Corporate responsibility for sustainability in Post-Globalization: The Nike Inc. Lesson

Given the litany of economic, social, and environmental problems plaguing societies around the globe, issues of corporate responsibility and sustainability are likely to become ever more salient. If business as usual continues, many companies will face difficult questions of resource allocation, and some may find their business models under attack. Spanning almost 20 years, NIKE‘s sustainability journey has been dynamic, marked by an ever- evolving set of challenges and opportunities. This study explores its CR strategy which has matured from a risk management, philanthropic and compliance model to a long-term strategy focused on innovation, collaboration, and transparency to prepare the company to thrive in a sustainable economy. We examine Nike‘s metamorphosis from the irresponsible practices and denial for taking accountability of its acts in the early years to a leader in corporate responsibility and progressive practices in the current times. The study of Nike sustainability timeline manifests that commitment to sustainable business and Innovationis the way to be in coming times which it defines as an era of Post-Globalization. An era, in which new business models will emerge based on the overwhelming pressures fueled by regulation, scarcity, consumer behavior and innovation. Nike saga is the harbinger of the reality that there is a paradigm shift in terms of expectations from a company along triple bottom line and earlier the companies embrace it, better placed they will be, in terms of good business sense, in near future.