Rise Of Superpowers After WWII Essay Example For Students

Ascent Of Superpowers After WWII Essay It is regularly thought about how the superpowers accomplished their situation of strength. It appears that the developing of the two superpowers, Russia and the United States, can be followed to World War II. To be asuperpower, a country needs to have a solid economy, an overpoweringmilitary, tremendous global political force and, identified with this, a solid national belief system. It was this war, and its outcomes, that made every one of these superpowers experience such a prevalence of intensity. Prior to the war, the two countries were fit to be depicted as incredible forces, yet it is mistaken to state that they were superpowers at that point.To underezd how the subsequent World War affected these countries sogreatly, we should look at the reasons for the war. The United Statesgained its quality in world undertakings from its status as an economicpower. In the years prior to the war, America was the universes largestproducer. In the USSR simultaneously, Stalin was executing hi s?five year intends to modernize the Soviet economy. From thesesituations, comparable international strategies came about because of generally divergentorigins. Roosevelts noninterference rose up out of the wide and predominant household want to stay impartial in any universal clashes. It regularly generally accepted that Americans entered the main World War basically so as to spare industrys entrepreneur interests in Europe. Regardless of whether this is the situation or not, Roosevelt had to work with a naturally noninterventionist Congress, just growing its viewpoints after the besieging of Pearl Harbour.He marked the Neutrality Act of 1935, making it unlawful for the United States to send arms to the belligerents of any contention. The demonstration additionally expressed that belligerents could purchase just non-combat hardware from the US, and even these were just to be purchased with money. Interestingly, Stalin was by need intrigued by European undertakings, however just to the point of worry to the USSR. Russian international strategy was on a very basic level Leninist in its anxiety to keep the USSR out of war. Stalin needed to merge Communist power and modernize the countrys business. The Soviet Union was focused on aggregate activity for harmony, as long as that dedication didn't imply that the Soviet Union would take a brunt of a Nazi assault subsequently. Instances of this can be found in the Soviet Unions endeavors to accomplish a shared assiezce settlement with Britain and France. These bargains, be that as it may, were structured more to make security for the West, instead of keeping every one of the three signatories from harm.At a similar time, Stalin was endeavoring to energize both the Anglo-French, and the Axis powers against one another. The significant aftereffect of this was the Nazi-Soviet non-animosity agreement, which parceled Poland, and permitted Hitler to begin the war. Another reaction of his arrangement of playing the two sides was that it caused fantastic doubt towards the Soviets from the Western powers after 1940. This was expected to some extent to the way that Stalin set a few expectations for both impact in the Dardanelles, and for Bulgaria to be perceived as a Soviet dependant. The seeds of superpowerdom lie here be that as it may, in the late thirties. R.J. Overy has composed that ?dependability in Europe may have been accomplished through the presence of forces so solid that they could force their will overall of the global framework, as has been the situation since 1945?.?At the time, there was no force on the planet that could accomplish such an accomplishment. England and France were in majestic decrease, and more worried about frontier financial aspects than the strength of Europe. Both royal forces expected that realm building would essentially be an inescapable component of the world system.German animosity could have been smothered early had the royal forces had acted in show. The recollec tions of World War One nonetheless, were excessively incredible, and the overall population would not overlook a military arrangement by then. The hostility of Germany, and to a lesser degree that of Italy, can be clarified by this decrease of majestic force. They were essentially endeavoring to fill the force vacuum in Europe that Britain and France accidentally left. After the monetary emergency of the 1930s, Britain and France lost quite a bit of their previous worldwide ezdingas the world markets plunged; so did their relative force. The two countries were resolved to keep up their status as incredible powers be that as it may, without depending on the US or the USSR for help of any kind.They did battle simply because further submission would have just served to expel from them their small staying world ezding and notoriety. The formation of a non-animosity settlement between the Soviet Union and Germany can be seen for instance of magnificent decrease also. Stalin clarified the way that he arrived at a rapprochement with Germany, and not one with Great Britain by expressing that ?the USSR and Germany had needed to change the old harmony? Britain and France needed to protect it. Germany additionally needed to roll out an improvement in the balance, and this normal want to dispose of the old balance had made the basisfor the rapprochement with Germany.?The basic want of a considerable lot of the incomparable European forces for an adjustment on the planet state framework implied that either a monstrous war would need to be battled; or that one of the incredible forces would need to endeavor to make the jump to superpower status without procuring the focal points such a contention could provide for the force making the endeavor. Such advantages as wartime financial additions, boundlessly expanded inner markets from vanquished an area, and expanded access to assets and the methods for modern creation would help fuel any countries drive for superpowerdom.One o f two different ways war could have been evaded was for the United States or Russia to have made amazing and lively move against Germany in 1939. Robert A. Divine, holds that ?superpowerdom gives a country the system by which a country can broaden all inclusive the range of its capacity and influence.?This can be seen particularly as the capacity to make different countries (particularly in the Third World) act in manners that the superpower likes, regardless of whether this isn't in the more vulnerable countries personal circumstance. The inquiry should then be raised, were the United States and Russia superpowers and, after its all said and done, could coercive, one-sided activities taken by them have had such noteworthy repercussions for the universal request? It must be reasoned that, while they were not yet superpowers, they unquestionably were extraordinary forces, with the fantastic measure of impact that goes with such status. Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union h ad the universal structure important to be a super force as of now. Almost certainly, systems like Nato or the Warsaw Pact could have been grown, however such frameworks would have essentially been on an a lot littler scope, and without impact as the proposed Anglo-American (English talking world) settlement was. As of now, neither the United States nor Russia had built up the mind-boggling points of interest that they had toward the finish of the war. There are a few factors that permitted them to become superpowers: apreponderance of military power, developing economies, and the making of belief system upheld coalitions of intensity. The United States, it appears, didn't turn into a superpower coincidentally. In reality, Roosevelt had an unmistakable European approach that was structured from the begin to make sure about a main job for the United States. The US non-strategy which disregarded Eastern Europe in the late thirties and forties, while emphatically upheld locally, was an other way to Roosevelts intends to accomplish US world incomparability. After the war, Roosevelt saw that the best approach to overwhelm worldaffairs was to decrease Europes universal job (vis-?- vis the United States, as the most secure method of forestalling future world clash), the production of a lasting superpower contention with the USSR to guarantee world stability.Roosevelt tried to lessen Europes geopolitical job by guaranteeing the discontinuity of the landmass into little, moderately frail, and ethnically homogenous states. When seen considering these objectives Roosevelt shows up fundamentally the same as Stalin who, in Churchills words, ?Wanted an Europe made out of little states, incoherent, discrete, and weak.?Roosevelt was sure that World War Two would annihilate mainland Europe as a military and financial power, expelling Germany and France from the phase of world forces. This would leave the United States, Great Britain, and the USSR as the final European world for ces. The Happiness of Others Essay?The conclusive time of the century, so far as the possible destiny of vote based system was concerned, accompanied the destruction of despotism in 1945 and the American-supported change of Germany and Japan to majority rules system and an a lot more noteworthy level of monetary liberalism?.?Such was the consequence of America endeavoring to spread its philosophy to the remainder of the world. The United States accepted that the world everywhere, particularly the Third World, would be pulled in to the political perspectives on the West in the event that it could be indicated that popular government and organized commerce furnished the residents of a country with a higher ezdard of living. As United States Secretary of State James F. Byrnes, ?To the degree that we can deal with our residential undertakings effectively, we will win changes over to our belief in each land.? It has been seen that Roosevelt and his organization believed that this intrigue for changes over would stretch out into the Soviet authoritative reach, and even to the Kremlin itself. The American belief system of vote based system isn't finished without the going with need of open markets. America has attempted to accomplish an open world economy for longer than a century. From the endeavors to keep the open entryway arrangement in China to Article VII of the Lend-Lease act, organized commerce has been viewed as integral to American security. The United States, in 1939, constrained Great Britain to start to move away from its magnificent financial framework. Cordell Hull, at that point Secre

Organization Strategy and Leadership Free Sample for Students

Question: Lead a Five powers investigations for an Industry of your decision. In light of your investigation, you have to show how beneficial do you think the Industry Currently is and what are the Factors driving that Profitability. Additionally examine in what manner will these Factor Change in the Future and what will be the Effect of these Changes on Industry Profitability. Answer: Presentation Maintainability is stretched out past the offices and assembling procedure of the business. By and by, there is a rising issue in this industry of UK and that is the decrease of bundling as parcels are not eco benevolent and they hurt condition. Keeping up unwavering quality is the feature of the business thus the issue is running on machines for quite a while consistently. This industry of UK is quick moving and the assembling offices of the FMCG come as the pressurized condition. Blueprint of Industry just as patterns Improvements just as patterns in Fast-Moving Customer-Goods: As indicated by Andersson and Boman (2014), the fundamental focal point of the business is sensible programmable controllers, apply autonomy just as robotization. The tasks that are lights out are the target of the FMCG business of UK. Sakellariou et al. (2013) clarified that the interest of the business is to utilize machines that will run naturally and where human mediation won't be required by any means. By thusly, the industry is meant to lessen workforce and the work cost to a more noteworthy amount. Working Opportunities in FNCG Industry: This industrys fast development empowers a circumstance where an immense number of representatives is required for assembling. Sakellariou et al. (2013) remarked that the business is a fantastic preparing ground where the representatives get chances to get preparing, which fulfill their own objective that matches with the expert objectives. Division Overview: Every year income develops to 184 Billion Euro constantly 2016 according to the report of Institute of Grocery Distribution. Sainsburys, Morrison, Asda, and Tesco are growing at a quick rate.45000 the executives is required in this industry in 2017 according to the report of Food and Drink league (Guides.careers.sussex.ac.uk, 2017) Watchmen five powers investigation As expressed by Matarid et al. (2014), it is basic for an association to consolidate serious techniques so as to keep up showcase position in the market. As concurred by Akhtar and Khan (2015), breaking down the degree of rivalry by organizations without a doubt give a serious edge over other market pioneers. Watchmen Five Forces is the proper model so as to break down the degree of rivalry inside and industry and business process. The specialist in this manner picks this model so as to dissect the degree of rivalry inside the FMCG division. Watchmen five powers model comprise of 5 distinct perspectives which are as per the following Dealing intensity of providers Dealing intensity of clients Danger of new contestants Danger of substitutes Industry competition Figure 1: Porters five powers model (Source: Matarid et al. 2014) Scientist along these lines attempts to break down every one of the 5 powers in setting to FMCG industry for itemized serious investigation. Dealing intensity of providers As expressed Ray et al. (2016), the market is normally constrained by advertisers and the providers used to set the costs that generally folded into the market. As concurred by Singh (2015), it very evident that purchasers have minimal decision to can hope for. FMCG organizations like Nestle or Unilever need to keep up the consistent relationship with the providers which gives them the additional development during significant expense swelling. Bartering intensity of clients Because of different FMCG organizations and top players like Nestle, Unilever, Proctor Gamble, they are cutting the cost since customers will in general move to the individuals who are giving better arrangements. As restricted by Ray et al. (2016), such case seldom occurs in this division since various providers are restricted and thus providers as an edge on setting costs. Danger of new participants Nierobisch et al. (2017), opined that in FMCG industry there is constantly a treat for the current players since passage process in this sort of market is simpler than some other businesses. In addition, because of least marking, they may give a superior item much serious costs go that regularly makes a genuine danger to the enormous players. Danger of substitutes The danger of substitute items is truly moving undertakings to competefor existing players. Treat of substitute items are relying on underneath referenced factors and are as per the following Purchasers eagerness for substitutes Cost just as execution of substitutes Cost of changing to substitutes Figure 2: Factors affecting danger for substitutes (Source: Nierobisch et al. 2017) Industry contention As expressed by Simms and Trott (2014), among the current players of FMCG industry there is constantly been a serious contention on keeping up the market position. These are regularly founded on item valuing, quality, variety, and developments. A portion of the top contenders are Unilever, Nestle, and Proctor Gamble and beneath is their serious examination. Contention of the nearby contenders is as per the following Top contenders Deals Piece of the pie Unilever $66135 $124.52 B Settle $100205 $530.57 B Delegate Gamble $83062 $825.89 B Table 1: Rivalry of the nearby contenders (Source: Consultancy.uk, 2017) Because of market rivalry, spending on promoting exercises, marking and item advancement are continuously expanding while at the same time keeping the cost serious however much as could be expected. It in this way attempts to mirror all the five powers of Porters model and attempts to relate the equivalent in setting to FMCG advertise situations. From the above conversation, it is comprehended that FMCG industry faces showcase rivalry like item variety, efficiency and in particular the evaluating factors from an outside perspective and along these lines with the assistance of watchmen five powers model, specialist effectively outlines out the full scale ecological elements and its effect on the FMCG business. Industry Profitability FMCG part has a colossal development just as benefit edge because of expanding client request. In actuality, least providers in this segment consistently keep them in the chase to control the item estimating. As restricted by Wang et al. (2015), because of the developing of new players and substitutes they are confronting genuine treats regarding industry productivity. Yet at the same time whit the expansion of web based showcasing gateway, FMCG organizations picked up their development as far as benefit. Items sold by huge associations like Nestle, Unilever, Proctor Gamble and so on has showcase request which encourages them to produce consistent benefit in each money related year (Consultancy.uk, 2017). With a development at a yearly pace of 5.7% between the FY2005 to FY2016, there is he increments in client base that helps in expanding the business volume Wang et al. (2015). This in the end quickens the gainfulness development inside this area. The yearly development in the utilization of FMKCG items among the client are evaluated as 6.7% n FY15 to 20 which clearly experience quick increment to 7.1% in FY 21 to 25 Sand (2015) An investigation n UK proposes that FMCG segment won't arrive at its immersion point yet and there is long approach to command the market nearness. As concurred by Walton et al. (2017), other than the top players there is constantly an open door for the new clients to be a piece of that beneficial business. The principle explanation for such result is the development need of such items and there is no compelling reason to advance such items broadly since clients know about the equivalent. In this manner it opens a chance to the new comers and consequently expanding the income assortment for the administration Beck and Kenning (2015). In view of the inquires about and exhaustive examination, it additionally recognized that FMCG businesses are looking forward further interest in different areas and thusthere will be an expected development ofindustry by 12% inside forthcoming years (Beck and Kenning, 2015). New contestants and different substitutes items additionally increment the market request among different shoppers in this way giving a popularity in the market. Anselmsson and Bondesson (2015) said that expansion in client needs and flexibly of prerequisites in the market, lead to the consistent development in enterprises expanding the scope of productivity. In view of Porters model, there are different full scale factors that may hamper the situation yet at the same time because of expanding request and prevalence assists with keeping up advertise productivity in the forthcoming monetary years. Development and progression in innovation quickens the client prevalence and along these lines increments in accomplishing deals volume. According to the forecast made by different examinations in up and coming budgetary years that is by 2020, there will be immense ascent in piece of the overall industry and that is additionally by 10 to 15% of current complete piece of the pie (Consultancy.uk, 2017). Elements Affecting Current Profit Long haul gainfulness of FMCG industry relies upon the presentation of the ventures on certain factors, which decides the degree of business development just as increment of benefit. Anselmsson and Bondesson (2015) feature the way that controlling creation cost and deals of merchandise are thing on which the fall or ascent of the business relies upon. Unexpectedly, Sanchez Rodrigues and Potter (2013) think that,optimising stock, valuing solid imprint ups and making deals are the most significant variables that leaveimpact on the industrys development. Cost Factor: Main concern benefits are influenced by backhanded and direct expense. Anselmsson and Bondesson (2015) said that when new buys are made; delivering cost, work cost is likewise determined. The business can decrease staff cost by and large by planning numerous terms and conditions. Imprint ups: On items genuine conveyance cost, mark-ups are charged. It is the fundamental piece of the industrys technique to remain in

Bill.com

Bill.com INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in the Bill.com office in Palo Alto with Rene. René, who are you and what do you do?René: Hi, well my names René Lacerte, Im the founder and CEO of Bill.com. Prior this I started a company called PayCycle, which did online payroll for small businesses. We grew that to about 100.000 businesses and sold that to Intuit. Im a fourth generation entrepreneur, learned from dad and granddad that cash is king, you got to stretch out the payables and pull the receivables. And the way I came up with Bill.com, which I havent told you yet what we do, is that I was trying to do exactly what dad and grand dad taught me when I was running PayCycle, and there were no tools to help me do it, so we help businesses automate their payables, automate their receivables, and ultimately we give them freedom, so they can actually focus on the real things that are important for their business. So, by automating the payables and receivables, and all the workflow around it , all the payments and all the transactions, syncing that with all the applications that they work with, it removes the tremendous burden from them and really helps them grow their business. So, we hear that all the time.Martin: What did your dad teach you?René: Dad taught me so many things. At the core of dad was, he just, he never gave up. My dad just, he was born with a disability, he had four fingers on his left hand and two on his right, and he, nobody teach him to play the piano, so he thought himself. And there are all sorts of examples like that were, he was a fabulous musician, he was playing trumpet when he was a kid, and he moved to piano. And one year, in 1977, Chuck Mangione came out with a song called Feels so good and he heard it on the radio, and he just went out, and he brought over it, he was playing it the next day, and the sound was just as good as Chuck. But, if you apply that personal stuff, thats the way he was at work. He just never gave up, like he was pers istent. If he was passionate about something, if he really believed in it, he was just persistent and just focused and he just delivered, he just really focused at. When you care about something it is worth fighting for. And you dont listen to the detractors, you just kind of focus on what you know youre capable of and you just do it. So, thats probably the most important lesson that Ive learned. Ive learned lots of tactile things about how important it is to manage your cash flow and how important it is to have, obviously, good benefits for your employees. But all that stuff, really, at the core, building a product and starting a company, you just got to persevere and actually focus and get it done.Martin: Great. Remembers me of the book Poor dad, rich dad. How did you come up of idea of Bill.com?René: With Bill.com, I was running the day-to-day at PayCycle, I had been a product manager at Intuit where it actually worked on consumer bill payment for Intuit, and I was finding that all the paperwork that was coming, we got a check run every Friday, I just couldnt manage it. It was, I was unhappy, I was angry, I was kind of frustrated that all this paper stuff came to my desk and yet, I didnt have all the answers I needed to make decisions. So, when youre making payment decision, this goes back to what dad and grand dad thought, which was to stretch out the payables, and to pull on receivables, you need information, you need context, you need a lot of content to actually make a decision. What does the contract say, when did I pay them last, what do my employees say, does my marketing head believe this is a good expense or not? Maybe I want to ask them why they did this, because I might want to learn whats going on in the business. All those questions require collaboration. And so, I just was kind of fixating on the fact that none of the tools that I had either built or looked at competitively add in to it, allowed me to actually do what I needed to do. It didnt allow me to collaborate with the people, which would be the employees, the customers, the vendors, the accountants. It didnt allow me to collaborate with the documents. Everything from a source document all the way up to the clear check image. It didnt allow me to collaborate with my accounting system or my banking system, so I can have secure disaster-proof, so to speak, backup office capabilities. I didnt have any of that functionality out there, so I started thinking about it, its like You know, this cloud thing is pretty collaborative. I bet you, I can kind of think about, how I can actually make the transaction go from payables to receivables and back, without having to do any data entry on either side. So thats kind of how I started thinking about it, and realize there was an opportunity to give people the right access at the right time with the right information using the cloud, which will allow for all that mundane paperwork that people have, will allow that to disappear.Ma rtin: And how did you make your first product version reality? Did you hire some kind of developers helping you for this, did you raise money upfront or finally after youve had the prototype, how did it work?René: I was fortunate that we had, because of the success of PayCycle, I was able to raise money fairly easily, from existing investors in PayCycle, they just wanted to put some money in. But, and I would recommend this, I did this at PayCycle, I did it at Bill.com, and Ill do that in the next startup. You can do the prototype fairly easily, and no technology, in fact. Our original prototype was, I would walk down to the businesses that we signed up, I would actually take their bills for them, I would scan them, I would actually than attach that to email, en route for other people to approve. I would then take care of printing the checks or moving the money electronically, I would do all that stuff manually so that we could learn what we needed to build out in the system with t he engineers. So, it didnt actually take much money to get an alpha version out. But it did take, it does take time to build payment company. Thats not easy work, to manage and build payment companies.Martin: So it was more hard to really understand where the pain point is, but not developing the first prototype and solution?René: Well, the pain point, I would say that, what was hard was actually to learn how to scale the solution. Understanding the pain point was actually something I knew, just from running a business at PayCycle, and then getting to the prototype was fairly easy. And then we knew what features we needed to build, to actually enable that pain point to go away. And so, then it was Ok, how do you build a scalable system that enables those features? And thats been hard, thats what weve been doing for seven years.BUSINESS MODEL OF BILL.COMMartin: René, lets talk about the business model. How does the business model work right now, can you walk us through, from a cust omers perspective?René: The customers, we have multiple types of products. We have accounts payable automation tool, we have an accounts receivable automation tool. So customers come to us for one or either both of those, and when they come in there is a software subscription model, where they need to pay us for the, basically a license per user and it depends on the license fee, it depends on the complexity of the business. So, the more complex the business is, the more sophisticated their accounting software is, the more sophisticated their needs are, the more expensive the product is. But that price ranges anywhere from $29 a month all the way up to, I think $79 a month. And then, we have transaction fees. So, every time we enable a customer to fulfill a transaction, whether its paying their vender or collecting their receivable, we charge a $1.49 for any paper transactions and $.49 for any electronic transactions. Theres other fees, but those are the dominant transaction fees t hat we have and what we find is that customers quickly get on the system and then theyre able to really save a ton of money. Our customers tell us they save anywhere from 50 to 75% of the time and they get paid 2-3 times faster. So, the ROI is actually very, very high and they see that, and they get that, so the building of the business model seems to be one of the simpler problems for us to solve.Martin: The old payment process of paying your suppliers, from my understanding works like this, that in a small company, the accounting department collects all the, lets say, the contracts that are that you made to list the suppliers, so you know when to pay them, what are the DPOs and payment dates. And then, the managing director also signs them, Ok, this one, please pay it or This one, maybe we should negotiate the price, etc. This is what I would call the old model. How does your model work and improve this kind of process?René: The model that we have is, I guess at the core of any b usiness transaction is, its kind of obvious, but collaboration. Businesses collaborate with the people, the systems and the documents, so, what you just said, theres actually fair bit of collaboration there. What we do is we digitize everything, so that collaboration becomes instantaneous. So, I can collaborate with my phone, I can actually look at the bill and see the exact same digital copy that youre looking at, and at the same time given. And as soon as you approve it, it can then go to me to approve, if you have a question about it saying Hey, René, Im not really sure that this is exactly what we said than I can make a note and reply back why it is or why it changed, whatever. So, that instant ability of work flow, built into all the transactions, and also providing auto trail, so you can see who has looked at something and if theyve approved it and if its been initiated for payment, and all that good stuff. That type of systemic integration makes for a lot simpler collaborati on tool, with all the people who you work with, as well as all the documents. When I, the reason I started the company is at PayCycle weve had one big filing cabinet with all the vendor and customer records in it, so two people are the key, the general counselor and myself. So, I would go back to, I would be paying the bill or looking for an invoice to collect on, I get back to the cabinet and I open up the filing cabinet and I go and put out the file that should have the contract in it Im looking for, open it up and itd be empty. Because somebody else needed to look at it and havent replaced it. And now we have to run around the office and say Where is that copy of contract? Nobody had it, right? So, the document should be centralized and it should be tied to the transactional staff because, from the financial perspective, the managing director, the CEO, the owner of the business, the controller or CFO, whoever it is whos signing the check, they need access to that data quickly, an d thats what we do.Martin: Whos digitizing the contracts then? Is it the company, your client, or is it you that are supporting them, are you digitizing this content?René: Its mostly them. The reason I say mostly is that we give our customers the ability to fax a document in. So, that creates a digital copy. So, every customer gets their own fax number, every customer gets their own email address. So venders or customers, anybody can just email a document in to that particular address, anybody can fax a document into that fax number. And in addition, you can take a picture with the phone and send it in that way, or upload it from a file on your machine. So, all the documents come in that way, and then, once theyre in, then we start the work flow, we do the data entry if you ask us to, we start the payment processing, we have all the security and all the trails that I talked about.Martin: Hows the inter-connection between Bill.com and typical accounting systems, like SAP and Oracle? Is there some kind of automation link between them?René: The accounting systems that we primarily work with would be Intuit, Quickbooks, Quickbooks Align, Intacct, NetSuite, Xero, we do have customers using us with Mas 90, Great Plains. I dont think we have anybody with Oracle or SAP, it does tend to be much, much larger companies, kind of Fortune 2000, and in the United States there are 6 million businesses with employees, 6 million employers, and that kind of tends to be our focus. And they tend to use these first five that Ive mentioned. So, our believe is that the accounting software is tremendous tool that gives you the data and the ledger and the reporting that you need about how to look at and analyze your business. But when it comes to actually understanding your payables and receivables, they dont have the process work flow that we have. So, we are a tool that works side by side with the accounting system. And so we have partnerships and integrations with each of those ap plications, and our customers typically will sync the data from the accounting software into Bill.com, in the initial day or whatever, and they will take over all the list items to customers, to vendors, chartered accounts, the expense categories, all that stuff will come over. And then from there, once they put the documents in, they can categorize it in Bill.com and then we just sync back and forth. If they add a vendor it goes over to Quickbooks, if they add a customer it goes over All that stuff just automatically gets integrated and synced in a seamless fashion, so the customer doesnt have to worry about their books being accurate. So, accountancy, heres one of the things accountancy loves, is that they can actually have their clients involved in Bill.com, but not necessarily involved in the accounting software, which is where they can kind of make mistakes.Martin: René, your domain is, I think, too good to be true. How did you get that?René: Little bit lucky. The CTO, Eric, had a friend Marc Benioff, from Salesforce, and Mark Benioff owned the url. And so, Mark had stayed connected to Eric and, after about year of working here had kind of asked Eric a little bit more about what we are doing. When we heard what we were doing he was like You know, Ive got a url that might be appropriate. And so we talked, and we talked about the business and, as a friend he did us a favor and sold it to us. It was good.CORPORATE STRATEGYMartin: Ok, lets talk about the corporate strategy. What do you think is the competitive advantage of Bill.com over other software as a service companies that might also stream the accounting process, or payables and receivables process?René: I think the core advantage that we have, the primary challenge that there is in building what weve done, is that the reason, the name was a good save way, so the reason I ended up buying Bill.com. Originally the company was Cashview, which in some ways is more descriptive about what we actually do, but Bill.com is too good to pass up, because Bill.com represents two sides of the same point: the payables and the receivables process, and thats like, if you think about a quarter, theres head, theres tails, but its a quarter. So, were two sides of the same coin, its the transaction that businesses use to communicate and transact across. That transaction, if you really want to make it electronic, if you really want to create the collaboration for asset, you need to both do the payables part, you need to do the receivables part, you need to create collaborative tools for customers and vendors, you need to create the payments that need to happen back and forth, you need to sync with either type off the accounting system, if youre on Quickbooks and Im on Intacct, if youre on NetSuite and Im on Xero, all that stuff just needs to kind of go together, and so at our core, weve always had a data model that represents that it is built, the transaction is either payable or receivable, but it s actually both at the same time. Thats one of the bigger barriers to entry, the other barrier to entry is money moving, when one of the few companies actually does the money moving and actually processes the transactions and manages the fraud risk and the credit risk and all the things that come with money movement. And that is really, really hard stuff to do and, in this particularly regulatory environment. Since 2008, in United States its gotten a lot harder to do those activities and so, we have a lot more cost and expense that we are putting into the system, kind of managing working with others, and thats not something that I think most startups should be doing, because its actually fairly expensive and fairly risky.Martin: And did you think of moving towards supplier, management and towards trade receivables management, or debtor managers, in terms of selecting the right debtors or suppliers, managing them, building this kind of database?René: We believe that the network that we have, that connects customers and vendors together, the payables-receivables connection, ultimately does create supplier network, if you will. But its going to be different from the Aribas or Its going to be different from that, because of that we think that most businesses, you can look in the US, right, in the US, the top 4.000 companies in US create 70% of the consumer bills. So, consumers only have to talk to 4.000 companies to be able to get everything electronic. Its much simpler from when you think about the 29 million businesses that the US has. So, we believe that the network that needs to, that will solve the problem, is going to be one that creates some transparency, no matter your size. And so I think thats, its just a different way of approaching the problem. So, we havent gone after, go get the top 4.000 billers, and, which is, Aribas kind of got the top 1.000, and then it gotten out through all their network, its a great strategy, but I think ours is to say Lets m ake sure this works for anybody and anyone at any time.MARKET DEVELOPMENTMartin: Lets talk about market development. In the payment industry, the SaaS, and accounting industry. So, what kind of interest can you identify specifically, related to the accounting department?René: I think one of the things that Im seeing, theres kind of three big trends in general.There is big data.There is social or collaboration is what I think it translates into business world, and thenTheres electronic payments.And, obviously, we play in all of those. Ive talked about those words that Whats interesting is this, when we first, when I did PayCycle, when it was internet payroll solution, we did not think of it as a cloud solution, we did not call it the SaaS solution, we did not think of it as the benefits that that environment really provided from a customer perspective. There were benefits for us from a company building owner: faster development times, better ability to kind of fix bugs. And now, whe n we think about the cloud, it is kind of sharing this phrase I use, its sharing the right data with the right person at the right time. And allowing people to collaborate across all of that, and thats kind of a trend that were seeing, is that businesses want that, the CEO or the owner wants to be able to pay a bill in a taxi cab in New York City, or a woman who owns the business wants to be able to pay a bill while shes picking up the kids, or the dad wants to be able to pay the bill or invoice a customer while hes at the soccer game. Whatever the stereotypical role that you come up with, they want to be able to do this activity from anywhere, and that activity is very different from when you think about the finances of what did I spend on this, this and that. And so, its kind of, its the instant real-time nature that business demands, all business owners are being placed on a day, which is business never stops, youre always connected. It is that phrase that Ive heard many times i n the Valley, or maybe not many but I use it many times, which is the news is looser, but the leash is longer. Thats what the internet has done for us. Were always connected. Youve always got that leash. But I got a lot bigger rope around my neck, so Im not going to hang myself, but Im always connected. And so, I think that enablement of technology is driving what businesses expect from their financial applications. They want that freedom and flexibility, because everything else they do to run their business can be done from anywhere, so I think that is driving a big need in the accounting space, in the finance space, and so you cant make a decision about paying a bill unless you got all the filing cabinets at your fingertips. There is a, one of my first demos I did for the demo conference in 2007, I got up on stage and had a tool belt around my waist. And the tool belt, on the tool belt I had calibers with paper hanging off, like a whole rim of paper all the way around my waist, an d they were all bills and invoices. And the comment I made was like If you wanted to have all the paper and the invoices, to be able to pay your bills anywhere, this is what you would have to do. Nobodys going to do this, right? You want to be able to do it on the phone.Martin: Should look very funny.René: Yes. It was a good video, it was fun.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS FROM RENÉ LACERTE In Palo Alto (CA), we meet founder and CEO of Bill.com, René Lacerte. He shares his story how Bill.com was founded and how the current business model works, as well as what the current plans for near future, and some advice for young entrepreneurs.The transcript of the interview is below.INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in the Bill.com office in Palo Alto with Rene. René, who are you and what do you do?René: Hi, well my names René Lacerte, Im the founder and CEO of Bill.com. Prior this I started a company called PayCycle, which did online payroll for small businesses. We grew that to about 100.000 businesses and sold that to Intuit. Im a fourth generation entrepreneur, learned from dad and granddad that cash is king, you got to stretch out the payables and pull the receivables. And the way I came up with Bill.com, which I havent told you yet what we do, is that I was trying to do exactly what dad and grand dad taught me when I was running PayCycle, and there were no tools to help me do it, so we help businesses automate their payables, automate their receivables, and ultimately we give them freedom, so they can actually focus on the real things that are important for their business. So, by automating the payables and receivables, and all the workflow around it, all the payments and all the transactions, syncing that with all the applications that they work with, it removes the tremendous burden from them and really helps them grow their business. So, we hear that all the time.Martin: What did your dad teach you?René: Dad taught me so many things. At the core of dad was, he just, he never gave up. My dad just, he was born with a disability, he had four fingers on his left hand and two on his right, and he, nobody teach him to play the piano, so he thought himself. And there are all sorts of examples like that were, he was a fabulous musician, he was playing trumpet when he was a kid, and he moved to piano. And one year, in 1977, Chuck Mangione came out with a song called Feels so good and he heard it on the radio, and he just went out, and he brought over it, he was playing it the next day, and the sound was just as good as Chuck. But, if you apply that personal stuff, thats the way he was at work. He just never gave up, like he was persistent. If he was passionate about something, if he really believed in it, he was just persistent and just focused and he just delivered, he just really focused at. When you care about something it is worth fighting for. And you dont listen to the detractors, you just kind of focus on what you know youre capable of and you just do it. So, thats probably the most important lesson that Ive learned. Ive learned lots of tactile things about how important it is to manage your cash flow and how important it is to have, obviously, good benefits for your employees. But all that stuff, really, at the core, building a product and starting a company, you just got to persevere and actually focus and get it don e.Martin: Great. Remembers me of the book Poor dad, rich dad. How did you come up of idea of Bill.com?René: With Bill.com, I was running the day-to-day at PayCycle, I had been a product manager at Intuit where it actually worked on consumer bill payment for Intuit, and I was finding that all the paperwork that was coming, we got a check run every Friday, I just couldnt manage it. It was, I was unhappy, I was angry, I was kind of frustrated that all this paper stuff came to my desk and yet, I didnt have all the answers I needed to make decisions. So, when youre making payment decision, this goes back to what dad and grand dad thought, which was to stretch out the payables, and to pull on receivables, you need information, you need context, you need a lot of content to actually make a decision. What does the contract say, when did I pay them last, what do my employees say, does my marketing head believe this is a good expense or not? Maybe I want to ask them why they did this, becaus e I might want to learn whats going on in the business. All those questions require collaboration. And so, I just was kind of fixating on the fact that none of the tools that I had either built or looked at competitively add in to it, allowed me to actually do what I needed to do. It didnt allow me to collaborate with the people, which would be the employees, the customers, the vendors, the accountants. It didnt allow me to collaborate with the documents. Everything from a source document all the way up to the clear check image. It didnt allow me to collaborate with my accounting system or my banking system, so I can have secure disaster-proof, so to speak, backup office capabilities. I didnt have any of that functionality out there, so I started thinking about it, its like You know, this cloud thing is pretty collaborative. I bet you, I can kind of think about, how I can actually make the transaction go from payables to receivables and back, without having to do any data entry on e ither side. So thats kind of how I started thinking about it, and realize there was an opportunity to give people the right access at the right time with the right information using the cloud, which will allow for all that mundane paperwork that people have, will allow that to disappear.Martin: And how did you make your first product version reality? Did you hire some kind of developers helping you for this, did you raise money upfront or finally after youve had the prototype, how did it work?René: I was fortunate that we had, because of the success of PayCycle, I was able to raise money fairly easily, from existing investors in PayCycle, they just wanted to put some money in. But, and I would recommend this, I did this at PayCycle, I did it at Bill.com, and Ill do that in the next startup. You can do the prototype fairly easily, and no technology, in fact. Our original prototype was, I would walk down to the businesses that we signed up, I would actually take their bills for them, I would scan them, I would actually than attach that to email, en route for other people to approve. I would then take care of printing the checks or moving the money electronically, I would do all that stuff manually so that we could learn what we needed to build out in the system with the engineers. So, it didnt actually take much money to get an alpha version out. But it did take, it does take time to build payment company. Thats not easy work, to manage and build payment companies.Martin: So it was more hard to really understand where the pain point is, but not developing the first prototype and solution?René: Well, the pain point, I would say that, what was hard was actually to learn how to scale the solution. Understanding the pain point was actually something I knew, just from running a business at PayCycle, and then getting to the prototype was fairly easy. And then we knew what features we needed to build, to actually enable that pain point to go away. And so, then it was Ok, how do you build a scalable system that enables those features? And thats been hard, thats what weve been doing for seven years.BUSINESS MODEL OF BILL.COMMartin: René, lets talk about the business model. How does the business model work right now, can you walk us through, from a customers perspective?René: The customers, we have multiple types of products. We have accounts payable automation tool, we have an accounts receivable automation tool. So customers come to us for one or either both of those, and when they come in there is a software subscription model, where they need to pay us for the, basically a license per user and it depends on the license fee, it depends on the complexity of the business. So, the more complex the business is, the more sophisticated their accounting software is, the more sophisticated their needs are, the more expensive the product is. But that price ranges anywhere from $29 a month all the way up to, I think $79 a month. And then, we have trans action fees. So, every time we enable a customer to fulfill a transaction, whether its paying their vender or collecting their receivable, we charge a $1.49 for any paper transactions and $.49 for any electronic transactions. Theres other fees, but those are the dominant transaction fees that we have and what we find is that customers quickly get on the system and then theyre able to really save a ton of money. Our customers tell us they save anywhere from 50 to 75% of the time and they get paid 2-3 times faster. So, the ROI is actually very, very high and they see that, and they get that, so the building of the business model seems to be one of the simpler problems for us to solve.Martin: The old payment process of paying your suppliers, from my understanding works like this, that in a small company, the accounting department collects all the, lets say, the contracts that are that you made to list the suppliers, so you know when to pay them, what are the DPOs and payment dates. And then, the managing director also signs them, Ok, this one, please pay it or This one, maybe we should negotiate the price, etc. This is what I would call the old model. How does your model work and improve this kind of process?René: The model that we have is, I guess at the core of any business transaction is, its kind of obvious, but collaboration. Businesses collaborate with the people, the systems and the documents, so, what you just said, theres actually fair bit of collaboration there. What we do is we digitize everything, so that collaboration becomes instantaneous. So, I can collaborate with my phone, I can actually look at the bill and see the exact same digital copy that youre looking at, and at the same time given. And as soon as you approve it, it can then go to me to approve, if you have a question about it saying Hey, René, Im not really sure that this is exactly what we said than I can make a note and reply back why it is or why it changed, whatever. So, that instan t ability of work flow, built into all the transactions, and also providing auto trail, so you can see who has looked at something and if theyve approved it and if its been initiated for payment, and all that good stuff. That type of systemic integration makes for a lot simpler collaboration tool, with all the people who you work with, as well as all the documents. When I, the reason I started the company is at PayCycle weve had one big filing cabinet with all the vendor and customer records in it, so two people are the key, the general counselor and myself. So, I would go back to, I would be paying the bill or looking for an invoice to collect on, I get back to the cabinet and I open up the filing cabinet and I go and put out the file that should have the contract in it Im looking for, open it up and itd be empty. Because somebody else needed to look at it and havent replaced it. And now we have to run around the office and say Where is that copy of contract? Nobody had it, right? So, the document should be centralized and it should be tied to the transactional staff because, from the financial perspective, the managing director, the CEO, the owner of the business, the controller or CFO, whoever it is whos signing the check, they need access to that data quickly, and thats what we do.Martin: Whos digitizing the contracts then? Is it the company, your client, or is it you that are supporting them, are you digitizing this content?René: Its mostly them. The reason I say mostly is that we give our customers the ability to fax a document in. So, that creates a digital copy. So, every customer gets their own fax number, every customer gets their own email address. So venders or customers, anybody can just email a document in to that particular address, anybody can fax a document into that fax number. And in addition, you can take a picture with the phone and send it in that way, or upload it from a file on your machine. So, all the documents come in that way, and then, once theyre in, then we start the work flow, we do the data entry if you ask us to, we start the payment processing, we have all the security and all the trails that I talked about.Martin: Hows the inter-connection between Bill.com and typical accounting systems, like SAP and Oracle? Is there some kind of automation link between them?René: The accounting systems that we primarily work with would be Intuit, Quickbooks, Quickbooks Align, Intacct, NetSuite, Xero, we do have customers using us with Mas 90, Great Plains. I dont think we have anybody with Oracle or SAP, it does tend to be much, much larger companies, kind of Fortune 2000, and in the United States there are 6 million businesses with employees, 6 million employers, and that kind of tends to be our focus. And they tend to use these first five that Ive mentioned. So, our believe is that the accounting software is tremendous tool that gives you the data and the ledger and the reporting that you need about how to look at and analyze your business. But when it comes to actually understanding your payables and receivables, they dont have the process work flow that we have. So, we are a tool that works side by side with the accounting system. And so we have partnerships and integrations with each of those applications, and our customers typically will sync the data from the accounting software into Bill.com, in the initial day or whatever, and they will take over all the list items to customers, to vendors, chartered accounts, the expense categories, all that stuff will come over. And then from there, once they put the documents in, they can categorize it in Bill.com and then we just sync back and forth. If they add a vendor it goes over to Quickbooks, if they add a customer it goes over All that stuff just automatically gets integrated and synced in a seamless fashion, so the customer doesnt have to worry about their books being accurate. So, accountancy, heres one of the things accountancy loves, is that they can actually have their clients involved in Bill.com, but not necessarily involved in the accounting software, which is where they can kind of make mistakes.Martin: René, your domain is, I think, too good to be true. How did you get that?René: Little bit lucky. The CTO, Eric, had a friend Marc Benioff, from Salesforce, and Mark Benioff owned the url. And so, Mark had stayed connected to Eric and, after about year of working here had kind of asked Eric a little bit more about what we are doing. When we heard what we were doing he was like You know, Ive got a url that might be appropriate. And so we talked, and we talked about the business and, as a friend he did us a favor and sold it to us. It was good.CORPORATE STRATEGYMartin: Ok, lets talk about the corporate strategy. What do you think is the competitive advantage of Bill.com over other software as a service companies that might also stream the accounting process, or payables and receivables process?René: I think th e core advantage that we have, the primary challenge that there is in building what weve done, is that the reason, the name was a good save way, so the reason I ended up buying Bill.com. Originally the company was Cashview, which in some ways is more descriptive about what we actually do, but Bill.com is too good to pass up, because Bill.com represents two sides of the same point: the payables and the receivables process, and thats like, if you think about a quarter, theres head, theres tails, but its a quarter. So, were two sides of the same coin, its the transaction that businesses use to communicate and transact across. That transaction, if you really want to make it electronic, if you really want to create the collaboration for asset, you need to both do the payables part, you need to do the receivables part, you need to create collaborative tools for customers and vendors, you need to create the payments that need to happen back and forth, you need to sync with either type off the accounting system, if youre on Quickbooks and Im on Intacct, if youre on NetSuite and Im on Xero, all that stuff just needs to kind of go together, and so at our core, weve always had a data model that represents that it is built, the transaction is either payable or receivable, but its actually both at the same time. Thats one of the bigger barriers to entry, the other barrier to entry is money moving, when one of the few companies actually does the money moving and actually processes the transactions and manages the fraud risk and the credit risk and all the things that come with money movement. And that is really, really hard stuff to do and, in this particularly regulatory environment. Since 2008, in United States its gotten a lot harder to do those activities and so, we have a lot more cost and expense that we are putting into the system, kind of managing working with others, and thats not something that I think most startups should be doing, because its actually fairly exp ensive and fairly risky.Martin: And did you think of moving towards supplier, management and towards trade receivables management, or debtor managers, in terms of selecting the right debtors or suppliers, managing them, building this kind of database?René: We believe that the network that we have, that connects customers and vendors together, the payables-receivables connection, ultimately does create supplier network, if you will. But its going to be different from the Aribas or Its going to be different from that, because of that we think that most businesses, you can look in the US, right, in the US, the top 4.000 companies in US create 70% of the consumer bills. So, consumers only have to talk to 4.000 companies to be able to get everything electronic. Its much simpler from when you think about the 29 million businesses that the US has. So, we believe that the network that needs to, that will solve the problem, is going to be one that creates some transparency, no matter your s ize. And so I think thats, its just a different way of approaching the problem. So, we havent gone after, go get the top 4.000 billers, and, which is, Aribas kind of got the top 1.000, and then it gotten out through all their network, its a great strategy, but I think ours is to say Lets make sure this works for anybody and anyone at any time.MARKET DEVELOPMENTMartin: Lets talk about market development. In the payment industry, the SaaS, and accounting industry. So, what kind of interest can you identify specifically, related to the accounting department?René: I think one of the things that Im seeing, theres kind of three big trends in general.There is big data.There is social or collaboration is what I think it translates into business world, and thenTheres electronic payments.And, obviously, we play in all of those. Ive talked about those words that Whats interesting is this, when we first, when I did PayCycle, when it was internet payroll solution, we did not think of it as a cl oud solution, we did not call it the SaaS solution, we did not think of it as the benefits that that environment really provided from a customer perspective. There were benefits for us from a company building owner: faster development times, better ability to kind of fix bugs. And now, when we think about the cloud, it is kind of sharing this phrase I use, its sharing the right data with the right person at the right time. And allowing people to collaborate across all of that, and thats kind of a trend that were seeing, is that businesses want that, the CEO or the owner wants to be able to pay a bill in a taxi cab in New York City, or a woman who owns the business wants to be able to pay a bill while shes picking up the kids, or the dad wants to be able to pay the bill or invoice a customer while hes at the soccer game. Whatever the stereotypical role that you come up with, they want to be able to do this activity from anywhere, and that activity is very different from when you thin k about the finances of what did I spend on this, this and that. And so, its kind of, its the instant real-time nature that business demands, all business owners are being placed on a day, which is business never stops, youre always connected. It is that phrase that Ive heard many times in the Valley, or maybe not many but I use it many times, which is the news is looser, but the leash is longer. Thats what the internet has done for us. Were always connected. Youve always got that leash. But I got a lot bigger rope around my neck, so Im not going to hang myself, but Im always connected. And so, I think that enablement of technology is driving what businesses expect from their financial applications. They want that freedom and flexibility, because everything else they do to run their business can be done from anywhere, so I think that is driving a big need in the accounting space, in the finance space, and so you cant make a decision about paying a bill unless you got all the filing cabinets at your fingertips. There is a, one of my first demos I did for the demo conference in 2007, I got up on stage and had a tool belt around my waist. And the tool belt, on the tool belt I had calibers with paper hanging off, like a whole rim of paper all the way around my waist, and they were all bills and invoices. And the comment I made was like If you wanted to have all the paper and the invoices, to be able to pay your bills anywhere, this is what you would have to do. Nobodys going to do this, right? You want to be able to do it on the phone.Martin: Should look very funny.René: Yes. It was a good video, it was fun.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS FROM RENÉ LACERTEMartin: René, your dad thought us so much about how to start a company and how to become successful entrepreneur. What do you teach your two boys so they become entrepreneurs if they want?René: Its a great question. I think one of the things that we failed at, and actually all these studies in the US about this, whi ch is dinner table conversations are probably the most important thing for successful child, to become a successful adult. And so, when you come home, what do you talk about at the dinner table? Everybody talks about their day. So, I share very openly with the kids all the good stuff and all the bad stuff about running a company, and I explain it so they understand it. So, if Im having a challenge hiring somebody, I talk about why this role is important, what would this person do for the company, what Im looking for, how I evaluate the person, whereve they been, all that type of stuff, we kind of get into that so they can potentially learn about the people side of business. If Im evaluating how to organize the company, Ill go through the organizational structure of the company. If Im evaluating the product feature, well talk about Hey, I got this new idea, this is what Im thinking about and then Ill ask questions,.. So, I think, and my dad did this with me, this is a really importan t thing, where no matter what you it, it might be why you see actors kids often times become actors, and businessmens kids often times become businessmen. Thats kind of an interesting way to kind of sugar that learning, so theres no one thing, other than as Im learning, Im sharing that with the kids. So they get to learn a little bit of something, and that dinner table MBA, as I call it, I think is one of the more valuable, educational experiences that our kids can have.Martin: I understood this kind of educational practice that you are doing, and for some people who are not privileged to have an entrepreneur as their daddy, what kind of advice would you give them for starting a company?René: Well, the first thing is that its always harder than you thought or think. Its always harder, and so just back to the first question you asked me, which is you got to pursue it. If you believe in what youre doing, you have to keep doing it, you cant let somebody else tell you: No, its not righ t.That said, you should always validate, so if you think about the examples I gave, both at PayCycle and here, at PayCycle I did a payroll by hand, I filled out forms by hand, but for the customers, their experience was, they got a complete internet experience. They can email me the hours, I would then create the paychecks and I would deliver to their door. Because I didn’t have the ability to just send it through email at that point. But they got that experience. And when I could see A-ha, that solved the pain point, then I knew it was worth investing. So, there are ways to kind of prototype, start out, make sure that your customers value the pain points that youre solving before you invest, and I would recommend that.The other that I always tell people is really, you cannot underestimate the value of the network that you have. Do not be afraid to tap into it and ask, people can always say no. And, kind of an add-on to that is focus on developing board of advisors or board of dir ectors or something, that you have to be accountable for. Everybody always think, its interesting, but always think, you know, being your own business, and less, being your own boss must be great. I am not my own boss. I work for the people above me, I work for people below me. Im the guy in the middle that has people all around me that I need to work with, and theyre all telling me what to do. And now, I get to set the course, but Im listening to all of them and Im trying to make sure theyre all satisfied and, if you dont have that accountability, then its actually very easy to say Well, you know, I said I was going to get this product research done by next month. Three months go by and you havent done it. But if you have a board meeting, and you have a board meeting in six weeks, where you have to report on the product research, guess what? Youll get the product research done by six weeks amount. So, I would recommend that, theres probably more ideas, but those three tips seem lik e the ones that I focus most when I tell other entrepreneurs.Martin: René, thank you very much for your time.René: Thank you.Martin: And the next time you want to start a company or, even better, want your kids to start a company, talk to your kids and educate them on a dinner table. Thank you very much.

Nurse Staffing Levels Essays - 632 Words

The project made use of the Nursing Teamwork Survey. This study design was meant to measure teamwork as demonstrated by nurses in patients’ settings. The national teamwork survey concentrates on the teamwork demonstrated by the nurses in their work The nursing teamwork survey is a 33 item questionnaire that finds information from the hospitals’’ staffs concerning the teamwork portrayed among the nurses. Through teamwork, it is expected that there will be an increase in the quality of work and service delivery. The 33-item questionnaire had a Likert type scale that helped in the estimation of the teamwork among nurses by placing them between â€Å"always† and â€Å"rarely† (Kalisch Lee, 2011, p. 84). The nursing teamwork survey used literature†¦show more content†¦85). In addition, the survey used workers who interacted with the nurses on a daily basis and this could have influenced the information, given that the workers may have establish ed a strong connection with the nurses. One of the external threats that were present during the survey is the patients’ condition, which could have influenced the work of the nurses. Since there are different conditions of patients, one of these could have influenced patient cases, teamwork and hence the study was not considerate enough. In addition, the study failed to integrate the participation of the nurses and instead focused on other staffs (Kalisch Lee, 2011, p. 86). This could have triggered any negative relationships between the selected staffs and the nurses. The sample size was large enough since it brought together 2,545 nurses, from different nursing units. In addition, the selection of four different hospitals ensured that there was no bias and that any similarity in research findings could be considered as part of the study’s objectives (Brewer, 2006, p. 650). The sample is not a representative of the population. The number of different groups of nurses was not equal. Registered nurses had the biggest number and this made the research biased towards them (Kalisch Lee, 2011, p. 86). To represent the entire population, the differentShow MoreRelatedProblems Associated With Low Nurse Staffing Levels2296 Words   |  10 PagesIntroduction Staffing shortfalls in the medical community have been noted since the turn of the century (Coss, 2009). There are not enough professionals being adequately trained to handle the increased demand for complex health care (Stock, McDermott, McDermott, 2014). Many hospitals experience nursing shortfalls due to this shortage. However, some purposely choose to reduce staff, presumably in an effort to reduce operating costs. The proposed research study implements a mixed method approachRead MoreProblems Associated With Low Nurse Staffing Levels2237 Words   |  9 PagesIntroduction Staffing shortfalls in the medical community have been noted since the turn of the century (Coss, 2009). There are not enough professionals being adequately trained to handle the increased demand for complex health care (Stock, McDermott, McDermott, 2014). Many hospitals experience nursing shortfalls due to this shortage. However, some shortfalls result from the hospital s inability to financially maintain adequate staffing. Hospital management is forced to make difficult operatingRead MoreNurse Staffing Levels Should Be Mandated By Law Across The United States1901 Words   |  8 Pagesthe past decade, nurse-patient ratios have been a widely controversial debate as to whether it should be mandated by law across the United States. Studies have shown nurse-staffing levels are a critical component of determining patient outcomes (Hertel, 2012). Advocates supporting minimum staffing levels argue that it can ensure better quality care, better working conditions, positive patient outcom es and improved rates of nursing retention. Those opposing minimum staffing levels argue that it wouldRead MoreNurse Staffing And Patient Safety1381 Words   |  6 PagesNurse Staffing Issues Relation to Patient Safety Susan Wilson Foundations of Nursing April 13, 2016 Nurse Staffing Issues Relation to Patient Safety Introduction: Patient safety is one of the top priorities for health care organizations. Numerous conversations and evidence bases research have been conducted, with the aim of pinpointing factors that can be controlled to improve and preserve patient safety. This essay will explore one area that health organizations can controlRead MoreRn, Icu1277 Words   |  6 PagesHospital Nurse Staffing and Quality of Care Keli Feathler, RN Grand Canyon University NRS 433v Nora Bazydlo RN MSN October 29, 2011 Introduction Does the issue of nurse staffing have an effect on quality of patient care? This study addresses the topic of nurse staffing, which includes nurses (RN and LPN) and nurse’s aides. 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The Mouse Party Example

Essays on The Mouse Party Coursework The Mouse Party The Mouse Party Introduction The apparent of tiredness depicted by the mouse sitting on a couch in the interactive module made me select heroin. Statistics show that the total number of people using heroin worldwide is about 9.2 million (Heroin Statistics - Facts About Heroin Addiction, Use Death - Drug-Free World, n.d.)DiscussionMorphine, which is a natural extract of the poppy plant, is used to prepare heroin. After synthesization, the heroin drug appears as a brown or a white powdered substance (DrugFacts: Heroin, 2014). Upon entry into the brain, the heroin is reconverted back to morphine that binds itself to opioid receptors. The opioid receptors for pain and reward are the ones affected. The receptors control automatic life processes such as arousal and respiration. The overdose caused by heroin intake suppresses breathing. The result is a decrease in the supply of oxygen to the brain. The user then develops a condition known as hypoxia. Hypoxia causes neurolog ical and psychological effects and eventual brain damage. The behavioral changes observed include skin flushing, clouded mental functioning and euphoria. There are various ways of combating heroin addiction, which include self-help groups, preventive measures, medication and behavioral therapies (DrugFacts: Heroin, 2014). Vicodin, Methadone, Buprenorphine and OxyContin are some of the drugs which are medicated for heroin treatment. Some of the most effective behavioral therapy approaches include cognitive-behavioral therapy and contingency management. In the event, that both behavioral and medication methods have failed in helping a heroin addict, then rehabilitation becomes the next option.Conclusion Heroin is a very addictive substance to the user and as such, can be very costly. Since the purchase of heroin is very expensive, I prefer the preventive methods of combating cocaine addiction rather than the medication and behavioral therapies.Reference ListDrugFacts: Heroin. (2014, O ctober 1). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/heroinHeroin Statistics - Facts About Heroin Addiction, Use Death - Drug-Free World. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/heroin/international-statistics.htmlMouse Party. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/mouse/

Public Company and Patagonia Free Essays

string(141) " Patagonia used a much different marketing approach than its competitors, using less than 1% of its sales towards marketing and advertising\." As resources and commodity’s decrease, it is harder and harder to make a difference in the world today. Patagonia continues to work hard to do their part with the resources that are available. Patagonia is a privately held outdoor clothing company based out of Ventura, California that generates yearly sales of approximately $540 million. We will write a custom essay sample on Public Company and Patagonia or any similar topic only for you Order Now Patagonia has developed outdoor apparel that is marketed towards outdoor sports, travel and every day wear. The company integrates Its core values into every product that it produces. They are known for their innovative designs, and environmental responsibility. Its high integrity and commitment to the environment has placed Patagonia on the Deciphers Institute’s â€Å"WorldS Most Ethical Companies† list for SIX consecutive years since the list was first developed In 2007 (Unknown, WOMEN Honorees, 2012). This case analysis will examine the history of Patagonia, and Its business philosophy. Patagonians business model will be evaluated as well as the captured cost and value of the company. Next, we will examine Patagonians environmental position and its sustainability. The product lifestyle initiative will be analyzed and how well it worked for the company. Patagonians financial statements are important to determine the success of the company’s financial goals. Lastly, I will share some lessons that I learned from Patagonia and this case study. History Patagonia was started from one entrepreneur’s passion. Hypochondriac, founder of Patagonia, developed a passion for rock climbing. In 1953 his passions brought him west to the San Fernando Valley in California, where he became an expert at climbing. He knew that he couldn’t explore his passion of climbing the way he wanted to because of limited appropriate climbing gear available. The only available climbing ear were pitons, which are metal spikes that were driven Into cracks or seams In the rocks. Pitons are left In the rock, meaning that a long climb could require hundreds of these tools. After frustration, and financial hardship, Schoolyard became Inspired after meeting a Swiss climber that had crafted his own set of iron pitons. He turned pitons that were stronger than what was currently on the market. Word of Cinnabar’s invention spread, and he began selling his pitons out of the back of his car for $1. 50 each. Although the hobby was enough to support him, he often lived on less than a dollar day. Drifting along the California coast, climbing in Yosemite, and surfing in Baja, Cinchonas was happy with his lifestyle. By 1966 Cinchonas decided to partner with Tom and Doreen Frost to create Cinchonas Equipment. They quickly became the largest supplier in the United States. For nearly a decade Cinchonas and Frost made improvements on nearly every climbing tool. Tom and Doreen worked with Cinchonas â€Å"Just to pay the bills†. In 1972 Cinchonas Equipment added an outdoor apparel line called â€Å"Patagonia†. Patagonia grew very quickly. Cinchonas and his wife Melinda knew they wanted to sell items that would have a minimal impact on he environment. So they made many decisions in their business approach that would help the environment such as using organic cotton to make t-shirts. Soon after the establishment of Patagonia, it became its own company, no longer under the ownership of Cinchonas equipment. However, like many start-up companies, Patagonia tried to expand too quickly. Growing its sales from $20 million to $100 million as well as expanding its services into Japan and Europe. This wide-scale expansion placed Patagonia into a dire financial situation. The recession that took place in the ass’s forced the company to lay off about 20% of its staff. Patagonia continued to grow despite some of the financial troubles that they faced (Reinhardt, Cascade’s, Hymn, 2010). Cinchonas did not allow the recession or the financial troubles of the company to stop his vision for Patagonia. Instead, he chose to go in a more sustainable direction. The company switched to the more expensive organic cotton in 1996, a risky business move considering it increased the firm’s supply costs. However, no other company was producing clothes with organic cotton. He invested in other sustainable materials and decided to make products more durable. This session a risky move because companies often rely on consumers coming back to get replacement products. Plausibly, the more durable the product, the less customers will need to purchase for replacement. However, the exact opposite occurred: consumers were more willing to do business with Patagonia due to its environmental consciousness and the fact that they could trust Patagonians products to last a long time. Connoisseurship’s on Business Cinchonas used Patagonia as an experiment to â€Å"challenge conventional wisdom and present a new style of responsible business† (McAllen, 2011). He wanted to stay way from the traditional way of doing business, and focused his efforts on â€Å"doing the right thing†, rather than on profits. Doing the right thing for Cinchonas meant ensuring that every decision that was made regarding the business, was environmentally sound and responsible. One decision that he made was to no longer use anti-odor technology because it was not safe for the environment. The competition Patagonians products were comparable to those of their competitors. Other stores in the industry such as North Face, Marmot Mountain, and Mountain Hardware, all shared the same interest of selling outdoor apparel. However, because of quality, environmental impact, and innovation, Patagonia is able to charge more for their and some of the top outdoor sportswear companies in the industry during 2009. Patagonians gross profit margin for 2010 was 52. 6%. Whereas the average gross profit margin of the other five companies (Columbia Sportswear, V. F. Corporation, Nikkei, and Timberland) was $44. 95%. Not to mention Patagonians 12- month Net Income Growth for 2010 was 42. 5%, which was substantially higher than the average net income growth of its competitors at 26. 525% (Reinhardt, Cascade’s, Hymn, 2010, p. 12). This goes to show that despite the company’s more expensive product, consumers were willing to pay more for higher quality, and items that were environmentally safe. Marketing isn’t that important Patagonia used a much different marketing approach than its competitors, using less than 1% of its sales towards marketing and advertising. You read "Public Company and Patagonia" in category "Papers" They have strengthened their brand based upon their environmental commitment, and â€Å"profit sharing with environmental causes† (Alienist Door-Near, 2012). As social media becomes more popular, and ads are now a part of what one sees when scrolling down their timeline, any companies get free advertising. The company took advantage of this and used it as an outlet to communicate to consumers and the public. Although it would have given them possibly some advantage, Patagonia did not use its environmental stance as part of their marketing tool. However they educated the public on the impact that their company had on the environment. Doing so attracted more consumers. Patagonia uses its website not Just for selling outdoor apparel but also as an educational tool about the environment, and the products that the company uses in its production. The type of information that Patagonia put on their website shows that the company has taken their business very serious and that they are aware of their environmental responsibility. They use the website not Just to sell the items, but to showcase that they items that are produced show corporate responsibility. In addition to the information on their website, Patagonia at times did put out ads for their company. The advertisements were usually very short and included educational messages. They believe that it is more important to show people useful information that will help enhance their lives. In a recent interview Patagonia UP Joy Howard stated that their position is to â€Å"solve problems in the world,† and that advertising is the â€Å"dead last thing† to the company (McAllen, 2011). This goes to show that the company is more focused on the environmental sustainability than on profitability. Educating consumers about what they are buying and how it affects the environment, sells the product itself. Exhibit Use of organically grown cotton Patagonians concern for the environment also caused them to decide to use organic cotton in their clothing. They wanted to continue to follow their mission tenement of â€Å"Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis† (Unknown, Company Info, n. D. ). Cotton is one of the world’s most insect dependent crops, therefore causing a risk to the environment because of the pesticides that are used. In 1996 Patagonia switched apparel to 100% organic cotton products. They already had clothing that was made with conventional cotton, and made up about 20% of the company’s sales, but switching to organic cotton was a risk that they were willing to take. Patagonia was not the first company to use organic cotton. The decision to clothing companies decided to cancel their organic cotton line, so it was perfect timing for Patagonia to drop their line. Although initially Patagonia found success in introducing its organic cotton products, they also faced some challenges. Because of the items and styles that were unavailable for production using organic cotton and because some of the suppliers refused to switch to organic cotton citing â€Å"lack of supplier alternatives and skepticism about the market potential†, Patagonia had to decrease its product line in order to stay in line with the 100% organic cotton initiative that they made. Due to the increased price for organic cotton, the company’s costs increased. Product costs increased 25-30% with the use of the organic cotton. Organic cotton had a drastic decline in production, therefore costs were higher than normal. In addition, Patagonia struggled to maintain the quality of its product, once they switched. With cotton products making up more than 20% of the company’s sales (Reinhardt, Cascade’s, Hymn, 2010), they were forced to get it right, and to make their product desirable enough to sell. Business Model: Does it really work? A business model is a model that is designed for the successful operation of the equines, identifying customer base, revenue sources, products and details of financing. Patagonia seems to have a business model that has helped the company be very successful and remain relevant amongst its customers and competitors. They have stayed true to their core values which is to provide quality, integrity, and environmentalism. Since the start- up of Patagonia, they have never operated under conventionalism, and has continued to stand out from every other outdoor apparel chain. Focusing more on environmental sustainability and social responsibility rather Han profits, Patagonia has become the worldwide leader of environmentally responsible business. They have continued to remain innovative in their approach to doing business, as well as in the product development and marketing. Creating and Capturing Value Achieving Growth, being Profitable, and minimizing ecological expenses are somewhat contradictory goals but somehow Patagonia has been very successful at achieving these goals. Their business model is based on making minimum environmental impact but creating products that have create value, without compromising the company’s capital. In order to stand apart from competition, Patagonia has effectively positioned itself as a supplier of superior quality products and has continued to commit itself to minimize its impact on the environment, once again staying true to its core values, and mission statement. On the supply side of the business the company uses activities and relationships along the value chain that provide the finished goods and create value. The company has been able to create value by creating integrity in its product and product’s performance. The company shows confidence in the product that they create, by offering warranties and as well s the promise to provide replacement products when items become too worn. They also creates value by using only quality materials such as organic cotton when manufacturing its products. They have also created value by influencing the customer’s experience. Patagonians uses catalogs that don’t focus so much on selling their product as other companies do, but the catalogs are informational in nature regarding the environment (Wang, 2010). Patagonia also only works with suppliers responsibility, therefore never compromising the value of the company or its products. Patagonia has also created a social and psychological factor through their advertising, educational messages, donations, and campaigns. This has helped the company capture value because the company differentiated themselves from its competitors and other apparel companies, and it gave consumers the willingness to purchase a product with quality despite the fact that their apparel was more expensive than its competitors. The fact that Patagonia cares about the environment, and customers feel that they can trust their product, consumers are willing to pay more for Patagonians products. Sustainable future Patagonians business model is not one that is begging for consumers to come in a arches their product on an impulse. In fact their model is designed to do the exact opposite. In 2004 Hypochondriac, wrote in a black Friday ad â€Å"Don’t buy this shirt, unless you need it† (Exhibit 1). This statement was not made because Cinchonas doesn’t want his items to sell, or doesn’t want the business, he made the statement because he wants his consumers to make responsible decisions that will have a positive effect on the environment. He helps consumers make those smarter decisions by producing items that last longer and that do not need to be replaced as often. Patagonians Environmental Position Patagonians business model supports environmental position in that the company makes a deliberate attempt to focus more on the products that they sell rather than on the profits that they make. They do so by launching such initiatives as their Product Lifestyle Initiative where they encourage consumers to reduce, repair, reuse, and recycle their Patagonia purchased products. This particular initiative does not focus on profit, it actually costs the company more money, however, they choose to stay focused on acting environmentally responsible, and not causing unnecessary harm to the environment. For the most part, Patagonia has used the same business model since it opens its doors in 1972. Their focus has always been the same, â€Å"inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis† (Unknown, Environmental and Social Responsibility, n. D. Over the last 40 years, Patagonia has become a leader in the industry have implemented many environmental and social initiatives such as; using only organic cotton in its cotton products since 1996; redefining corporate transparency through its Footprint Chronicle† website – documenting what is working in the supply chain, what’s not, and steps the company is doing to address TTS challenges; launching its Common Threads Partnership, which invites customers to take mutual responsibilit y for the entire life cycle of the company’s products through the 5 Or’s: reduce, repair, reuse, recycle and remained; becoming the first brand member of the blessing@ system; being one of the first California companies to switch to wind energy upon deregulation and adding on-site solar energy systems; being the first company in California to incorporate as a benefit corporation launching $20 Million Change, a fund to help like-minded responsible start-up companies; and Becoming one of he first U. S. Outdoor apparel companies to introduce Fair Trade Certified†* garments (for fall 2014). (Elks, 2013) resources to help the environment and still maintain its integrity as well as follow its mission statement. They have continued to remain as the leading outdoor apparel company with more than $600 million revenue in 2013. Patagonia has not slowed down. Their business model has worked for them over the last 40 years. As times continue to change and other retailers pick up on Patagonians business practices, such as being more environmentally conscience, the use of organically grown cotton, he product differentiation threatens the sustainability of Patagonians business model. Other retailers offering a similar product as Patagonia, affects their gross profit margin, therefore causing Patagonia to continue evolve and spend more money to create product differentiation within their organization. Patagonians business model does place some pressure on their environmental stance and could cause some conflict in providing high quality products. Although consumers are willing to purchase products from Patagonia at a high price, with initiatives such as the Product Life Cycle, consumers are purchasing less, and Patagonia will overall have more overhead, due the repairs that they are offering their consumers. If consumers aren’t buying as often, it will be difficult for Patagonia to continue to purchase the high quality materials that they use to produce their garments. Product Lifestyle Initiative: â€Å"Reduce, Repair, Reuse, and Recycle† The Product Lifestyle Initiative was a plan by Patagonia to help customers to buy only what they really needed, and encourage them to reduce their consumption. Patagonia would promise to provide their customers with high quality garments, and roved a guarantee that would allow customers to have their items repaired if anything ever happened to them as many times as needed. Once the products are no longer wanted, the customers are asked to â€Å"facilitate its reuse† (Reinhardt, Cascade’s, Hymn, 2010). The store planned on doing this by creating an online swap meet. Once all options were exhausted and there is no longer use for the product, customers are asked to recycle their items with Patagonia. In planning for this initiative to take off, the executives acknowledged many obstacles that would hinder the success of the initiative. Analysis of the Initiative As Patagonia stays focused on doing their part to not cause unnecessary harm to the environment and plans to reach and maintain 10% annual growth in sales other a five year timeshare, starting in 2010, their Product Lifestyle initiative would likely hinder the type of above average growth that they are seeking. The initiative is expected to cost $60,000 over the course of the first year of implementation (Reinhardt, Cascade’s, Hymn, 2010). Although that amount is very small compared to the amount of profit the company makes, sales would drop and cost of labor would increase. Patagonia is one of the only companies that offers to fix damaged items for customers. Through the Product Lifestyle Initiative, they will repair products from other brands, and â€Å"encourage customers to limit their consumption to only essential products,† (Reinhardt, Cascade’s, Hymn, 2010, p. 8). The Product Lifestyle Initiative however, it seems as though it will cost more to implement and maintain the initiative, than revenue that will be generated from the initiative. The initiative will cause a higher rate of product returns, and new team members will need to be hired in order to create a repair department or use a third-party vendor. In 2010 the company was insignificantly staffed to handle the existing returns. In order to accommodate the increase of returns, the stores were told to provide replacement products in order to reduce wait times. Furthermore, in order to increase â€Å"the percentage of recyclable products from 65% of products in June 2010 to 90% in spring 2011† investment in research and development would have to increase (Reinhardt, Cascade’s, Hymn, 2010). All of the things that are involved in this portion of the initiative cost more money for the company, but it does not mean that there would be more profit. The initiative does not seem to generate any venue. Although Patagonia focuses more on the environmental footprint than on profits, realistically, in order for them to stay in business and continue to grow at a steady rate, it is not beneficial for them to implement initiative that cost a more than they will be able to bring in. The replacement portion of the initiative could increase revenue for the company. Since Patagonia is willing to allow customers to bring in garments purchased from other retailers for repair, they could charge those customers a small fee. Customers who purchased their products directly from Patagonia and are able to provide a except or some proof of purchase, could get their products repaired for free. For customers who own Patagonia products, but bought them from other sources such as used clothing stores, could still bring in their garments for repair, but at a small fee. The initiative would have no affect on the way that customers purchase products in the store nor customer behavior, but it could potentially have a negative effect on the business if implemented. Although implementing the initiative will promote responsible behavior for customers and the company, it may do more harm than good to gross profit margin. If the company is serious about continuing to grow the company 10% over the five year time frame, they would want to think about how they can implement initiatives that not only help maintain their environmental position, but also that increase their profit. Has Patagonia been successful in achieving its goal of profit? Although Patagonia spends most of its efforts focusing on its environmental responsibility, in order to remain in business and profitable they must also set financial goals. While focusing on their environmental responsibility, they set a goal to increase sales by 10% annually. Patagonia has been successful at achieving this goal. For 2011 fiscal year, Patagonia reported annual sales of $417 million. During the 2012 fiscal year Patagonia recorded its best year financially. They increased their sells by 30% earning $543 million (Shannon, 2013). As of 2012 Patagonia has doubled its revenue and tripled its profits since 2008 (Martin, 2012). They continue to perform financially although not at a consistent rate. However they have come very close to their sales goals each year and some years far exceeding that goal. Patagonia has done many things to continue to remain competitive in the outdoors apparel industry. In 2010 Patagonia Cost of goods sold and the company’s sales have not been truly consistent, but they remain successful in their efforts. Although Patagonia has a history of doing well financially, Yves Chicagoan admitted in 2012 that he did not expect the company to continue to grow at the same rate as other retailers are catching on and trying to adopt some of their philosophy. Richard Jeff, a retail and apparel expert, says that Patagonia â€Å"is doing things incrementally better† (Martin, 2012). Which means that the competition is lurking closely behind. As Meany’s catch on to their philosophy, Patagonia will need to be more innovative in its approach in order to continue to grow at a steady rate. What if Patagonia were publicly traded? Some of the most successful organizations are publicly traded. Companies that are publicly traded allow the market to determine the value of the company through daily stock market trading (Unknown, Public Company, 2014). Publicly traded companies have less control over the organization structure and must answer to shareholders’ on certain decisions. They also give less control to the owner and company founders. Patagonia has an organization structure that is different than any other organization out there. The structure of the organization allows the company to focus on environmental awareness as opposed to profits as most companies. If Patagonia were publicly traded, the dynamic of the organization would be completely different. Being a private company, Patagonia is not required to report to stockholders or gain their approval in any way. This is one of the biggest advantages for Patagonia and their business structure. If Patagonia were publicly traded they would have to change the organization Truckee to focus more on the profit, as shareholder’s would have an interest in the company, and would want to ensure that they are able to profit from any decisions that are made regarding the organization. The decision to use only organically grown cotton may not have been approved had Patagonia been publicly traded, because to shareholder’s they could see it as a potential risk. They are able to take on greater risk because there is no one to tell them that they can’t. As a publicly traded company Patagonia and its founder would have much less control over the business structure, ND every decision would be about how to gain profit. Publicly traded companies have many pressures on them including how quickly the company is expected to grow. The business model would not focus on being responsible. Not to mention as a private company, Patagonia is not required to make their financial information public, as publicly traded companies are. With sales growth reaching an average of 6% each year, and the company closely reaching their sales growth goal of 10% the current strategy works very well for Patagonia. The decision to utilize organic grown cotton in its garments, has been very successful. Patagonia has been innovative and works diligently to stay ahead in sales as well as it environmental operations. Being a private company has allowed Patagonians decision-makers to not only focus on what they want, but also on what is best for the company. Patagonians market strategy, though exceedingly bold, is sustainable in the sense that eccentric ideas have become their norm. In Cinnabar’s book Let My People Go Surfing, he said, â€Å"it’s okay to be eccentric, as long as you are The sustainability of Patagonia also falls in line with the sustainability of the planet. There are many companies that can learn from Patagonians business model forever in order to remain successful it would be difficult for some of the top retailers to remain competitive in the market should they change and adopt Patagonians practices. Patagonia has built their business and brand around a philosophy instead of around products. Their business strategy has driven up sales to 6% and continues to offer high-quality premier garments. Patagonians business model being much different than its competitors, leaves room for continued growth and innovative ideas. Would other firms choose to follow Patagonians environmental practice? Although Patagonia has been successful in its business approach and environmental practice, it would be difficult for already established firms to successfully fully take on Patagonians environmental practices. All things being equal, if Nikkei and Patagonia were to share their practices, they would reach a Nash equilibrium. Lessons Learned Patagonia continues to focus on the environment and making a difference one step at a time. This action is commendable, especially because they are not following the norm for the industry. With the success of Patagonia I have learned that in order to be successful, you must also do what you are passionate about, and allow everything else to fall into place. That is what Cinchonas did with Patagonia. He was passionate about the environment and the affect that his decisions had on it. Although he wasn’t as focused on profits as other organizations, he was able to follow his passion and have the most successful outdoor apparel company in the country. The type of passion that Yves Cinchonas has for the environment and Patagonia can definitely be applied to many aspects in life. How to cite Public Company and Patagonia, Papers