Sustainable Business Management: Patagonia's Strategies, Risks, TBL

This report delves into the sustainable business management practices of Patagonia, an outdoor clothing company known for its ethical and eco-conscious approach. It identifies key risks such as counterfeit products and dynamic customer behavior, alongside opportunities like leveraging new technology and expanding product portfolios. The report further analyzes sustainable strategies across environmental, social, and economic dimensions, recommending actions such as reducing carbon emissions, adopting green power, addressing population growth, and utilizing recycled materials. Ultimately, the report aims to provide insights for enhancing Patagonia's resilience and sustainability in the face of evolving business challenges. Desklib offers a wealth of similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

Sustainable Business
Management
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Table of content
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Risk and Opportunities for Patagonia..............................................................................................3
Sustainable Strategies for Patagonia................................................................................................5
Environmental sustainability.......................................................................................................5
Social Sustainability....................................................................................................................5
Economic Sustainability..............................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
Sustainable business management is also popularly known as corporate sustainability.
Corporate sustainability is basically the term used for management and coordination of the
social, environmental and the financial needs of the organisation. The focus of the term
sustainable business management is upon ensuring the continuous, ethical as well as responsible
success. The concept of sustainability basically focuses upon the meeting the needs and
requirements in the present scenarios without compromising the future utilisation needs or
demands. The three main pillar of sustainability are environment, social and economic factors
which denote planet, people and profit respectively (Reyes-Menendez and et.al., 2020).
The report revolves around the concept of sustainable management in aspect of the
organisation that has been discussed in the case study. In accordance with the case study,
Patagonia is an outdoor clothing organisation that is held by the private owners and is based in
Ventura, California. The organisation works upon several beliefs as well as values for several
product. The case study has discussed upon the several ethical and eco-conscious tasks of the
organisation. Patagonia has been involved into the several acts of environmental initiatives along
with the initiatives in regard to the core values and the vision. Several strategies have been
introduced in regard to the triple bottom line theory which include economic, Social as well as
Environmental factors.
Risk and Opportunities for Patagonia
Risk and opportunities can be considered as two sides of a coin which are necessarily
faced by each organisation within the industry. The risks are basically the threats that an
organisation is likely to face during the business operation. The threats of an organisation can
easily be overcome by effective and efficient planning. Several risks that can be analysed for
Patagonia through the case study have been discussed below in detail (Singh, 2018).
 Patagonia can face threats and risks from counterfeit and low quality products as they can
offer several products and services at lower prices which can reduce the market share of
Patagonia.
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 The products and services offered by Patagonia are not basically unique neither creative
as well that is a threat for the organisation as they do not have a competitive advantage in
aspect of the products.
 The dynamic behaviour of the customers from the several online channels can act as a
threat. Patagonia is under a constant threat of negative reviews that can appear for the
organisation through the several social media channels. Further, these social media
channels can have an impact upon the sales of the organisation (Veronica and et.al.,
2020).
 There are several competitors for Patagonia who tend to sell products and services at
affordable prices and hence this factor can act as a risk for the organisation as the
customers might get attracted towards the several products of the competitors due to the
prices.
Opportunities also play a crucial role within the organisation. It is very important for the
organisation to grab the opportunities in order to enhance and develop their market share. The
opportunities can help in developing or improving the weak areas of the organisation. The
several opportunities that have been analysed through the case study in regard to Patagonia have
been discussed below.
 There is a huge opportunity for the organisation in terms of new technology as a result of
digitalisation. This is an opportunity for Patagonia in order to enhance growth of the
organisation while developing an online platform for developing a wide customer base
for an organisation.
 Patagonia has an opportunity of taking advantage of the low inflation rates that can help
the organisation to revive itself and seek growth for the organisation.
 Patagonia has a stable work environment as well as a stable business that can be further
used as an opportunity for market expansion in global markets of the organisation.
Patagonia can conduct appropriate and suitable researches in regard to the market that
will help the organisation to identify the expansion strategies of the business.
 The organisation has an opportunity to expand its product portfolio by introducing a wide
variety of clothes and apparels in the market. Introduction of a new product line will help
in attracting more customers for the organisation.
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Sustainable Strategies for Patagonia
Environmental sustainability
Environmental sustainability is required to be maintained by Patagonia. There are several
environmental factors that have been witnessed at the business operations of Patagonia. There
are several environmental factors that have been considered at the organisation, such as waste
generation at the organisation, carbon emission, etc. In order to deal with the several factors like
these, the organisation is required to formulate several strategies so that the organisation can
reduce the impact of its operational activities upon the environment (Raut And et.al., 2019).
 The organisation can focus upon convincing its employees to use public transportation in
order reduce the carbon emission through vehicles. Also, for the purpose the organisation
can provide pooling facilities to its employees.
 Also the organisation can switch upon green power while working upon the concept of
product recycling in order to reduce wastage in the environment. Patagonia can use
natural as well as recycled fibres that will reduce the wastage emission upon the
environment of the business.
 These strategies will help in reducing the carbon footprint contribution of the
organisation in the long term. Also, the organisation can take several initiatives in order
to motivate several other organisations as well in order to have an impactful change upon
the environment in positive terms.
 The organization can also focus upon going digital in order to eliminate the paper
wastage in the organisation. The organisation can decrease the use of catalogue printings
and switch towards the digital platforms like emailing in order to spread awareness
regarding the products of the organisation (Nosratabadi and et.al., 2019).
Social Sustainability
The social factor that has been witnessed in aspect of Patagonia is increase in the
population along with the changing trends. The increasing population can be looked upon as an
opportunity for the organisation. Also, there is usually a change or shifts in aspect of the people
and trend in the social aspect of the organisation. The several strategies in aspect of the
Patagonia that can be advised and recommended for the organisation have been discussed below.
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 The rising rate of population can be considered as an opportunity wherein the
organisation can focus upon identifying the product ranges and product lines for the
organisation. As, there will be more people, the requirement of their products in form of
apparels is also likely to increase (Lahti, Wincent and Parida, 2018).
 It can be analysed that the fashion trends keep on changing and hence the organisation
can consider this as an opportunity in order to introduce new product line within the
organisation for the customers. The compliance with the changes in trends will help the
organisation to attract more customers towards the organisation. This will promote the
customers to buy the products of the organisation more frequently as they will generate
high level of satisfaction within the society.
 Another strategy that can be adopted by the organisation is to procure raw materials by
the suppliers at affordable and nominal rates. The organisation can grab the raw materials
from the recycled products that will help in attaining the products at lower price and
minimal wastage.
 Also, the organisation can focus upon several culture of the several regions across the
globe in order to cope with the various societal needs of the individuals that belong and
follow several culture in the region. People tend to develop different perception regarding
different products and hence this will help in having a satisfied customers base of the
organisation (Di Vaio and et.al., 2020).
Economic Sustainability
It has been discussed in assessment 1 that economic condition has been enhanced within
the country as an impact of the inflationary pressure. The rates of fuels have been consistently
rising and hence the consumers might nit feel like spending upon the apparels or more
specifically the purchasing power has been at decline. Hence the organisation is required to
attract its customers to buy the products and convince them to buy the products while
maintaining sustainability. In order to deal with the economic factors, Patagonia can adopt
several strategies in order to cope with the sustainability.
 Patagonia can focus upon adoption of green power substitutes. The green power
substitutes will help in reducing the cost of production for the goods as well as it will
further lead to sustaining the fossil fuels within the environment while switching towards
the several other fuel substitutes.
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 Also, in order to deal with the several economic challenges, the organisation can switch
towards using the recycled products. This will also help the organisation to reduce its cost
of production as their cost of acquiring the raw material has decreased. Also, the
organisation can introduce sales where the products will be offered at lower prices in
order to increase he sales and attract the customers towards the products of Patagonia
(Bilan, Pimonenko and Starchenko, 2020).
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that Sustainable Business Management is a crucial
term that is being adopted by the businesses in the present scenario. The focus of the term
sustainable business management is upon ensuring the continuous, ethical as well as responsible
success. The report has helped in highlighting several opportunities and threats in aspect of the
case study. Further, the report has helped in analysing the economic, social and environmental
strategies in aspect of the corresponding factors analysed within the case study. It can be
concluded that the strategies will help in coping with the several factors that tend to hinder the
business operations of the organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bilan, Y.V., Pimonenko, T.V. and Starchenko, L.V., 2020. Sustainable business models for
innovation and success: bibliometric analysis.
Caldera, H.T.S., Desha, C. and Dawes, L., 2017. Exploring the role of lean thinking in
sustainable business practice: A systematic literature review. Journal of cleaner
production, 167, pp.1546-1565.
Di Vaio, A. and et.al., 2020. Artificial intelligence in the agri-food system: Rethinking
sustainable business models in the COVID-19 scenario. Sustainability, 12(12), p.4851.
Lahti, T., Wincent, J. and Parida, V., 2018. A definition and theoretical review of the circular
economy, value creation, and sustainable business models: where are we now and where
should research move in the future?. Sustainability, 10(8), p.2799.
Nosratabadi, S. and et.al., 2019. Sustainable business models: A review. Sustainability, 11(6),
p.1663.
Raut, R.D. And et.al., 2019. Linking big data analytics and operational sustainability practices
for sustainable business management. Journal of cleaner production, 224, pp.10-24.
Reyes-Menendez, A. and et.al., 2020. Understanding Online Consumer Behavior and eWOM
Strategies for Sustainable Business Management in the Tourism
Industry. Sustainability, 12(21), p.8972.
Singh, S.K., 2018. Sustainable business and environment management. Management of
Environmental Quality: An International Journal.
Veronica, S. and et.al., 2020. Do stakeholder capabilities promote sustainable business
innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises? Evidence from Italy. Journal of
Business Research, 119, pp.131-141.
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