I will give you the charity here. I see what you're saying, and this would be an interesting discussion, but the author's chosen framing ruins it.

Nike is a poor choice for making this point, because their original business was making waffle-iron shoes in a garage. They could have stuck to being a specialty cobbler who only caters to the top stars of track-and-field sports. None of the abuses had to happen. The only sad thing that was obligatory in Nike's story was the death of Steve Prefontaine.