Patagonia

Introduction

Companies are described from the basis of what they offer and their means of operation. The operation means that most companies apply involve management policies. However, most companies are motivated by other factors to enhance their management. For instance, in Patagonia Company, the operation of the company activities is based on the climatic and environmental factors. These factors help the company to expand its operation therefore, determining the companys failures, success and future prospects.In addition, a company has to have an encouraging background so that it can withstand the market trends. The essay aims at discussing Patagonia Company by illustrating both its internal and external factors that lead to its success, failure and future prospects.

Company Background

Patagonia Company is a large clothing company that has developed from its constant societal outputs. The company has been on the forefront to ensure that the society in its area of location benefits from its operations. Mainly, the company has contributed greatly in ensure that the environment is preserved. In addition, the company has majored in the field of sports. A number of skiers, climber and surfers have been sponsored by the company. The company has, on the other hand, diversified its profit making sector through the production of surfing products. This means that Patagonia Company is a private benefit corporation that uses its means of operation to expand its functionality. Therefore, the companys outline is fundamentally based on the operation method the company uses.

Patagonia Company is an American company that was founded by Yvon Chouinard in the year 1973. The company focuses on high end outdoor clothing whereby it is reputable in the field of surfing and mountain climbing clothing. The company is based in California State whereby its mode of business is mainly retail business. The company is a certified B-Corporation which enables it to be a participant in most of the environmental movements. The environmental inputs of the company dictate that the company is a public-benefiting oriented company. The companys financial background is pleasant whereby makes an average of six hundred million dollars in a year. In addition, the companys relation with the external factors such as demographic factors has been encouraging because it has absorbed its immediate population as workers. As at 2014, the company had a total of two thousand employees creating a firm external background. The companys background has therefore, ensured its stability hence a bright future in both its profit making and public benefiting sectors.

Founder of the company

Yvon Chouinard, is a self-motivated individual who has both entrepreneurial and society development skills.He has made significant contributions in the sports industry whereby he is a legendary mountain climber and surfer. His experience in the two sporting activities made him develop a company that would cater for the sporting products that would boost the sporting industry. This illustrates that Yvon is an innovative and opportunistic individual. Yvon is an inspiring person who encourages young entrepreneurs to be persistent in their engagements. He developed crucial philosophies that have facilitated product design, production, distribution, branding, management and environmental responsibility. The persistent nature of Yvon therefore, assists in developing business ethics and as a learning scenario that one can use towards makinggauging how long one can go if he or she is persistent.

Yvon Chouinard is a selfless individual who is ready to offer services to the society. His environmental activism activities illustrate his determination in ensuring that the community lives in a safe environment.The environmental activities by Yvons company show how he was concentrative on ethics.His activities have been described as An appealingly practical guide to encourage capitalism and ethics to play nice together. Therefore, Yvon Chouinard is an ethical entrepreneur who has an encouraging and inspiring background.

Human Resource Practices

Patagonia Company has been rated to have one of the best human resource management. It has a working policy that prioritizes the working conditions of the workers. Human resource management in Patagonia Company begins at the employment process. The company has fair methods of recruiting employees whereby the society around the company is highly considered for the jobs. This helps in building demographic confidence in the company. The employees affairs are well handled whereby they are given privileges such as efficient time off. Most employees take their time off by engaging in the companys sporting activities. This helps in motivating the employees in working hard. As a result, the company achieves a high performance hence maximum output.

The company also practices environmental internship as a human resource practice. The company performs this task by giving their employeesleaves of absence with full pay and benefits. The company, in return, advices the employees on leave to utilize their pay, during this time, to volunteer in the environmental non-profit tasks. To motivate their workers, the leave is scheduled for a minimum of two months. In addition, the workers are given the freedom of working in any project during the leave period. The company takes advantage of the period the employees have been on leave whereby the skills they gain from the projects in the leave period are brought into the company. Therefore, the companys human resource practices help in boosting the companys performance and ensuring that the workers in the company acquire a large scope of life skills.

Market Success

Patagonia Company has undergone a series of successes. The major success of the company has been boosting of surfing and mountain climbing sporting activities. The company has developed sporting clothing that has led to intensification of the sporting activities. In addition, the mentorship of Yvon in the sporting field has acted as an added advantage towards the growth of the company in sporting activities. Apart from sporting clothing, the company has shown success in the manufacture of fleeces, rain jackets and coats. The success is practically experienced when the companys products are worn in the outdoor apparel industry. Therefore, the company has experienced growth in product development.

The company has experienced large sales volume. This is an appealing success whereby the products produced by the company are well marketed and millions of people purchase them. As a result of the large sales volume, the company makes huge profit hence their expansion. Therefore, Patagonia Company is a high earning company that has grown rapidly from the utilization of its profits.

The companys success is also experience in its environment activism practices.The company cultivates into the activism by committing one per cent of their total sales and ten percent of their profit to environmental groups. This move helps in creating a vibrant environmental conservation team due to the availability of finances. The companys success in environmental activities is reflected in the awards the company has received such as the Eco Brand of the year. Environmental conservation of the company has also been extended into the common threads recycling program. The program has been one of the major successes for the company due to its large growth. The company has produced a variety of its recyclable products. Therefore, the environmental output of the company is a success that has improved the companys public figure.

The companys success is also experienced in the relation of the company with external stakeholders. The company has attracted external stakeholders to play a significant role in developing the company. For instance, the company has accepted terms offered by the B-Corporation and Napa Green. The two external institutions have worked hand in hand with Patagonia to ensure that environmental conservation is more vibrant. As a result, the company has developed five elements of responsibility which is an ethical development for Patagonia. Therefore, the companys interaction with external stakeholders has been a success in enhancing the growth of the company.

Market Failures

The company has suffered from one main failure of supply chain transparency. The company has not achieved its supply chain transparency whereby unfairness in supply fields has been experienced. In addition, the companys supply chain has gone against its social and environmental philosophies. The company has severally been accused of sourcing live-plucked goose. This is against animal rights whereby the company has contributed to the reduction of geese. The company has therefore, been trying to improve their supply chain and supplier practices to minimize the negative practices. This will help in improving the companys performance and reputation.

Future Prospects

Patagonia Company has shown desirable signs of its future growth. The fact the company has been making a large sales volume illustrates that the company has positive market response. The response from the market is a desirable future prospect for the company. In addition, the companys crucial role in sporting activities is a better future prospect for the company. Surfing is a growing sport that has attracted several sportspeople. This fact creates a favorable business opportunity for the company. Therefore, the company has a better chance of expanding its business operation through utilizing its business opportunities. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, Patagonia Company has undergone significant developments. The companys developments have been brought about by the companys background and sound philosophies. The companys success and failures helps in rating the companys progress. However, the companys future prospects create hope for further development of the company. Therefore, Patagonia Company is a better illustration of a developing company hence much can be scoped from its growth.