Essay about Patagonia Hbs Case

With other companies starting to encroach upon the Jeans market share, Levi’s decided to introduce a new product. With the goal to gain profits, Levi’s pursued diversification with the new product. This product was formal clothing for men.

Robert Swan once said “the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Two companies that understand this concept are Patagonia and Nike. How they address these issues regarding sustainable business practice vary, however. Both have made it their mission to deliver excellence and make the best quality products within their industries, Patagonia focussing more on outdoor active wear, while Nike is more sports oriented. Part of this process has been developing products from sustainable sources. Patagonia, for example, actively took a stand against chemical intensive cotton in 1994, and has since switched to less harmful means of organic cotton within all their cotton-based products. They are even going the extra

In the athletic apparel industry, as in any industry, it is key to stay in touch with the current trends in order to keep your products relevant. With Lululemon focused on such a niche activity it will be important that they explore other markets within the sports apparel industry in the future so as to stay relevant. We can see the company’s first steps in doing just this when they recently introduced their men’s apparel line. A summary of the athletic apparel industry’s external environment are listed in Exhibit 1.

Sportsman Shoes has been a leader in the shoe industry for more than thirty years. Sportsman manufactures and sells athletic shoes for all types of sports. The company has pursued a low-cost strategy in order to sustain their success. They sell a limited number of shoe designs and have held costs low through manufacturing efficiency and standardized operations. However, the past five years have been a struggle at Sportsman. The shoe market has seen a rise in the availability of low-cost imported shoes that has threatened Sportsman’s competitive position. As a result, company executives have decided it is time for a strategy shift.

Companies like Under Armour, Nike and Adidas/Reebok have high threats of substitute´s products. These companies share the sport apparel industry and are vulnerable to competitive pressure from the actions of buyers whenever they view that their products can be substituted for others. The availability of substitutes invites the costumer to compare performance, features, and ease of use as well as price. Under Armour’s major competitors are Nike and Adidas/Reebok because they have a similar or competing product offerings. The top sport apparel brands offer similar products and that is why each one of them needs to keep a high standard and produce good quality products in order for customers to keep buying their product.

a. Under Armour’s approach towards innovation is very unique, they think and plan out their projects thoroughly in order to create a one of a kind product that could be appealing to their consumers. The company has been extremely progressive throughout the years in order to stay ahead of the other competitive companies in their targeted industry. By constantly updating and coming up with different product lines, such as compression shirts and cleats, Under Armour is able to compete with other top athletic wear company’s in their market. If

By the use of Porter’s Five Forces model to analysis the athletic footwear market around the world; our strategy is to cut the price of footwear in the Year 11 and 12, and to increase budget of advertisement and to bid celebrity endorsements in order to boost the sales volume in a competitive industry .

The North Face has a marketing strategy that enables the company to focus on the athlete, the potential of the athlete, and the athlete using The North Face gear for performance. In comparison, Patagonia focuses on the clothing in which they produce and sell, rather than the company's model. Patagonia places emphasis on fabric technology in their marketing efforts and mainly depicts the clothing on company websites and catalogs. Therefore, this is an area in which both Patagonia and The North Face can improve in order to increase product communication towards target consumers. Both Patagonia and The North Face have exceptional product technologies, which they can use to market their brand and inspire consumers to explore the possibilities of their products. However, The North Face invests

Patagonia is a company built from an idea born from a need to produce better products of the highest quality for those who harbor a love of the outdoors and while creating a workplace offering diverse products for all facets of outdoor life, Patagonia maintains a level of inspiration and implementation of solutions to correct environmental damage while not causing any unnecessary harm and providing the highest standards in work ethics. Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, started as a climber in 1953 when he became a member of the Southern California Falconry Club which led to a great fondness of rappelling down cliffs. Soon, climbing up the mountains and cliffs became an every weekend sport and Chouinard realized the only pitons available

Patagonia strives to provide quality clothing and outdoor equipment while staying as environmentally friendly as possible. A hiking boot, for example, would need to fit strict requirements. The boot would need to be durable, comfortable, stylish, and made from environmentally friendly products. You also need to determine if there is a large enough market for the product. This would provide the means necessary to determine if the product has the highest chance of being successful. Given these strict requirements, one way to help keep the costs down is to use recycled material from older products that costumers turn in, therefore saving resources and money.

Although their unconventional business approach can in no way be exactly measured to determine the effectiveness of it, the company succeeds at making the experience of purchasing one of their products special because the consumer knows they are getting a high quality product that was made in a environmentally friendly process. This unique positioning that Patagonia has in the outdoor apparel market, allows it to sell its products two to three times the average price of their competitors like Uniqlo. What differentiates Patagonia from its main competitors, The North Face Company and Columbia Sportswear, is that Patagonia has found and connected with a niche market that wants not only a high quality product but also a product that was made in an environmentally sustainable

Sport Apparel is a large industries with many firms such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Under Armour, the Gap, Athleta, Nordstrom, Lucy and Bebe store. Large industries allow multiple firms and producers to prosper without having to steal market share from each other. Large industry size is a positive for Lululemon Athletica. … This qualitative factor will lead to an increase in costs.

Banc One has a problem with the alignment of two of its important strategies: (1) rapidly acquiring profitable banks and (2) sustaining high returns while mitigating interest rate risk. Banc One has been very successful in acquiring banks, and much of this is done through the sale/transfer of Banc One’s stock. This strategy relies heavily on Banc One’s ability to maintain a high stock price. The second strategy – high returns with mitigated interest rate risk - relies heavily on the use of interest rate swaps. This use of interest rate swaps has become concerning to investors - due to its complicated nature,

As shown in Figure 2 of the Appendix, a Porter Five Force Analysis makes it clear that the overall rivalry within the athletic apparel industry is medium to high. Because Nike and Adidas already have a substantial amount of capital resources and other assets, Under Armour struggles against them to gain market share. 8Also, private labels of retailers and newer sports apparel companies could potentially pose a threat to Under Armour, but mostly due to the fact that Under Armour does not hold any fabric or process patents. This makes it extremely easy for any competitor to duplicate a product or process with no consequence. However, the threat of new entrants is not too troublesome within the industry because of the great capital cost required for branding, advertising, and meeting product demand. Furthermore, the sports apparel industry is in the maturity phase of the industry life cycle. This means that each company included in the oligopoly must

Not only with the customer, but Pep also built strong relationship with the supplier in order to keep production continuously with still in high quality.