Quiksilver, Inc.
Carlos Antonini
Business Communication
Bus. 154 l1

Background
Quiksilver, Inc. is a global company, which represents not only a brand, but also a lifestyle and attitude. Alan Greene and John Law, two surfers from Australia founded the company in 1970. However, it wasn’t because of them that the company came to be a top brand worldwide. In 1976, the Californian surfers Robert B. McKnight and Jeffrey Hakman decided to obtain the rights to Quiksilver in the United States. These two surfers were recognized for their talent in the sport. After winning an important competition, they got to set a meeting with the Australians. With a wide-ranging knowledge in business strategies, they ended up meeting the Australians demands after sharing their visions and expectations about the business; hence, Greene and Law closed the deal and decided to sell the rights to McKnight and Hakman.
Mission
This organization was formed under the desire of building a brand that symbolizes aquatic-board sports, but primarily surfing. However, over time the company expanded its ideal, and included more board-like sports such as skateboarding and snowboarding. This company focuses mostly on youth, both males and females. With respect to Quicksilver’s overall mission, the CFO Richard Shields stated that “Our mission is to become the leading global youth apparel company; to maintain our core focus and roots while bringing our lifestyle message of board riding, independence, creativity and innovation to this global community” (Edgar Online Inc.). The main ideal of this company is to focus on younger generations that are attracted to the sports that are being promoted by Quiksilver, and to prioritize this brand among the youth. Considering this, they deliver a message that captivates the target market.
Products and services
The company has extended its line of merchandise, and has incorporated a diverse number of products. These products have been classified into four different categories that include clothing, accessories, footwear and surf. Over time, Quiksilver has expanded its portfolio and now embraces other brands and particular services departments such as Roxy, DC, Hawk, Lib Technologies and Gnu. Roxy emphasizes in surfing apparels, but is only directed to females. Then there’s the DC brand, which consists of selling skateboarding shoes, snowboard boots and apparel. Also, there is the Hawk brand that has products for skateboarding. And lastly, the Lib Technology and Gnu, which produce snowboards and accessories for the same company.
In matters of the profitability growth from the annual reports, there has been a noticeable monetary growth for Quiksilver when comparing 2010 and 2011, with a 6% profit increase. This has brought the consolidating revenues up to 1.95 billion dollars. This improvement motivated the company to encourage future investments, which will expand the profit. Moreover, once splitting the revenue of each brand, the economists realize that the DC brand brought the largest profit with a 15% increase, then Quiksilver with a 5% and Roxy’s revenue decreased by a 2%.
Here in this chart, its shown how part of the revenues are distributed among the principal occupations in the organization.
Name
Job title
Board
Compensation
Robert B. McKnight
Chairman, Chief executive and president
Executive broad
10,203,200 USD
Charles S. Exon
Chief administrative officer
Executive broad
4,134,000 USD
Joseph F. Berardino
Director
Non executive broad
172,750 USD
Paul C. Speaker
Director
Non road executive
284,850 USD
Craig Stevenson
Chief operating officer Senior management
5,606,200 USD
Pierre Agnes
President Quiksilver Europe
Senior Management
5,558,400 USD
Carol Scherman
Executive vice-president, global human resources
Senior management
5,483,300 USD

With such an expanded line of production, it’s not unusual