The Body Shop Case Analysis

CASE: THE BODY SHOP

PRESENTED BY – NEIL JOSHI

DESIGNING AND MANAGING INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

OTMT618

11/08/2017

1. As described in the case, Body Shop had several “constituencies”, including customers, community, the environment, vendors, shareholders, employees, franchisees, etc. Comment briefly on how Anita and Body Shop performed in serving Each of these constituencies.    

• Customers

• Anita cared deeply about her customers and always believed that she and Body Shop must be truthful to the customers.
• Anita encouraged her customers to leave feedback and suggestions to come up with new products for Body Shop to introduce.
• Customers trusted that Body Shop will always use natural products which in turn became a good source of marketing for Body Shop.
• She was honest with the customers and was open that her products will do nothing more than “cleanse, polish and protect”.

• Community Activity

• Anita believed that all Body Shop franchisees should support a project for improving the community in one way or other.
• Trade Not Aid – Anita started this project to help the people in the third world countries utilize their resources to meet their own needs.
• The Soapworks Projects – Anita started this project to employ people in the depressed Glasgow suburb of Easterhouse, by setting up a new factory for soap production.

• Environment

• Save the Whale – Anita entered into an alliance with Greenpeace to promote “Save the Whales”, and began campaigning for substituting the use of oil from sperm whales with jojoba oil, a plant based product.
• She entered into an allegiance with Friends of the Earth to promote awareness on various environmental issues such as acid rain, recycling and ozone layer depletion.
• She set up an Environmental Projects Department within Body Shop to coordinate campaigning and ensure the company’s own products were environmentally sound.
• She ensured the company used recycled products and provided discounts to customers who would come in for refills.

• Shareholders

• Anita believed she did not owe a lot to the shareholders as she did not force them to purchase the shares of her company and that it was up to her to run Body Shop in any way she deemed was fit.

• Employees

• Anita believed that Body Shop will perform better if she has a lot of female employees since that her products were targeted more towards women. This would give Body Shop an edge with their competitors as they can understand their customer segment better.
• She encouraged upward communication through suggestion scheme called the Department of Damned Good Ideas (DODGI), through regular meetings with the staff.
• Anita encouraged employees to ‘think frivolously’ and ‘break the rules’ by tying their bonuses to innovative suggestions.

• Franchisees

• Anita was very strict about who should get a franchisee of Body Shop. She believed women would be better at running the business as they could understand the need of the customer, majority of whom were women.
• She liked to conduct the final interview process before selecting a franchisee owner. The candidate had to go through rigorous tests like personality tests, a home visit and assessment of their business acumen.
• She believed that all of her franchisee owners should share the same concerns as her regarding environmental and social causes.

1. Based on Bartlett’s definitions of multi country organizations, please identify and explain briefly which type does Body Shop most closely resemble.

• The Body Shop is a more of a GLOBAL ORGANIZATION. 
• It is centralized but more closely controlled by the Roddicks and all the strategies were designed by Anita.
• The company used its knowledge, skills and resources from different communities across the globe to design their products.
• Products were designed completely in the UK and the same products were sold worldwide.
• The company projects and products were consistent with every franchisee.