Introduction
This report takes into consideration the application and the strategies that Petsmart Company has in line with their ethical structure, the governance structure and the corporate social responsibility for the present and the future. Additionally, the business report highlights the present position of the Petsmart Company in these three categories. The company is described as one of the largest pet and veterinary product retailer services provider and the solution for pet and the owners (Petsmart, 2016). The information provided by the company’s profile is that the company has more than 50,000 associates and another 1,466 pet stores. This implies the need of the management structure in creating the necessary channels, which are used on corporate governance and business management. The outline that this report takes is placed on understanding the three channels that Petsmart Company has systematically. This is read with reference to the avenues that the company has in handling the communication structures and maintaining the corporate social responsibility.
Governance Structure
This first chapter takes interest on the corporate governance structure, which the company has in place. Identifying with the company’s website, the point of concern is in the manner in which the website takes recognition of the avenues that the company has in recognizing management and roles. According to Tang, Hull, and Rothenberg (2012), the confirmation of such a leveled structure that the company takes in management recognition is vital. With this consideration, Petsmart Company has a linear management structure. Looking at the roles that the company has attached to the management team, the influence that the liner management has is that it goes down in pyramid shaped up from the position of the chief executive officer, with 11 senior and executive vice presidents.
Stakeholder (internal and external)
The company can be said to be withholding the true reflection on the number of shareholders that it has; this is attached to the 1,093,782 million values on total equity, that has not be provided for a shareholder majority or shareholder composition. Thus, this report seeks to identify with the more than 53,000 employers as the internal stakeholders. Their influence is seen with the continuous increase in the value of the company. The founders of the company were the first chairpersons and CEO W.R Ford, Smith II, and Jim Dougherty, which was in the year 1986. The starting equity for this business in the year 1986 is assumed to be the base contribution that the two proprietors had in making the business succeed. Thus, according to Tang, Hull, and Rothenberg (2012), the role that the company has taken in presenting their operation management is managed from the top.
Dispersion of ownership
Looking at the more than $82 million in market capitalization, the company places their management structure as one that takes less consideration on the identification of the functions of ownership. This alludes to the fact that the management of the company is not with the shareholder as expected with a majority of the public owned liability companies. Identifying with the linear structure that has been identified above, Petsmart (2016) suggests that the reporting for the same can be developed under limited shareholder stocks on the company. Thus, the ownership is seen to be concentrated on the founders of the business, who are the president and the vice presidents for the Petsmart Company.
The composition of the board of directors
The composition of the board of directors is as presented below;
Looking at the presented list, it is apparent that the top management is gender biased to favor men. Only two of the listed vice presidents are women. The composition is also seen to be fanning out from the position of the CEO and developing into the several positions that are held by the vice presidents in this case. According to Zheng, Luo, and Wang (2014), such a structure can be seen to be limiting the performance of the CEO. This is based on the lack of proper and adequate sublevels, which can be used in monitoring the operations of the company from operations to marketing of the petcare products.
Governance mechanisms
Identifying with the management structure and the withholding of the shareholding information by the Petsmart Company, it is prudent to consider that the governance mechanisms are of the internal nature. According to Zheng, Luo, and Wang (2014), an internal corporate governance structure is one where there are limited internal, self-monitored operations and decisions making. Looking at the 11 executive vice presidents that the company has, such an internal arrangement for the Petsmart Company takes into consideration the application of the different monitoring for all levels of decision making and operations at the executive level. Additionally, the merits and the demerits that the company has in this case, can be linked to the performance and the growth of the company over the last two decades of operations. The limitations are mainly having little exposure from external management; thus limit the company’s growth into other regions other than the United States, Canada and South America. On the other hand, the intentions of the company in maintaining the internal governance mechanisms is that they are in a position to control their operations and highlight the direction that they would prefer to have their internal control system operate.
Strategic Leadership and Governance Mechanisms on Value Addition
Reading the strategic leadership and the Petsmart governance mechanisms as above-mentioned, the aim of the company is to become the preferred provider for the lifetime needs of pets and pet owners. The primary initiatives that are shared in this case are;
The addition of stores in the existing multi-store and the new multi-store markets
The provision of the right formats that are needed for the avenues of customer management,
The expansions of the pet service business
An improvement of the superior customer experience ,that they currently have
Identifying with the strategic leadership of the company, it takes into consideration of the company returns and the values addition that is has offered the society. With reflecting the avenues that are taken by the 53,000 employees and the over 1,400 shops that the Petsmart has in the region, the affiliation of value creation trickles down to the creation of more employment opportunities and increased urban healthcare setups in the new areas.
The value proposition of the company in line with their policy simulation on communication, the effective models are what the business strives to have in building and ensuring good customer relations. Thus, the introduction of the customer loyalty program can be as seen as one of the ethical violations in this case. Nevertheless, the same is still maintained as one of the valid avenues that the company uses in increasing the number of customers, who visit their numerous pet stores. As a result, the roles that the same serves are presented as driving efficiency and creating a considerate customer experience by simply focusing on the operational excellence.
In reference to arguments presented by Zheng, Luo, and Wang (2014), such a position will be presented as one that is validated of the performances of the company over the years, which it has been operational. The significance that the values and the strategic leadership take is thus supposed to be taken into account. Under the valuation of the performances of the company, and highlighting the strategic leadership and operation plans, the examples of the PetSmart Company are considered to be one that is fully responsible for the validation of their growth and expansion objectives under these objectives.
Ethical Structure and Strategies
Ethical leaderships and framework that Petsmart has employed
The ethical structure that a business has is the most sensitive position that a company within the pharmaceutical and medical practice will have. Identifying with some of the primary interest that the company had, it will be of importance to note that there were animal rights in consideration to the development of the business idea into animal care. Thus, looking at the codes of ethics and the integrity program, the company takes into consideration the consumers, the communities and the beliefs that are entrenched in the integrity program. This highlights the awareness and the established foundations that are shared under this program which develop on the facets of providing education, training, and the awareness that the associates of PetSmart have. To assess the management of the corporate governance that the company takes is the use of an ethical framework or better considered as ethical theories. Under the utilitarian approach, it seeks to highlight the company’s role for the majority of the community or population. Under the utilitarian approach, the ethical environment seeks to have more inference on the less harm that a company or a business will be having on the society (Petsmart, 2016). Thus, the role that the Petsmart takes in value addition is considered to the qualification of the ethical values, which they have to the society.
Under the ethical considerations that are seen under the PetSmart propositions, the PetSmart code comes up as one of the integration proprietary that the brand uses on their societal accountability and interaction with third parties. However, to avoid any third party litigation that might arise from the operations of the company, the pet care policy confers in the merchants responsibility that they have is limited to the agency relationship of selling the product through their brand. Through incorporating the utilitarian ethics approach, it takes the role of the need to have the industry watch on what exactly the company offers to the clients.
The validation of the position and the values shared by the ethical consideration of the company can be taken under the theoretical valuation of the utilitarian approach. With this, the application of the ethical standard is seen as value based on the use of the code of conduct and the brand loyalty affinity, that the company has been attempting to create (Petsmart, 2016). Reading into the considered approach that the average settings need to employ the use of the acquisition of new client in the portfolio that the company has, the perception that is created is that the strategies have developed in line with the future of Petsmart. Using the approach the company has managed to have the strategic initiatives, which will be used to continue driving the growth and the profitability of the company. Other than the position that the company has in giving pet owners the most reliable and the most affordable healthcare, they still need to return value to the shareholders. The success of this value creation is described under the objectives, that the company has in store for the stakeholder. With the assumptions that the 30 years of operation has been geared towards ensuring the success of the company, emphasis is placed on the retails basic, which will allow the provision of a consistent superior shopping experience.
Organizations’ overall approach to ethics and the implications of moving forward with this approach
The overall approach, in this case, will be representing the avenues and the growth path, which the company is taking. Thus, the company takes the role of developing their own business ethics and the code of business. This is developed with the interest of highlighting better placed policy for the growth and the posterity of the business. Considering that we have highlighted what their management structure details, it will be true to note that the use of the business ethics is one of the structures that the Petsmart care has in place in strategic management. Looking at its website and subsequently reading from the Petsmart (2016), the ethical base creates the code of interaction among the various stakeholders of the company. This is developed with the functions of the supper relationships with the brand, the community relationship with the company, and the shareholder or management relationships and responsibilities of the company. Thus, looking at the structures that is in place, the only wanting position that is seen with the implementation of the business ethics position, which is taken by the company is the overlooked role of the human resources in the operations of the business.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social strategies are described as the main position from which any business will be interacting with the community positively. Under this, the company is seen to be having three avenues in which they are exercising their CSR strategy.
The first of this is the value, which is returned for the shareholders which is basic to the needs for starting a business. The measure of this is the return on investments. It is developed based on the affiliation that the business has had to profit making over the last 30 years. With the consideration of the last financial year, the returns that are seen on the share price are notably seen to be growing over the last five years. This is provided by the interpretation that the 10 K report has for the financial year of the overall financial performances the Petsmart Inc.
The second and third of the CSR strategies of the shifting of focus to the value creation for the shoppers ,which is more of financial and the provision of health that the pets have from the company which applies more to the social responsibility. The use of environmentally friendly packing will in this case, come in to add to the environmental position of CSR, that the company has (Petsmart, 2016). Thus, the triple bottom line that the company has is the financial score, the social score and the environment score. Translating this to the value addition that the company had, the following table depicts the application of the company corporate strategies to the triple bottom line of the company.
The CSR and value addition to the company
In attempting to analyze the position of the corporate social responsibility, it will be important to note that the position of the company cannot only be reflected in the annual report. This is based on the values that the CSR has added to the position of the company and the triple bottom line. Thus, looking at the industry report as shared by the Petsmart (2016), the application of the company takes into consideration the profitability and the return position that have been made in the year 2015. Looking at the database that the company has subsequently managed to build, one can state that the position that they have had with the value creation develops more from the strategies, which will have worked before. Similarly, with the more than 1,400 outlets each equipped by a professional veterinary officer, the company is seen to be at the heart of the community with this rare services, that most pet owners are looking for. The validation of this analysis is thus presented with the interest of having the veterinary services locally available and affordable as the main objective and mission for Petsmart. The company has developed an interest in the preservation of the animal rights in a more harnessed and acceptable manner. Additionally, looking at the larger area coverage that the company has, the core capabilities comes together with the capabilities that the company has in venturing into newer regions. This is achieved through increased sales in new target markets. As a result, in respect to the capabilities of PetSmart Company, it stands as a key player in the veterinary sector; hence, one that is seen to have fully scored with the position of the triple bottom line and those of the CSR strategies.
Conclusion
References
Petsmart. (2016). Corporate Information . Retrieved 07 22, 2016, from PetSmart: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=93506&p=irol-govManage
Tang, Z., Hull, C. E., & Rothenberg, S. (2012). How corporate social responsibility engagement strategy moderates the CSR–financial performance relationship. Journal of Management Studies, 49(7), 1274-1303.
Zheng, Q., Luo, Y., & Wang, S. L. (2014). Moral degradation, business ethics, and corporate social responsibility in a transitional economy. Journal of business ethics, 120(3), 405-421.
