Topic > Globalization: good or bad? - 754

The essay “The Noble Feat of Nike” by Johan Norberg basically talks about the effects of Nike's entry into third world countries, particularly Vietnam. Norberg explains how the Nike factory benefits from being in the desired location, Vietnam. The fact that Vietnam is a communist country works to Nike's advantage, because if they were located elsewhere they would have to pay workers higher wages and use more machines. In these countries, workers are provided with an air-conditioned building with regular wages, free meals, free medical service, and training/education to operate the machinery within the factory. The workers find this advantageous and in their favor because they earn double, up to five times the amount of wages compared to if they worked outdoors on a farm. This big deal prevents them from noticing the meaning behind the company's headquarters in Vietnam. The Nike factory was quite smart in setting up their headquarters in that specific area to gain advantages for the Western owners. The advantage that Nike takes advantage of is simple. The owners pay the workers only a small sum monthly from what they earn from selling the shoes to customers. Globalists say that the company does not attract the Western population as quickly because of our progress compared to Eastern countries. Westerners would protest and strike to demand better wages for their work, but people in Eastern countries have no choice but to face injustice to support their families and educate their children. I chose Johan Norberg's essay because I found it interesting how large franchising companies, in this case like Nike, make their profits but the workers still manage to maintain a decent living. Even if what Nike is doing is... half paper... so, these new sweatshops seem better and more desirable to work in. If the workers are happy and the company is happy with what's going on then I don't think it should be a big deal because there are more important things the US needs to focus on. As we can see in the essay “The Noble Feat of Nike” by Johan Norberg, globalization of companies like Nike is not entirely negative. There is a positive light in this, such as the fact that workers are finally earning enough money to live a decent life and send their children to school. Apart from this, workers are guaranteed jobs and do not have to endure the hard work of working on farms in adverse weather conditions. So from these effects we can conclude that the globalization of Nike in third world countries like Nike is not a disadvantage for these workers, rather it serves as an advantage.