills when they arrive at the factory. Nike has around 700 contract factories, within which around 20% of the workers are creating Nike products. Conditions for these workers have been a source of heated debate, with allegations made by campaigns of poor conditions, with harassment and abuse. Nike has sought to respond to these allegations by putting into place a code of conduct for all of its suppliers, and working with the Global Alliance to review around 21 of these factories, and to pick up and respond to issues. The main concerns expressed by workers relate to their physical working environment. A further report has been produced relating to a site in Mexico, which has experienced serious problems leading to labour disputes. In both cases, Nike responded to the audit reports with a detailed remediation plan. Naomi Klein, in her widely read book â€Å"No Logo† deals quite extensively with Nike, accusing them of abandoning countries as they developed better pay and employment rights in favour of countries like China, where these are less of a cost. She points to a photo published in 1996 showing children in Pakistan stitching Nike footballs as an example of the use of child labour. Other critics have suggested that Nike should publicise all of its factories, and allow independent inspection to verify conditions there. Any auditing carried out by Nike should be made public. Nike accuses Naomi Klein of peddling inaccurate and old information. They point out that they have not abandoned countries as she claims, and remain in Taiwan and Korea despite the higher wages and labour rights. They admit that the 1996 photo documented what they describe as a â€Å"large mistake† when they began to order soccer balls for the first time from a supplier in Pakistan. They now operate stitching centres where the non-use of child labour can be verified. The Global Alliance was quite complimentary. It said â€Å"Upon due consideration, members of the Operating Council unanimously expressed their judgement that upon learning of the alleged violations surfaced through the Global Alliance assessment process, that Nike had acted in good faith, and developed a serious and reasonable remediation plan.† Bibliography The Economist (1999), US Edition, Sweatshop wars, 14th February, pp. 62Wheelen, T. L. & Hunger, J. D., (1995), Strategic Management & Business Policy, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Inc. Zaino, J., (2001), Companies Give Back to Their Communities, Information Week, 12th March, pp. 163.

Functional Health Assessment Essay

Health Perception/Health Management Client’s perceived pattern of healthand well-being and how health ismanaged.Compliance with medication regimen, useof health-promotion activities such asregular exercise, annual check-ups. Nutritional-Metabolic Pattern of food and fluidconsumption relative to metabolicneed and pattern; indicators of localnutrient supply.Condition of skin, teeth, hair, nails,mucous membranes; height and weight. Elimination Patterns of excretory function(bowel, bladder, and skin). Includes client’s perception of  normal†function.Frequency of bowel movements, voiding pattern, pain on urination, appearance of urine and stool. Activity – Exercise Patterns of exercise, activity, leisure,and recreation.Exercise, hobbies. May includecardiovascular and respiratory status,mobility, and activities of daily living. Cognitive-Perceptual Sensory-perceptual and cognitive patterns. Vision, hearing, taste, touch, smell, pain perception and management; cognitive functions such as language, memory, and decision making. Sleep-Rest Patterns of sleep, rest, andrelaxation.Client’s perception of quality and quantityof sleep and energy, sleep aids, routinesclient uses. Self-Perception/Self Concept Client’s self-concept pattern and perceptions of self.Body comfort, body image, feeling state,attitudes about self, perception of abilities, objective data such as body posture, eye contact, voice tone. Role-Relationship Client’s pattern of role engagementsand relationships.Perception of current major roles sandresponsibilities (e.g., father, husband,salesman); satisfaction with family, work,or social relationships. Sexuality-Reproductive Patterns of satisfaction anddissatisfaction with sexuality pattern; reproductive pattern. Number and histories of pregnancy andchildbirth; difficulties with sexualfunctioning; satisfaction with sexualrelationship. Coping / Stress Tolerance General coping pattern and effectiveof the pattern in terms of stresstolerance.Client’s usual manner of handling stress,available support systems, perceivedability to control or manage situations. Value – Belief Patterns of values, beliefs (includingspiritual), and goals that guideclient’s choices or decisions.Religious affiliation, what client perceivesas important in life, value-belief conflictsrelated to health, special religious practices. NursingNursing FormsGordon’s 11 Functional Health PatternsD Ladd 7-16-02

Retribution for Slaves Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Retribution for Slaves - Essay Example Nonetheless, the discussion in this paper focuses on retributions for the descendants of historic slavery, since it is held and debated more frequently. Historic slaves in the U.S. performed instinctive labor with no pay, which is against human rights. They were, therefore, at liberty to reparation and, since they are deceased, the money must go to their offspring. The idea does not stop to be correct in due course—legitimacy and justice do not terminating dates. The most significant idea is to ascertain whether the principle of retribution is right. A retribution court case against the United States treasury department was discharged in 1915, but later in 1920s reparation was made a section of Black Nationalist program by Marcus Garvey. The current discussion over retribution was intensified by Randall Robinson’s publication called â€Å"The Debt.† According to Robinson (17), the worth of slave labor for more than 246 years of American historic slavery is more t han trillions of dollars. He illustrated that slaves historic slaves were responsible for the picking and processing of cotton that fueled trade and industry in the United States. Thus, there is the need for the state to establish autonomous community trust kitties that could dispense money into the communities of slave descendants to fund black-owned industries and finance education programs in these regions. Various professionals such as Professor Charles Ogletree of Harvard Law School and various lawyers joined hands to form the Reparations Coordinating Committee. The committee’s mandate has been to sue the U.S. firms that supposedly gained from slavery in the 19th century. Many opponents of slave retributions argue that the entire populations of past slaves are deceased and that their descendants are not warranted to get reparations for the loss of their ancestors. This is somewhat different compared to the U.S. administration’s compensations of living Japanese Ame ricans as a result of detention during the WW II. Since these victims were compensated for their losses, the descendants of historic slaves are warranted to demand reparation from the government. There is no need to quantify the number of individuals that suffered, since all suffered similar gross humiliation of being deprived of their freedom. Assertions regarding the alleged gains of slavery and the slave trade for the victims are provisional and insulting, laid down against the great distress the descendants of African-American experienced. Besides being a territory of great opportunity, the U.S. continued to repress people of African-American origin for many years after the official end to slavery. Even in the current American society, African-American constitutes the largest population of poor social group. According to Winbush (213), retributions to the descendants of slavery through financial support will not to specific individuals, therefore; eradicating the practical probl ems of recognizing claimants. Slavery along with several years of oppression and prejudice after the Civil War directly injured the descendants of African-Americans still alive today. It is well understood that U.S. administration is a continuing institution that is liable for its deeds, whether or not people were there at the instance of the acts in question. Thus, whereas financial support is vital, the demand for reparation will promote the process of

The effects of alcoholism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The effects of alcoholism - Essay Example Alcoholism causes an individual to be dangerously irresponsible in his personal life. The individual looses significance of life. Every day, millions of people die in road accidents and a vast majority of drivers in countries where alcoholism is legalized are drunk. Driving while drunk is as dangerous for others as it is for the drinker himself. Drinkers drive despite knowing the danger associated with this practice. This fundamentally reflects their non serious attitude towards life. An individual who gets non serious about his life to such an extent can not be expected to fulfill his responsibilities as a father, son, brother or husband. Once an individual gets addicted to alcoholism, there is little others can do to make him retreat from the habit. Instead of becoming a helping hand, a drinker is essentially undue weight for the family to bear. Thus, alcoholism puts the thread of relationships on fire, and the drinker becomes isolated. In isolation, he feels suffocation and loneli ness. This becomes the fundamental cause of their attempt to break free of the prison of life and they tend to commit suicide. Thus, the problem starts with unusually irresponsible attitude and finishes with the end of life of the drinker. Alcoholism causes great economic loss to a country, because of the unprofessional attitude of the drunken employees. Alcoholism does not at all go with the requirements of professional life. In profession life, an individual is required to be punctual. Alcoholism saps the individual’s ability to get up early in the morning for work when he drank heavily in the night before. Professional life requires an individual to dress up nice and smart. Alcoholism leaves an individual with little sense or understanding of what is smartness and what it means to be smart! Also, owing to the high carbohydrate content in alcohol, drinkers acquire obesity that otherwise, ruins their looks. Most of the drinkers are obese and big bellied. Thus, alcoholism sap s an individual’s ability to appear smart. Professionalism requires an individual to be agile, active and present minded whereas most drinkers appear at work preoccupied with thoughts of disgust and discontentment with life. Alcoholism makes people lazy and laggard. Their emotional disturbance does not accord with the attitude required for work. All of these factors jointly work to make a drinker malfunction at work and decline his productivity which ultimately affects the organization as a whole. This results into reduced margin of profit. The business becomes less profitable. In fact, the owners may incur great financial losses because of poor performance of the alcohol consuming employees. In the bigger picture, the whole country is affected because of reduced Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Alcoholism puts an individual into social exclusion. Alcohol consuming employees are quite likely to be fired because it does not take long for an individual to reveal that he consumes a lcohol. It becomes obvious from his habits, attitude and dealing with coworkers and managers at work. Soon as this is realized, a prudent manager who is concerned about his organization’s reputation and success does not tolerate such employees and fires them. This not only leaves a drinker unemployed, but also ruins his social life. The drinker looses friends. People tend to remain at distance with a drinker because the sort of company they keep directly affects their own reputation in the society. Thus, a drinker is

Development of Research Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Development of Research Questions - Essay Example The NCU Proposal and Dissertation Review Form (DRF) serves as a source reference for additional information regarding purpose statement requirements and appropriate documentation. The method of choice represents a combination of both quantitative research questions and hypotheses, which study the relationship between different variables that the researcher seeks to know, and qualitative research questions, where inquirers state research questions - not objectives or hypotheses. Various sources used in this paper, including different published research materials and Internet articles. In order to successfully carry out the research study on the proposed thesis, specific questions should be established to be researched in order for hypotheses to be tested. Thus, created signposts act as guidance and assist the research. Based on nature of this study, which sets out to research different challenges and presented opportunities that international students experience while taking accounting courses at U.S colleges, there is a strong need for using the mixed methods research and hypotheses. According to Creswell (2009), â€Å"a strong mixed methods study should start with mixed methods research questions, to shape the methods and the overall design of a study†. This method of choice represents a combination of both quantitative research questions and hypotheses, which study the relationship among different variables that the researcher seeks to know, and qualitative research questions, where the inquirer states research questions, not objectives or hypotheses. Provided is a progress development of a two-phase research study with the separate quantitative and qualitative research hypotheses and questions stated in sections introducing each phase. This research will not utilize separate, distinct mixed methods research questions, but rather will use a step-by-step approach. This research study will be conducted on-site of several

Two listed companies on the HK stock exchange to evaluate how the Essay

Two listed companies on the HK stock exchange to evaluate how the companies report - Essay Example The company has reported the turnover from various geographical locations. The highest turnover has been reported for Mainland China. Other than regional turnover the operating profit or loss from the various countries has also been reported. Other than geographical reporting the company has also disclosed revenue from various operations like retail & distribution; export & licensing; manufacturing and inter-segment sales. The turnover and profit position of the company from the various brands like Giordano & Giordano Junior, Giordano Concepts, Giordano Ladies etc. have also been disclosed. As per the revised accounting norms the company also has to make disclosures about segment assets and segment liabilities in the annual reports (Deloitte, 22010). Based on this the Group has disclosed about the deferred tax assets and non-current assets in Mainland China and Hong Kong. The company has also reported about segment assets position in other locations like Taiwan, Australia, Singapore, etc. According to the revised accounting norms a company must also disclose about the income earned by it from its product and services. In the annual reports the Group has reported about the turnover, operating profit and number of outlets of the various brands in the market. As per IFRS8 the company must also disclose about the various liabilities values of the various segments in its annual report. The revised standard requires interest income to be reported separately from an interest expense for each segment. However, in the annual report of Giordano the company has not made any such disclosures about interest expense and income of its segment. IFRS 8 also requires the company to report segment information like investment in the form of joint ventures and associations as well as any additions to assets like non-current assets and deferred tax assets, assets of the employees’ post-employment etc. Giordano has not made any disclosures about segment liabilities. The compan y has not made any disclosures about the joint ventures and association of its segments in the various locations (Giordano International Limited, 2009). Operating Segments disclosure in Bossini In the annual reports for the financial year 2009 Bossini has not followed the HFKRS 8 Operating Segments (IFRS 8). The company has presented its segment information with respect to result and revenue. As the Group derives most of its revenue from distribution and retailing of garments it has not presented a separate analysis relating to its business segments in the annual report. The company has reported about the revenue and results from various geographical segments like Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan etc. However there are no disclosures about interest income and profitability of each of its segment. The company has reported about the segment assets and segment liabilities in its annual report. The amount of investment relating to the various segments has also been reported. The amount of depreciation relating to the various segments has also been disclosed. The Group has separately disclosed the revenue earned by it from retailing & distribution of garments and from services related to its rendering. Other than this the company has n

Visitor Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Visitor Management - Assignment Example But if he happens to be inside a casino, he'd like to enjoy the latest hip music to be played along. Service quality plays a crucial role in popularizing the tourist spot and generating revenues. Some of the most important aspects of the overall service quality in visitor management are; Policies of the government: Tourist inflows to any tourist site depend on the policies and role of the federal government. For example the ancient monuments of Lord Buddha in Bamiyan (Afghanistan) bore a testimony of inept attitude of the local administration. These towering statues used to be a major tourist attraction and a revenue earner playing a crucial role in the economy of Afghanistan. Coordination with tour operators: Tour operators happen to be a smarter race in understanding the needs of the visitors and they appear to be more accessible. Tour operators can regularly include a tourist spot in the itinerary of the visitors depending upon the kind of facilities he is getting from the management of the tourist spot. To this end, the management may consider offering some discounts in the entrance fees etc. to the tour operator in lieu of consistency in visitor numbers. Operating proper guided tours: The first thing a visitor expects from the management... arly include a tourist spot in the itinerary of the visitors depending upon the kind of facilities he is getting from the management of the tourist spot. To this end, the management may consider offering some discounts in the entrance fees etc. to the tour operator in lieu of consistency in visitor numbers. Operating proper guided tours: The first thing a visitor expects from the management of a tourist spot is understandable signboards and guided tours. The visitors also require refreshments, snacks in the middle of the visit. Therefore restaurants, bars etc. should also be there. But these facilities must be developed as a support to the visits and must not in any way denigrate the ambiance of the site. For example the restaurant and bar must not become a place for partying of the hoodlums. Instead it should cater to the visitor as a place to take some rest and recoup his energy, who feels tired after visiting the site for long hours. Segmenting the visitors and identifying their needs and requirements: The visitor community could be students, archeologists, historians, nature lovers, researchers, Art lovers, young couples, party troupe etc. These different groups need some different types of marketing. Marketing strategy requires that customer's needs and interests be identified and then the visitors be divided into segments depending upon their interests and needs. For example the purpose of researchers in visiting a historical site is to historical facts, archeological features etc. while young students may take the visit as a day out and prefer to enjoy the picnic in their own way. Informative and educative sections for different segments: After having segmented the visitors, the management of site is supposed to devise marketing plan for different groups as per