Management

Q7: What was a common vision that the new company was based on? Pg. 162-167 Blake Jones, Wes Kennedy, a friend of a friend, who had an experience in solar installations and Ray Tuomey, a friend of Jones’ wife, who had a long-time association with community organizations in Boulder, found they had much in common. They wanted to build a company that reflected their core values and a unique structure that instilled responsibility and pride in the employees. The partners wanted to avoid the problems they had experienced in previous firms by creating a company built upon a co-ownership model, nonhierarchical employee positions, and decentralized decision-making. The content of their mission statement was focused on company’s employees and this distinguishes Namaste from others.

Q9: How was the name of the company chosen? Pg. 78-85 In our case, I suppose, the company’s name was chosen according to its values. Namaste is a traditional Sanskrit greeting. To Jones, Kennedy and Tuomey, the word’s meaning was significant: “A greeting of great respect that celebrates the interdependence of all living things.” This name demonstrates organization’s cultural commitment to take care of both employees and customers. The mission statement for Namaste emphasizes values of ethical conduct in all relationships, shared risks and rewards. All these, and not only the fact that Jones used this word on a daily basis while living in Nepal and that Kennedy used it on a daily basis in his yoga practice, influenced the process of choosing name.
Q13: Stock valuation of Namaste Solar. As we have already learned a critical part of the founders’ vision for Namaste Solar-and a strategy for attracting and retaining employees-was a commitment to employee ownership. Full-time employees at Namaste Solar were able to buy shares in the company at any time, at the then-current value. There was only one condition employees who left the company were required to sell back their shares. I think,