Patagonia Philosophy and Background Patagonia, a subsidiary of Lost Arrow Corporations, is a privately held company that debuted in 1973 by a group of surfers and climbers. In 2006, Patagonia totaled $270 million in revenues, achieved with 1080 employees, wielding market power in the green apparel market. A purveyor in outdoor clothing and gear, Patagonia manages its research and development, design, manufacturing, merchandising and sales of all its products. Holding a competitive advantage in technical innovation, it is the leader in the outdoor retail industry. Patagonia prides itself on its deep commitment to environmental and socially sustainable industrial practices, and continually launches new products that are dedicated to its mission statement: “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” An unusual mission statement, company founder Yvon Chouinard’s vision for long-term sustainability and low environmental impact has attracted employees devoted to shared environmental causes.
Icelantic has the ability to stand by the quality of its boards because not only do they use only top-of-the-line materials, they have partnered up with Never Summer Industries, a known industry leader in the manufacturing of snowboards, to produce their skis. The Icelantic website states that “Never Summer Industries has been perfecting sandwich construction for over 15 years and are known throughout the industry for their bombproof durability” (Handmade in CO, n.d.). The quality of skis that are produced has allowed Icelantic the opportunity to stand by their product in the form of a two year warranty. Icelantic also has the advantage over the large ski manufacturers because of its unique label of being a “ski boutique” company. This relates to the company being able to provide individualized, customized and personalized products.
Ashish Sahay MGT555-Winter Quarter January 29, 2014 Overview The company that I currently work for, Lake Electronics, is a privately held, leading provider of complex contract electrical manufacturing services. We continue to be a preferred high-end manufacturing partner for customers in a diverse group of industries. The hallmark of our Company has been the commitment to excellence on the part of the members of our team, and their dedication to the success of each and every customer. My father is the Chairman and CEO of the company and currently we have 68 full-time employees that work in various departments of manufacturing, financial services, research and development, and engineering. As lead supervisor of operations, I decided to speak to the vice president of the company who is in charge of hiring the workforce and wears the hat as our human resource representative.
John Deere Week Two Individual May 20, 2009 Diane Phillips Instructor: Richard Rignall John Deere The individual whom I selected and believe to be a creative thinker is John Deere; the founder of John Deere Company. Born in Vermont, this individual has been a very valuable asset to John Deere Company. John was able to bring his small work shop into a large corporation which continues to grow. Having been only a one man blacksmith, John was able to expand this business to what it is today. With approximately 56,000 people working at his corporation the company continue to running strong.
This continued with his son and grandson, Edsel Ford and Henry Ford II. The two younger generations were experts in the field being involved in the automobile business all of their lives. Ford continued, like all automobile manufacturers, to bring in experts in the industry from other companies to be CEO. Alan Mulally was appointed president and CEO in September 2006. This marked the first time that a CEO of Ford Motor Company would be an industry outsider.
His guidance was very helpful for me because I was entering the field as an engineer and need as much help as I could get at the time. He drew from the mental, emotional, and spiritual level of engagement by pressing on the education and setting goals for me to improve and expand my abilities in a new field. He also did not overdue any element by setting obtainable goals which would push me beyond my current level to expand my level of working abilities; which is Loehr’s second and third principle. The last principle is to maintain high performance by positive energy rituals. This is the only area where I can say my boss is lacking.
As Program Manager, what did Jack Smith do that was effective? Jack did a number of things well in his effort to complete the joint venture engine development project between Chrysler and BMW. Jack effectively sought the help of other experienced product developers to help him in the transition to his new role. In doing so he was able to gain the executive support needed to accomplish tasks in a timely manner. Jack also did well to outline the expectations of the project by means of “The Contract Book”.
Tri-American was governed by a board of directors who determine policies, which is then applied by the various plant managers, including Dick Spencer at the Canadian branch of Tri-American, Modrow. The company performs under a decentralized structure where each plant manager has significant autonomy. This structure encourages competition among the different plants within the company; nonetheless, it also has added pressure to perform and increase profitability. Dick has served the company for 14 years and worked his way to the top firstly as a very successful salesman. In Dick’s first year as a salesman, he secured a very large contract for Tri-American Corporation, which ultimately lead to him becoming the top employee in sales within the organization.
General Motor’s Packard Electric Division General Motor’s Packard Electric Division is very knowledgeable and beneficial to the company because they contribute to a generous differentiation in the products and services that the Packard Company has to offer. Although it was not an easy road for GM during the 1980s, the Packard Electric Division flourished tremendously contributing greatly to the company’s production and profit. I agree with Schramm’s idea, who is the chief engineer, because he constructed three possible situations for such a crucial road to be following on. The first situation revolved around a backup RIM machine just in case if there were something to go wrong and the products were not within compliance of the manufacturer’s specifications. Although this route was not cost efficacious, it was the riskiest of all three of the possible situations.
For that reason, Under Armour apparels can be copied very easily, which is not a good image for the company. Nike and Adidas are tow companies that are doing their best to get market share in the industry while under Armour has already great resources, wholesales, independent sales, end customers all over the world. The core competencies of Under Armour I could come up with are first; the CEO Kevin plank was a former athlete so he knows the industry very well. Second, they have products development and a lot of innovations. The company is also very successful in performance and market campaign.