Soul-searching by 'shoe geeks' led to social responsibility

Footwear and apparels giant Nike acknowledged its socially irresponsible behaviour in the early 1990s and spoke about the soul-searching that led to its corporate social responsibility policy at the CLSA Investors Forum yesterday.

'We were a bunch of shoe geeks who expanded so much without thinking of being socially responsible that we went from being a very big sexy brand name to suddenly becoming the poster boy for everything bad in manufacturing,' Harsh Saini, Nike's corporate and social responsibility manager, said.

The company had not been keeping track of how its partners were operating in developing nations, Ms Saini acknowledged, until the media and non-governmental organisations revealed the prevalence of sweatshops producing the goods.

'We just closed our doors and huddled - it was such a big shock to us,' Ms Saini said. 'But in the mid-1990s we did a lot of soul searching . . . and we realised if we still want to be the brand of choice in 20 years, we had certain responsibilities to fulfil.'

Ms Saini joined representatives from Shell and Li & Fung in touting the benefits of socially responsible business, citing a happier workforce, higher productivity and enhanced brand reputation as some of the returns.

Shell's director of international trading, Tan Chong-meng, said that after its own bout of bad press, it had to consider balancing business with social responsibilities and developed a framework of sustainable development.