Task: Patagonia and Build-A-Bear Workshop: Picking Trustworthy Partners

Patagonia sells rugged clothing and gear to mountain climbers, skiers, and other extreme-sport enthusiasts. The company is also well known for its environmental stands and its commitment to product quality. Patagonia has never owned a fabric mill or a sewing shop. Instead, to make a ski jacket, for example, it buys fabric from a mill, and zippers and facings from other manufacturers, and then hires a sewing shop to complete the garment. To meet its own environmental standards and ensure product quality, it works closely with each partner to make sure the jacket meets its rigid standards. As a result of these standards, Patagonia does as much business as it can with as few partners as possible and chooses its relationships carefully. The first thing the company looks for in a partner is the quality of its work. It doesn't look for the lowest-cost provider, who might sew one day for a warehouse store such as Costco and try to sew the next day for Patagonia. Contractors that sew on the lowest-cost basis, the company reasons, wouldn't hire sewing operators of the skill required or welcome Patagonia's oversight of its working conditions and environmental standards. What Patagonia looks for, more than anything, is a good fit between itself and the companies it partners with.

It sees its partners as an extension of its own business, and wants partners that convey Patagonia's own sense of product quality, business ethics, and environmental and social concern. Once a relationship is established, Patagonia doesn't leave adherence to its principles to chance. Its production department monitors its partners on a consistent basis. The objective is for both sides to prosper and win. In fact, in describing the company's relationship with its partners, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard says, "We become like friends, family-mutually selfish business partners; what's good for them is good for us." build-a-bear Workshop A similar set of beliefs and actions describe Build-A-Bear Workshop. Build-A-Bear lets its customers, who are usually children, design and build their own stuffed animals, in a sort of Santa's workshop setting. Like Patagonia, Build-A-Bear is a very socially conscious organization, and looks for partners that reflect its values. Affirming this point, Maxine Clark, the company's founder, said, "The most successful corporate partnerships are forged between like-minded companies with similar cultures that have come together for a common goal, where both sides benefit from the relationship." Also similar to Patagonia, Build-A-Bear thinks of its partners as good friends. Reflecting on her experiences in this area, Clark said, "I tend to think of partners as good business friends-companies and people who would do everything they could to help us succeed and for whom I would do the same."

In a book she wrote about founding and building Build-A-Bear into a successful company, Clark attributes having good partners to careful selection. She also likens business partnership to a marriage, which has many benefits but also takes hard work: "Good business partnerships are like successful marriages. To work, they require compatibility, trust and cooperation. Both parties need to be invested in one another's well-being and strive for a common goal." Both Patagonia and Build-A-Bear make extensive use of partnerships and are leaders in their respective industries.

Questions for Critical Thinking

1. To what extent do you believe that Patagonia and Build-A-Bear Workshop's ethical cultures drive their views on partnering?

2. Assume you were assigned the task of writing a code of conduct for Patagonia. Write the portion of the code of conduct that deals with business partnership relationships.

3. What similarities do you see between the partnership philosophies of Patagonia and Build-A-Bear Workshop?

4. Spend some time studying Patagonia by looking at the company's website and its Facebook page, and via other Internet searches.Describe Patagonia's general approach to business ethics, social responsibility, and environmental concerns. What, if anything, can start-ups learn from Patagonia's philosophies and its experiences?