External Factors influences and impact on The Body Shop

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The External Factor’s influences and impact on The Body Shop

The external environment is categorized into seven actors: sociological, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal and ethical. These different aspects can have a huge influence on a businesses’ objective and strategies. The ‘STEEPLE’ analysis is a useful way to assess the impact of the external environment and the opportunities and threats that lies within it. Thus, it allows the company to align positively with the powerful forces of changes in the environment when setting a framework for future development.

I chose the body shop because is the second largest cosmetic franchises in the world and I like they way in which they encourage others to be environmental friendly. There motto is very inspiring, ‘natural’s way is to beautiful’ and it creates a very positive image for the company. The business is known for its cosmetic products that are naturally made and environmentally-friendly which serves as a competitive advantage. The body shop has always been aware of the changing external environment and has always been focused on the ethical, environmental factors.

Many changes have occurred in society in the last few decades, such as Attitudes, value, lifestyle, buying habits, household and age-profile. The demographic changes greatly impact the human resources and market strategies, sales of a company. The first shop was a success in the United States, and so 13 more were soon opened, however, the trouble was that there was a lot of competition rising such as Estee Lauder etc and therefore the company was at risk. Nowadays, due to the aging population, results have shown that the sales for anti-aging products in The Body shop are increasing because the public are more willing to spend on premium-priced products claiming anti-aging properties. From the last couple of years, 20-35 years old, cosmopolitan men are demanding for personal care products, which serves as a great opportunity for The Body Shop to break into a new market. To eliminate the threats, The body shop has decided to merge with other strong cosmetics companies to combine into larger ones, to reinforce their position in the market.

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The development of new technology and skills has lead to a lot of businesses adopting advanced technology into their production methods and to their product for added value. The convergence of computing, communication and information has allowed an increase no. of on-line buyers. New technology has allowed cheaper and fast production methods in the Body Shop, which means goods are available and productivity to increase. In addition, the new technology also provided training opportunities for the employees.

Economic conditions highly affect a business’ success and profit at any time because they affect both capital availability and costs and ...

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