AP News, May 31st, 2007
Nike Inc. released its third corporate responsibility report Thursday with a bit less punch than in years past.
The company's initial report in 2001 was intended to show how it had handled complaints by labor rights and student groups who want to see better conditions at contract factories worldwide.
In its second report in 2005, the company disclosed the names and locations of factories that produce its sneakers, apparel and other products _ a first for the industry and an appeal to critics.
But in their third report, Nike officials say they are moving away from using corporate responsibility as a crisis-management tool and are instead using it as an opportunity for innovation and growth.
"Corporate responsibility is no longer a staff function at Nike," Chief Executive Officer Mark Parker wrote in the report. "It's a design function, a sourcing function, a consumer experience function, part of how we operate."
The company said the rights and conditions for its 800,000 contract workers remain one of its primary focuses.
Nike released for the first time the company's contract factory auditing tools. It also announced a plan to eliminate excess overtime in contract factories, improve human resource management and put freedom of association educational programs into contract factories by 2011.
The company also showed an increased focus on environmental issues, outlining goals to reduce footwear waste by 17 percent and ensure every shoe produced meets certain environmental standards by 2015. The company also plans to reduce carbon emissions at its facilities.
"We're setting some pretty ambitious targets," said Hannah Jones, vice president of corporate responsibility for Nike.
The timeline for 2011 and beyond fall in line with the company's financial timeline reach $23 billion in sales by 2011.
But some critics place little stock in the footwear giant's reports as time wears on.
"While we find a report like this has great things to say, we find it is more rhetoric than action," said Nell Greenburg at Global Exchange, an international human rights organization that has spoken out in the past against Nike's labor practices.
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On the Net:
Nike's corporate responsibility report: http://www.nikeresponsibility.com
