According to the United Nations, a child is defined as anyone that is under the age of 18 years. In this regards, child labor is considered as work that children are not allowed to undertake since they are too young to carry on with such tasks. Nonetheless, any type of work that is performed by children is regarded as child labor and all depends with the age of a child, the hours worked, the type of work, as well as the working conditions. The continuous presence of child labor is due to a lack of corporate social responsibility on the part of global corporations. Some of the companies are moving their operations overseas where they can find and exploit cheap labor and cut down on their operation costs. Apparently, the employment opportunity may appear like a good thing for individuals until they become aware that their wages are not even enough to pay for their daily expenses.
The aim of the research is to explore what sports companies do to minimize the chances of children toiling at the workplaces and fields to produce their goods. Also, it is necessary to understand how such companies understand and evaluate their efforts to prevent a child or forced labor and what happens when the sports companies uncover such problems in their supply chains ( Khan, Munir, & Willmott, 2007) . Also, it is necessary to understand how sports companies share information with consumers as well as investors. Apparently, some of the disturbing findings indicate that more than half of the sports companies do not provide public reporting on their initiatives or efforts to reduce child labor in their places of work. Also, some companies are particularly lacking in reporting and transparency.
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A sports company, such as Nike has been branded with a famous identity, which is “sweatshop labor,” since many people regarded it as an epitome of some form of uncaring capitalism. It has been a fact that as a sports company, Nike has been uncaring to children and its employees (Baker, 2016). The organization was originally founded as Blue Ribbon Sports before it changed its brand name to Nike. However, the multinational corporation was able to grow faster through the employment of a model of outsourcing production to a network of suppliers in various parts of the world. The organization accepted that it needed to make some changes by taking responsibility ( Levermore, 2008) . However, the management agreed that the company had become synonymous with hiring children and was associated with slave wages with forced overtime and employee abuse. As a result, the organization and child labor had been linked, especially in the public consciousness.
Like other sports companies, Nike began to make steps by changing several elements of its show manufacturer to minimize workplace hazards to employees. Besides, the company began to produce reports that were mainly focused on talking about its progress and focusing on more audits on its major plants to recognize the problems in the workplace. However, the company made an effort by taking tougher decisions by providing work conditions that aligned with decent working standards ( Islam & Deegan, 2010) . Due to such measures taken by the sports companies, the company had been ranked among the top of the list for sustainability, especially within the sector.
Overall, child labor is mainly concentrated in the informal sector of the economy and in industries, which are mainly hidden from the view of the public. Indeed, children who are engaged in child labor lack the capacity to develop to their full potential. As such, sports companies need to play a role in the global fight against child labor from their places of work by refusing to hire children. In addition, employers can lobby for effective measures that ensure that children are given an opportunity for effective schooling. Further, sports companies can help to raise awareness and alter the misguided attitudes about child labor.
References
Baker, M. (2016). Nike and child labor – how it went from laggard to leader. Bakker Mallen. Retrieved from http://mallenbaker.net/article/clear-reflection/nike-and-child-labour-how-it-went-from-laggard-to-leader.
Islam, M. A., & Deegan, C. (2010). Media pressures and corporate disclosure of social responsibility performance information: a study of two global clothing and sports retail companies. Accounting and business research , 40 (2), 131-148. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00014788.2010.9663388
Khan, F. R., Munir, K. A., & Willmott, H. (2007). A dark side of institutional entrepreneurship: Soccer balls, child labour, and postcolonial impoverishment. Organization Studies , 28 (7), 1055-1077.Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0170840607078114
Livermore, R. (2008). Sport: a new engine of development?. Progress in development studies , 8 (2), 183-190. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/146499340700800204
