Urban_Outfitters_Unethical

5. Retailer Urban Outfitters Inc. is actually known for not having good ethics. Not at all actually. They give off a vibe that they are a independent, hip store, when actually they are a huge chain that is known to have ripped off independent artists by creating T-shirts with the artists original designs, without the artists permission or paying the artist a royalty. This has been known to happen more than once. They sell T-shirts, art, accessories and art geared toward the hipster, liberal and indie crowd but the President of Urban Outfitters Richard Hayne actually donates a large chunk of money to Anti-Gay Senator Rick Santorum. A large percentage of “hipsters” Urban Outfitter customers are gay, so a percentage of their money they are spending on ironic T shirts often with Pro-Gay messages is going to support a Senator who definitely doesn’t support or even approve of their lifestyle. With all that that I have already mentioned aside, Urban Outfitters has released a number of questionable items, such as a dress up Jesus on the cross, which offended Christians, a “Ghettopoly” which offended African American people, a T shirt that read “Everyone Loves a Jewish Girl” which was surrounded by animated dollar signs which needless to say offended the Jewish people, and handgun shaped Christmas Ornaments. Ethically, Urban Outfitters is lacking. 7. Urban Outfitters Inc.’s organizational/management style is a hierarchical structure. A hierarchical type of structure is defined in Businessdictionary.com as “Having a structure consisting of multiple levels. A hierarchical business structure would mean that the chain of command looks like a pyramid, with a large base of workers, who are directly supervised by the smaller level above them, who are in turn supervised by the level above them, continuing on to the top ranking officer such as the company President or CEO. Alternatively, anything which can be broken down into a series of levels which range from broad to specific can be considered hierarchical.” 8. Urban Outfitter SWOT. The strengths would be they have a large following, reasonably priced merchandise, unique items, ability to grow