Nike: The Sweatshop Debate Nike is a well-known global corporation. Recognized for its catchy “Just Do It!” slogan and the world-class athletes that represent the brand. Nike was established in 1972 by Phil Knight a former collegiate track star whom enthusiasm has lead the company to become the leading provider of athletic shoes and apparel in the world. Although, Nike is a multiple billion-dollar company they have faced several challenges in the way they conduct international business. Nike produces their products in factories all over the world. Many of these factories are located in the world’s poorest countries with low minimum wage standards and poor employee rights. Nike has been criticized for the selection of their factory locations; some people even refer to these outsourced places as “sweatshops.” This has caused legal, cultural and ethical challenges for Nike. Critics have protested that Nike has failed to follow the child labor laws in the countries they have entered, hiring under age children and making them work for long hours with little pay. For example a Korean subcontractor hired by Nike was hiring children as young as 13 years old, paying them 10 cents an hour and working them 17 hours a day. The countries that Nike subcontracts to such as the Vietnams, China and Indonesia are cultural poor. Most people are just happy to have a job and Nike is thought to have taken advantage of this fact. “Nike’s wealth, its detractors claimed, was built upon the backs of the world’s poor,” (Hill, 2009). In a Vietnams factory workers were getting paid $1.60 a day when the cost of living is estimated at $3. The challenge with child labor and working wages also caused an ethical issue for Nike along with the matter of working conditions. Workers in some of these factories were found with major breathing problems and skin conditions due to the exposure to