[Type the document title]

CONTENTS

  1. INTRODUCTION                                                                                                   003

  1.           2.1          The various ways that the body shop has pursued an ethical business strategy                                                                                             003                 

  1.           2.2         The importance of mission statements                                            005

  1.           2.3          The advantage and disadvantages of pursuing ethical business  strategies                                                                                                           007

  1.         REFERENCE                                                                                                        010

INTRODUCTION 

In this assignment includes the various ways that Body Shop has pursued an ethical business strategy, explanation of the importance of mission giving examples of the use of mission statements at both the body shop and other businesses, and analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing ethical business strategies.

2.1          The various ways that the body shop has pursued an ethical business strategy

          Anita Roddick, the founder of The Body Shop was born in the small town of Littlehamton in the United Kingdom on the 23rd of October, 1942 as a daughter of Italian immigrants Donny and Gilda Perella. She was married to Gordon Roddick who became her life time partner before returning to England after she had travelled the world. Anita pursued a career of becoming a teacher before becoming a successful businesswoman.

The Body Shop which is now a global chain of more than 2000 stores selling ethically produced body creams and cosmetics was opened for the first time in Brighton in 1976. Anita opened it simply to create a livelihood for herself and her two daughters, while her husband was away from home trekking across the Americas. In the beginning she did not really foresee the long term success of The Body Shop. Running that first shop taught her business is not all about financial science, it’s about trading: buying and selling. It’s about creating a product or service so good that people will pay for it. 30 years on now The Body Shop is a multi local business with over 2045 stores serving over 80 million customers in 50 different markets in 25 different languages and across 12 time zones. And most importantly it was not an ordinary business from the beginning as it was far different from most other cosmetic companies. Anita proclaimed in her auto biography, Body and Soul: Profits with Principles that she hates the beauty business. It lies, cheats and exploits as it is a monster industry that sells unattainable dreams. This very mindset led Anita and Gordon to the development of the unique philosophy of the Body Shop. Their purpose was to create profits with principles. They did not only want to make profits, but at the same time they wanted to create social and environmental change. The Body Shop was not going to make false promise to its customers of changing a person’s face or try to deceive them in any other way. Instead, it came up with a two for one sale that could not have been found in any other cosmetic company; with a purchase of any single bottle of natural lotion, free social justice to be got. The uniqueness of the Body Shop can be clearly seen from its mission statement: “To dedicate our business to the pursuit of social and environmental change. To creatively balance the financial and human needs of our stakeholders: employees, customers, franchisees, suppliers and shareholders. To courageously ensure that our business is ecologically sustainable, meeting the needs of the present without compromising the future. To meaningfully contribute to local, national and international communities in which we trade, by adopting a code of conduct which ensures care, honesty, fairness and respect”. The Body Shop uses its stores and its products to help address human rights and environmental issues. The Body Shop has always been recognizable by its green color, only color that could have been found to cover the damp walls of the first shop. This very color has in fact never been changed over the years, being a clear indication of company’s environmental concern. As far as the advertisements of the products are concerned, Anita uses the unconventional method of advertising to stay within the profits with principles philosophy. She feels that high quality products do not need advertising, they sell themselves. Satisfied customers’ recommendations to others were the only advertisement they us. Campaigning for social and environmental changes gave Roddicks publicity. They used their window space in the store to display various to promote environmental groups. They used their trucks and bags to deliver social messages. Other campaigns they have supported and promoted are: Amnesty international, the Friends of the Earth, the save-the-whales campaign and the rainforest activists Survival Internations. Anita also promoted AIDS awareness, ending animal testing, and recycling.

Join now!

She dedicates much of her attention to the empowerment of communities in the Third World. Her campaigns for the Third World include “Stop the Burn” to save the Brazilian rainforests and “Trade not Aid”. The Body Shop sets an example not to exploit Third World workers by paying them much lower wages to those that are earned by British workers. In 1993 Anita met people who had their lands been destroyed through oil exploration by the giant oil multinational Shell. They were from Ogoni tribe, Nigeria seeking justice and restoration against the wealthy company. Anita had gained handful of experience ...

This is a preview of the whole essay