Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Patagonia's Strategic Controls

Patagonia uses the concept of strategic control as a tool for monitoring and correcting their strategy and performance in the business world. From an informational perspective, Patagonia is "doing the right thing" by offering products aligned with protecting and conserving the environment. Behaviorally, Patagonia is "doing things right" by positively influencing the actions of their employees. The firm's strong organizational culture, which emphasizes environmental conservation and a solid work ethic, is one example of how Patagonia utilizes behavioral controls. You never hear any negative press or news about Patagonia because they do such a nice job of placing effective controls, which minimizes unethical conduct.  

The role that corporate governance plays at Patagonia is a big one in forming relationships between the various company stakeholders. Patagonia's key stakeholders in this case would include its shareholders, suppliers, board of directors, and management. Recently, Patagonia was deemed a "Benefit Corporation," which gives the company's board of directors legal protection to consider social and environmental benefits over shareholder financial returns. This means that Patagonia shareholders no longer have the legal right to sue the company for not trying to maximize profits. The overall goal of this effort is to align the interests of all of Patagonia's stakeholders in conserving and protecting the environment.

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