cross cultural perspectives (Essay Sample)

Cross Cultural Perspectives Name Institution Introduction Organizations take different forms, and societies and communities in world rely on them to provide goods and service important in sustaining their life. Growth in technology has therefore allowed these organizations expand their operations in other countries worldwide. Despite their effort to expand their operations in other countries, they are met with problems such as poor working conditions and exploitations of children in the labor force. In spite of these problems, nothing or very little has been done to avoid these labor linked problems unless when a tragedy occurs, these is when rallies for the workers' rights are held. Mostly in the Unites States, these were the main conditions the country faced in the industrial revolution but have currently been effectively dealt with in apart from some small areas in the agricultural sector. Nevertheless, on an international platform, mostly in the third world countries, the problem of poor working conditions and using children as part of the labor force is still a common problem. Additionally, several corporations in America have however moved their operations in other countries as a method of escaping strict regulations implemented by the local or state government. Therefore, they opt to set their operations in counties that have cheap labor and relaxed regulations, for example South Korea, Pakistan, and Vietnam. This is because they find this as an opportunity of providing consumers with their needs at a low cost of production. As a result, organizations such as Nike Corporation have been criticized by the media based by their organizational culture that involve such malpractices. Nike's Cultural issue Nike Corporation is a worldwide recognized company that since its formation, it has always been venturing outside United States. The aim of the company is to reach the untapped market globally and increase their profits. In addition, their extension of their operations into other countries is also as a way of pulling off cheap labor. The founders of the company therefore opted to put up operations in countries like Japan as a strategy of saving money for labor cost and production. In the United States, it emerged as a Blue Ribbon Sports company, but later went international to expand the company's product line (Boje & Khan, 2009). Moreover, the company has over the years been able to outsource to different countries including Pakistan. The Nike Company faced several cultural issues in Pakistan among them being the use of children as part of the labor force and poor working conditions. In this case, children were used to stitch soccer balls also stitching sports garments. According to Boje & Khan (2009), Pakistan has always been a place where Nike's soccer balls have been produces for many years and it is estimated that thousands of under age children have been used as employees in the production factories of the company's goods. According to Khan (2010), different countries cultures have different views on the use or responsibilities given to children for instance using children as a labor force. Childhood is viewed in differently ways not only across the world but also in specific cultures and in several ethnic groups. For instance, in Sialkot, Pakistan, parents have no problem with their children working viewing it as a way of helping them in supporting the family. Unlike in America where child laws have been implemented to protect children from being used as a workforce at their young age, but for Pakistan, the struggling families find it as an opportunity of making ends meet for the whole family (Khan, 2010). Therefore, the major cultural issue, which faces Nike Corporation is the use of children in their labor force, thus this has affected their relationship with countries outside United States. The media has on several occasions featured Nike Corporation showing the conditions in which the company was operating globally and the minimum standards that had to be achieved by their work force. However, the main objective of the company was to exploit its work force so they can earn financial gain (Boje & Khan, 2009). After the discovery of the malpractices, the company was faced with several attacks thus strict recommendations had to be implemented to improve the poor working conditions. This means that the company had to change its operating strategies in Pakistan because of the spotlight the company had been put in by the media. Thus this made them to abide to the set strict regulations also be more concerned on the conditions of their global factories in terms of their production process and the kind of labor force they employ (Khan, 2010). Ethical and Social Responsibility analysis The efforts of Nike Corporation to expand their operations in other global market have over the years been faced by several aspects of concerns, one of them being their cost of production and labor. Therefore, for the company to remain competitive in the market in their prices of goods without reducing their labor force, Nike decided to outsource some of their production factories in several countries, a strategy that have been adopted by several other companies (DeTienne, & Lewis, 2005). This strategy gave the company a cost advantage over their competitors thus enabling the company to venture into new and emerging international markets. Although this decision might have been perceived by others as unethical practice, because the company was shifting its employment opportunities from the Unites States based production factory, this might have been one of the best decisions the company made. This is because it would maintain their employees also for the best interest of the company in terms of tapping into global markets and maintaining a competitive advantage (DeTienne, & Lewis, 2005). On the other hand, customers are another important factor of consideration as an ethical responsibility of the company. In this case, Nike Corporation had underestima...