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Student Advocacy and “Sweatshop Labor”; the Case of Russell Athletic

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Student advocacy and “sweatshop labor”; the case of Russell Athletic
Q1
* Culture of the particular country
It is very important to study the different elements of culture of the country. When consider China and India, being large countries, the cultural diversity is higher and varies with the geographical areas. In some cultures, the value systems and ethics will be critically affected on the business. Some businesses are almost impossible to start in some regions due to cultural factors such as religion and value systems. Particularly, in Chinese culture, collectivism plays a major role in decision making. Therefore, a thorough knowledge about the culture is necessary before going to start a business. …show more content…

The working conditions, wage rates, working hours and gender issues should be taken into account.

* Environmental factors
Tropical countries such as India, endowed with rich biodiversity and natural resources. People consider environment as a part of their lives. Therefore, the natural environment should not be affected by the business activities. In India, natural resources such as water considered sacred. Also there are many powerful NGOs act upon environmental issues. For example, Coca Cola had to face many hardships in India because of the environmental issues. Therefore, it is very important to be careful with environment in the said country.

Q1 - II * Labor outsourcing is a good strategy to decrease the labor cost. But it associates with many issues. Once outsourcing is done, the MNC cannot just stay behind. The MNC should carefully supervise on the working conditions, safety, wages, working hours, gender discrimination and human rights violations. If any of these factors going wrong and leads to sweatshop conditions, it directly affect on the reputation of the MNC. If once the name or the brand is blacklisted, it is very hard to repair the damage. Therefore, the risk of outsourcing is high. Q 2 * It is impossible to eliminate completely. Even it could be done, it will take years. Because, still most of the countries (150 - according to the International Statistical Institute) of the world considered as developing

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