The Power of Aesthetic Alignment in Future-Oriented Organisations: The Case of Patagonia

Autoři

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54820/entrenova-2023-0035

Klíčová slova:

innovation, future potential, organisational aesthetics, sustainability, co-creation, resonance, future skills

Abstrakt

When Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, started to forge pitons (a piece of climbing equipment) in 1957, he never planned to become a businessman. All he wanted to do was produce climbing gear for his friends and himself. However, half a century later, his company Patagonia (now worth 3 billion dollars) has become one of the most renowned outdoor brands on the market. It is also known to be one of the most sustainable clothing companies in the world and, as a business, incorporates its core values into all its actions. Altogether, Patagonia evokes the coherent aesthetic image of an organisation that is very much in alignment with its purpose, stakeholders, and the environment. In our paper, we examine this notion of alignment and think of it as a kind of resonance between the organisation, its purpose and its stakeholders – a dynamic process of unfolding, co-creating and being co-created in and for a thriving environment. Using Patagonia’s example, the paper aims to provide practical implications and principles based on theoretical foundations related to organisational capabilities, such as understanding and leveraging future potentials and fostering a mindset of resonance and co-creation. To this end, we draw on recent interdisciplinary findings from future-oriented approaches to innovation, creativity, enactive cognitive science and anthropology, as well as organisational learning and spiritual knowledge management, and place them in the context of the challenges of today's VUCA world.

Biografie autora

Markus F. Peschl, University of Vienna, Austria

Markus F. Peschl is a professor of cognitive science and innovation studies at the University of Vienna. He graduated from the University of Technology Vienna and spent several years as a post-doc at the University of California, San Diego. His areas of research and expertise include innovation, cognitive science, organizational theory and strategy, design, and spaces for knowledge- and innovation work (Enabling Spaces). He is co-founder and CSO of the theLivingCore Innovation and Knowledge Architects and holds several guest professorships at European Universities. The author can be contacted at Franz-Markus.Peschl@univie.ac.at

Clemens Kerschbaum, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria

Clemens Kerschbaum works as a pre-doctoral researcher at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and is a member of the Division for Knowledge-based Management at the Institute for Data, Process and Knowledge Management. He holds a Business Law degree, focusing on Data Protection. In his ongoing doctoral studies, he is interested in topics around Knowledge-based Management, particularly the organizational structures of learning organizations. The author can be contacted at clemens.kerschbaum@wu.ac.at

Stahování

Publikováno

2024-08-26

Jak citovat

Peschl, M. F. ., & Kerschbaum, C. . (2024). The Power of Aesthetic Alignment in Future-Oriented Organisations: The Case of Patagonia. ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion, 9(1), 387–399. https://doi.org/10.54820/entrenova-2023-0035

Číslo

Sekce

Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth