{"id":10131,"date":"2016-11-03T23:53:36","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T03:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/running-to-discover-sustainable-solutions-how-nike-is-fighting-to-win-the-climate-change-game\/"},"modified":"2016-11-03T23:53:36","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T03:53:36","slug":"running-to-discover-sustainable-solutions-how-nike-is-fighting-to-win-the-climate-change-game","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/running-to-discover-sustainable-solutions-how-nike-is-fighting-to-win-the-climate-change-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Running to Discover Sustainable Solutions: How Nike is Fighting to Win the Climate Change Game"},"content":{"rendered":"
In 1998 Chairman and CEO of Nike, Phil Knight, said, \u201cThe Nike product has become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime and arbitrary abuse [1].\u201d\u00a0 Today Nike is recognized as a leader of sustainability in the retail industry, signing the White House pledge against climate change, and even experiencing ratings upgrades from Wall Street analysts based on their sustainability performance [2] [3].\u00a0 While their reputation has clearly made a U-turn, the question remains: can Nike take their game to the next level?<\/em><\/p>\n The League: Retail\u2019s Role in Climate Change<\/strong><\/p>\n The retail industry is at a unique intersection of opportunity and threat from climate change. Some threats are immediately apparent: adverse weather events caused by climate change may result in store or factory closures translating to immediate sales loss. \u00a0Nike experienced this in 2008 when flooding in Thailand caused temporary closure of four factories, while companies such as IKEA, impacted by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, lost $9M from store closures [4] [5]. Less apparent threats include the upstream impact of availability of raw materials as well as regulations impacting operational practices including energy efficiency, water use, and the disposal of waste [6] [7]. While risky to retailers\u2019 business models, these threats also translate into opportunities to differentiate and develop reputational advantage.<\/p>\n The Game Plan: Nike Sustainability Initiatives<\/strong><\/p>\n Since the late 1990s Nike has worked to embed environmental and labor related metrics into the structure of the organization; Chief Sustainability Officer, Hannah Jones, describes this journey, \u201c[sustainability] moved from being a risk and reputation function to being a business lever function to being an innovation function [8].\u201d Today the company looks at impact across its entire value chain on an ongoing basis. Figure 1 below from Nike\u2019s 2014\/2015 Sustainable Business Report depicts the proportional environmental impact of each step in Nike\u2019s value chain.<\/p>\n Figure 1 [9]<\/p>\n This figure highlights where in the value chain Nike has decided to focus its climate change efforts:<\/p>\n The After-Action Review: Next Steps for Nike<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite Nike\u2019s sustainable efforts, some critics, such as the environmental activist NGO, Greenpeace, claim that Nike is still underperforming compared to peer organizations [15]. I believe there are several key areas of improvement Nike can focus on in the future:<\/p>\n As one of the most globally influential brands, Nike has a responsibility to the globe to keep the ball rolling on the critically important topic of climate change.<\/p>\n (772 Words)<\/p>\n Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n [1] Kate Abnett, \u201cJust Fix It: How Nike Learned to Embrace Sustainability,\u201d Business of Fashion, November 1, 2016, https:\/\/www.businessoffashion.com\/articles\/people\/just-fix-it-hannah-jones-nike<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n [2] Demetri Sevastopulo and Barney Jopson, \u201cGlobal companies sign White House pledge on climate change action,\u201d Financial Times, October 19, 2015, https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/ed2c2682-763a-11e5-933d-efcdc3c11c89<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n [3] Andrew Winston, \u201cLuxury Brands Can No Longer Ignore Sustainability,\u201d 性视界 Business Review, February 8, 2016, https:\/\/hbr.org\/2016\/02\/luxury-brands-can-no-longer-ignore-sustainability<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n [4] Coral Davenport, \u201cIndustry Awakens to Threat of Climate Change,\u201d New York Times, January 23, 2014, http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/01\/24\/science\/earth\/threat-to-bottom-line-spurs-action-on-climate.html?_r=3<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n [5] Ikea, \u201cIkea Group position on climate and energy,\u201d http:\/\/www.ikea.com\/ms\/en_US\/pdf\/reports-downloads\/IKEA_Group_position_on_climate_and_energy.pdf<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n [6] PWC, \u201cBuilding value by addressing the impact of climate change,\u201d Retail & Consumer Insights: Megatrends in the Retail and Consumer Products Industry, June 2015, https:\/\/www.pwc.com\/us\/en\/retail-consumer\/publications\/assets\/rc-insights-climate-change.pdf<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n [7] Rebecca Henderson, Richard M. Locke, Christopher Lyddy, Cate Reavis, \u201cNike Considered: Getting Traction on Sustainability,\u201d MIT No. 08-077 (Boston: MIT Sloan Management, 2009), https:\/\/mitsloan.mit.edu\/LearningEdge\/CaseDocs\/08.077.Nike%20Considered.Getting%20Traction%20on%20Sustainability.Locke.Henderson.pdf<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n [8] Abnett, \u201cJust Fix It: How Nike Learned to Embrace Sustainability,\u201d Business of Fashion<\/p>\n [9] Nike, FY14\/15 Sustainable Business Report, p. 23, http:\/\/news.nike.com\/news\/sustainable-innovation<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n [10] Henderson, Locke, Lyddy, Reavis, \u201cNike Considered: Getting Traction on Sustainability,\u201d MIT<\/p>\n [11] Abnett, \u201cJust Fix It: How Nike Learned to Embrace Sustainability,\u201d Business of Fashion<\/p>\n [12] Nike, FY14\/15 Sustainable Business Report, p. 28<\/p>\n [13] Elizabeth Woyke, \u201cWhat does a Chief Sustainability Officer do?,\u201d MIT Technology Review, Vol. 119, No. 4, p. 101-102<\/p>\n [14] Nike, FY14\/15 Sustainable Business Report, p. 36, 44<\/p>\n [15] Greenpeace, \u201cThe Detox Catwalk 2016: Who\u2019s on the path to toxic free fashion?,\u201d http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/en\/campaigns\/detox\/fashion\/detox-catwalk\/<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n [16] H&M, \u201cThis is World Recycle Week,\u201d April 2016, http:\/\/www.hm.com\/us\/magazine\/culture\/h-m-inside\/2016\/04\/this-is-world-recycle-week<\/a>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n [17] PWC, \u201cBuilding value by addressing the impact of climate change\u201d<\/p>\n
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