Discuss the values and attitudes of Chouinard and the Patagonia company and how the company's perfomance is being affected - Essay Example

Yvon Chouinard's values and how it affected the Patagonia Company Not so many businessmen nowadays are environmentalists. They are not really concerned about the environment but instead on how they could make profit out of it. Generally, all they care about is how they can make use and how they can use the resources that are readily available for them. Basically, they use the environment's resources and sometimes sacrifice some part of it just to fulfill their ambition. Instead of recognizing how they could replenish it, they just ignore the result of their endless and reckless consumption.
Green business may not be an appealing option for businessmen as it may mean less profit. However, Yvon Chouinard looks at it differently. He is a green business premier. Casey (2007, p. 1) looks at the case of green business in through the works of Yvon Chouinard and probed how he became so influential. His secret to success is putting Earth first, questioning growth, ignoring fashion, making goods that don't break or wear out, telling customers to buy less, discontinuing his own profitable products and giving away part of his earnings. Chouinard's intention was to prove that business can make a profit without losing its soul.
Refinements of the traditional way of manufacturing clothes are constantly done in Patagonia. His aim is to develop a sustainable initiative which practically shows in how he initiates change continually in their products. Whatever Chouinard thinks is better, they experiment on it and later on find that they indeed discover something better than the usual. It seems that gambling sometimes proved to be beneficial. Let alone the success and the influence that the company advanced against its competitors. The green agenda's point is not on making money, rather to focus on the right things to do. Let's take the instance of the cotton. Most of the clothing companies, including Patagonia are highly dependent on cotton but the fact that cotton is produced using noxious and hazardous pesticides; Chouinard suggested that it would be better to switch to using organic cotton. Though organic cotton was still very rare, he pointed out that they should try using it to see if it works. That's his way of determining if a material is still favorable. The gamble actually paid off because Patagonia was able to establish an organic cotton industry. It shows that Chouinard doesn't care if he would spend a lot as long as he could use the right material for his products. He doesn't compromise quality of his products and the environments' welfare just for profit. Another refinement he resorted to was the use of polyester more than cotton since polyester makes a stronger fabric than cotton, it would be conventional to use it. Aside from that it is not necessary to continuously produce polyester since it can be recycled endlessly. It does not only cut cost but most importantly, for Chouinard, it can save a lot of energy thus cutting environmental threat. Patagonia even developed a slow-wash technique for its wool produce and eliminated chlorine and also made use of a biodegradable crab shells for odor control. The company establishes itself as a prime company that employ green business. It seems like his inquisitiveness doesn't end at all. He doesn't just reckon to whatever the company has been using for years, instead continuously fins a way how to make their methods better and in favor of the environment. Not only that he valued the environment by promoting environment-friendly materials but also in giving part of his earnings to be used in resurrecting of the planet. He proved that business and the environment can merge without necessarily destroying each other. He projected a new insight on how to better make use of the natural resources but not entirely consuming it and eventually succeed.
Yvon Chouinard is a man whose values proved to be greatly influential not only to his employees but also to his competitors. He's the type who sees the opportunity in every difficulty. And for every negative feedback and skepticism, comes a challenge. In the end, the values of an individual have the biggest impact on what the outcome of the venture may be.
Reference
Casey, S 2007, Patagonia: Blueprint for green business, pp. 1-3 Available at http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/04/02/8403423/index3.htm (Accessed: 5 November 2007). Read More