Workplace Surveillance

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Surveillance and monitoring in the workplace have evolved alongside advancing technologies, presenting ever-multiplying opportunities, risks, and emerging ethical questions. More pervasive and personal every year, the "datafication" of…

Motivated Reasoning

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There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we realize that not everyone has the time…

Goals Gone Wild

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There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we realize that not everyone has the time…

Ethics Pays

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There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we realize that not everyone has the time…

Speak Up Culture

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There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we realize that not everyone has the time…

Nudging for Ethics

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There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we realize that not everyone has the time…

Ethical Fading

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There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we realize that not everyone has the time…

Bounded Ethicality

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There are some ethical concepts that are so important that it would be valuable to get them into widespread circulation in any organization that is trying to improve its ethics. But at Ethical Systems, we realize that not everyone has the time…

Company Snapshot: Conscious Capitalism- Core to The Container Store’s Success

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The third of three Company Snapshots, these research-based pieces by guest author Jessica Guo look at aspects of successful companies that can be examined for strategy and information of benefit to both active businesses and the academics that study them. See our first company snapshot examining culture and values at Costco and our second company snapshot looking at how values around sustainability and responsibility drive culture and integrity at Patagonia.

 

Company Snapshot: Conscious Capitalism- Core to The Container Store’s Success

According to a 2012 study by the global management consulting firm Hay Group, retail stores typically see turnover of 67% in part-time employees. Yet the Container Store, a leading storage and organizational products retailer, boasts an annual store employee turnover rate of only 10%.

The Container Store’s employee satisfaction translates directly into bottom-line success: the company has grown from a founding $35,000 investment in 1978—about $131,000 in today’s currency—to earn over $800 million in net sales in FY 2017. “A good capitalist will see the value of what we’re doing,” co-founder Kip Tindell says. “We would not be as profitable if we did less for our employees and vendors.”

Company Snapshot: “Don’t Buy Our Products” – Ethics at Patagonia

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The second of three Company Snapshots, these research-based pieces by guest author Jessica Guo look at aspects of successful companies that can be examined for strategy and information of benefit to both active businesses and the academics that study them. See our first company snapshot examining culture and values at Costco.

 

Company Snapshots: “Don’t Buy Our Products” – Ethics at Patagonia
 

When asked what he thought made a good company, Yvon Chouinard replied with one word: responsibility.

Despite being the founder of a retail consumer brand company Patagonia, Chouinard is also a conservationist who advocates for anti-consumerism. He believes that Patagonia has “made a contract with our customers to make clothing as responsibly as possible.” To that end, Chouinard actively encourages his consumers to “think twice before you buy a product from us. Do you really need it or are you just bored and want to buy something?”