Value and Social Performance of Nike and Nestle

Running head: VALUE AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCE OF NIKE AND NESTLE
VALUE AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCE OF NIKE AND NESTLE
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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VALUE AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCE OF NIKE AND NESTLE
Answer to question 1:
Nike, Inc. is a multinational company that deals in designing, development and
manufacturing and marketing of footwear and accessories. The company is based in the United
States and it is headquartered at Beaverton, Oregon. Nike is the top supplier of athletic apparel
and shoes in the world and a prime manufacturer of sports equipment. The company is ranked 89
in the Fortune 500 list for the year 2018 ("Nike", 2019). At the end of 2017, the company was
valued close to $30 billion. Founded in 1964, the company was initially named as Blue Ribbon
Sports by the founding fathers Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. On May 30, 1971, the company
officially became Nike, Inc. in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the company has
been under scrutiny owing to the several controversies surrounding it. However, in the past few
years, Nike has increased efforts to improve on CSR. Concepts like innovating sustainability
under which Nike Flyknit was designed have put the company in the esteemed list of top
companies with CSR.
Nestle is the leading company in the world in terms of food production and sales. Based
in Switzerland, the company was found in the year 1866 with the establishment of Anglo-Swiss
Condensed Milk Company by Henri Nestle. In the year 1905, Henri Nestle’s company merged
with Anglo-Swiss Company to form what is known popularly today as the Nestle Group
(Nestle.com, 2019). It ranked 69 in the global rankings of Fortune 500 companies ("Nestle",
2019). The revenues for Nestle for the year 2018 are more than 80 billion CHF. Nestle has been
a strong performance in terms of CSR with its and its Nestle in Society initiative has been
appreciated greatly. According to the recent CSR report, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has
recognized Nestle as the global leader in tackling issues of climate change and reducing carbon

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VALUE AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCE OF NIKE AND NESTLE
emissions across its supply chains. The company has three chief areas of focus – individuals and
families, communities and the planet.
Answer to question 2:
In terms of releasing CSR reports, Nestle provides a more detailed and systematic report
having statistics and other details for each year. Nike, on the other hand, releases combined
report having information of two years. A look at the 2017 CSR report of Nestle reveals the
effort that has been given to presenting the news and statistics regarding CSR activities and
achievements of the company for every month. On the other hand, Nike released the combined
report of 2016 and 2017 CSR in a single page without taking much effort to elaborate on the
initiatives and achievements.
Considering the social reporting of the two companies, both have some strengths and
weaknesses. Social reporting refers to the process of “communicating the social and
environmental effects of organizations” (Romolini, Fissi & Gori, 2014). The strength of Nike’s
social reporting is that it has kept the theme of sport with which it is mostly associated, as the
driving force behind social responsibility. Further, the company has demarcated clearly, the areas
where business has gained most in terms of sustainability. For example, it has outlined clearly,
the products, materials, energy and emissions, waster, water and chemistry as those areas where
it has made an impact.
The social reporting has several weaknesses as well. One of the biggest weaknesses of
the social reporting done by Nike is that it has juxtaposed different ideas making the report
confusing for the reader to understand. Further, it has not provided details of the impact it has
been able to make in the society; only figures are given with a few lines accompanying those.