Patagonia Another Way of Doing Business Essay

1Introduction Patagonia was founded in 1957 by Yvon Chouinard who defines himself as a reluctant business man. He started his business as a way to climb and surf year long, seeking to build the best product to satisfy his passion. â€Å"Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. † –Patagonia’s Mission Statement Patagonia grew out of a small company that made tools for climbers. Alpinism remains at the heart of a worldwide business that still makes clothes for climbing as well as for skiing, snowboarding, surfing, fly fishing, paddling and trail running. Customers are willing to pay a premium for the Patagonia brand and environmental ethic. The company’s goal is as simple as it is challenging: to produce the highest-quality products while doing the least possible harm to the environment. Yvon Chouinard founder and owner of Patagonia has done business differently since the beginning of the company, placing environmental sustainability and social welfare of his employee before profit. Three examples of the company practice will show how marketing and business can meet ethical behavior. Patagonia: a different workplace environment Patagonia is hiring only passionate people (friends, family†¦) who are also product user so they don’t have to understand the customer because they are the customer. Patagonia has developed the Let My People Go surfing flextime policy to cope with the employee passion (surfing, backcountry skiing†¦). There are no private offices and the architectural layout keep communication opens. The cafeteria where employees can gather throughout the day serves healthy, mostly vegetarian food. The company has also an on-site child care center, the presence of children playing in the yard, or having lunch with their parents in the cafeteria helps keep the company atmosphere more familial than corporate. Patagonia has a program that allows employees to take off up to two months at full pay to work for environmental groups. Patagonia fosters creativity and authenticity through its work environment and hiring process enabling the development of original products. 3Patagonia: The 1% for the Planet Initiative Since 1985, Patagonia has devoted 1% of its sales to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment. The company has awarded over $46 million in cash and in-kind donations to domestic and international grassroots environmental. In 2002, founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, and Craig Mathews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, created a non-profit corporation to encourage other businesses to do the same. 1% For The Planet is an alliance of businesses that understand the necessity of protecting the natural environment. As of today 1401 companies are members of the 1% for the Planet Initiative and donate 1% of their sales to a network of 2,735 environmental organizations worldwide. More than a marketing campaign, The 1% for the Planet Initiative is a really strong statement from Patagonia (no matter what are the financial results 1% of its sales will serve the environmental cause every year), it has reinforced the company corporate social responsibility and ethical image, hence the loyalty of its core customers. 4Patagonia: The Common Threads Initiative This marketing program first asks customers to not buy something if they don’t need it, then if they do need it, Patagonia ask that they buy what will last a long time and to repair what breaks, reuse or resell whatever they don’t wear any more. And, finally, recycle whatever’s truly worn out. Patagonia with The Common Threads Initiative is the first private company launching a marketing campaign telling its customers to buy less or to buy used gear. In September 2011 Patagonia launched an online marketplace in collaboration with eBay for customers to sell and buy their used Patagonia products. This feature is displayed on the homepage of patagonia. com. Recycling is what we do when we’re out of options to avoid, repair, or reuse the product first. That’s why I am so impressed with Patagonia for starting its Common Threads Initiative with the real solution: Reduce. Don’t buy what we don’t need. Repair: Fix stuff that still has life in it. Reuse: Share. Then, only when you’ve exhausted those options, recycle (Leonard, 2011). This new marketing campaign was unveiled at the New York fashion week as an experiment. Only a private company without public shareholder and a charismatic leader with strong belief can promote such a different business attitude. 5Conclusion Patagonia has always done business and marketing differently. In the seventies Chouinard Equipment had become the largest supplier of climbing hardware in the U. S. It had also become an environmental threat because its gear was damaging the rock. Yvon Chouinard and his partner decided to phase out of this business even it if was the main source of revenue for the company, it was the first environmental step for Patagonia. Instead of focusing on profit the company took a big risk by discontinuing a successful line of products to promote an alternative solution (aluminum chocks) for climbers. It became a success because Patagonia crafted the right product with the right message and stayed true to its core values. Today with the Common Threads Initiative they are pursuing the exact same philosophy and trying to push the industry to adopt more ethical business behaviors. Patagonia’s highly public search for a new way of doing business implies a new kind of relationship with customers, reinforced by unconditional guarantees, extremely high product quality and an explicit commitment to ethical codes of behavior (Reinhardt, 2000).