The Body Shop and its Success Principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

The Body Shop and its Success Principles - Essay Example Many of Roddick’s slogans are designed to foster a sense of honesty and integrity, such as her in-store environmentalism campaigns, discounted refill services for environmental protectionism, and her acknowledgment that The Body Shop products have no miracle cure reinforce dedication to ethical business practice. Concepts of caring and loving, more emotionally-driven attitudes in business concept and product variety, clearly indicate a target market of the female audience. This supersedes existing patriarchical business philosophy in the beauty industry in this female-driven business related to policy development, ad concept, and even product development. Understanding the feminine persona at the psychological level gives The Body Shop its competitive edge. The company devotes little cash to marketing and advertising, believing the concept and Roddick’s brash attitudes with the assistance of PR services is enough to satisfy profit objectives and gain visibility in their key market demographic segments; and sales success supports this as a worthwhile strategy. The ample volume of corporate social responsibility activities bring this business much more value publicly and coupled with a more horizontal hierarchy, The Body Shop has established a culture loyal and dedicated to bringing success to the business. The Body Shop believes that â€Å"true beauty comes from confidence, vitality and inner well-being† (thebodyshop.com, 2009, p.1). The use of imagery designed to build on women’s self-esteem was the founding philosophies that brought considerable growth for The Body Shop. However, franchising and global growth have changed the dynamics of the customer/service worker relationship and the family-friendly atmosphere that Roddick so treasured personally and brought her a considerable brand  following. This has too changed Roddick’s relationship with subordinates and franchisees from a mentor to that of a corporate-minded executive, something Roddick is unsatisfied with.