Company Analysis Of The Body Shop

The Body Shop had first started up their store in Brighton, England at March 26th 1976. By 1982 there were new shops opening at a fast rate of two a month, a couple years later in 1986 they launch their first major campaign with Greenpeace about saving the whales. A year later the body shop has their first community fair trade product by Teddy Exports, who are a supplier in southern India. With this they had helped to educate many local children. Throughout the years the body shop has done many more charitable campaigns as well as other things, these include: human rights, animal and environmental protection groups, renewable energy, and lastly violence in the home. They are against all animal testing on any products and ingredients.

Aims and Objectives

The body shop has quite a few aims and objectives that they would like to do and complete. On their website it says “We aim to be the most ethical and sustainable global business. ” This means that none of their products will be made by harmful products, been tested on by animals and made in a safe and inviting environment. Everything they sell will not harm the environment and their products can always be reused, so we won’t run out of any of the materials used because there will always be more. The body shops objectives are all included in their ‘Enrich Not Exploit™’ commitment. This includes 14 targets to complete by 2020. Some examples of these are to ‘Enrich our planet’ where they are continuously campaigning to support threatened areas; ‘Enrich our people’ by rejecting the stereotypical beauty and celebrating the diversity of people; to ‘Enrich our products’ by selling products at fair price, not testing on animals and making their customers feel good when using their products. Reducing their environmental footprint is another thing enlisted in their ‘Enrich Not Exploit’ commitment. For this they are working towards a sustainable business but reviewing their products on things like biodegradability and renewable nature origins.

Ownership and Liability

The Body Shop The body shop is seen as a LTD company, this means that the company has a limited partner. A limited partner contributes to funds, however they do not have any management input and would only lose what they have invested in, lessening the financial risk. They can also sell stock to anyone they wish to while gaining all profits. This company is also international and has companies registered in many places, such as: Littlehampton; West Sussex; Watersmead and a few more. This also means that one company can help out another if it is crucial and in dire need of help. If this business falls the owners will be in debt and have to pay everything out. A couple years ago the body shop had signed an agreement with L’Oréal – another cosmetic company. This means that L’Oréal now has some responsibility and ownership over the body shop, as well as gaining some of its profits. Trading through a limited company can provide many benefits for the business’ shareholders, which cannot be achieved through other business structures. An example of this would be that shareholders would not go through bankruptcy the assets of the Limited company will be used to pay off any debts which the business may have to settle. Other advantages are that the costs of running a limited company are quite low this leads to higher profit as not a lot of the money is going to company needs, the administrative requirements are also minimum for limited companies like the body shop. However, if any changes are made about the business’ details then the body shop would have to notify the Companies house immediately which could take the shareholder’s attention away from the details changing or other changes that are being made. Another disadvantage is that you have to pay a registration fee to the Companies house where you must be officially incorporated this could lead to a dent in the company’s profits at first.

Stakeholders

A few of the body shops stakeholders include people like; their employees, their customers, suppliers and the community. They all have a role to play in the decisions and they all influence the choices that the body shop makes. The customers influence the business as if they don’t agree or if they have had a negative experience with the body shop then they could leave and not buy anything from there again, this may result in the body shop losing their customers and then losing their profits as they could easily share their bad experiences with their friends and family. The community influences them as they could hold protests or spread news on multiple things like social media if something has happened that they don’t like, this means that the rest of the community views the body shop as a negative place that might not always provide the requirements that they have promised to. This may lead to a loss of many customers, including regulars. This means that the body shops’ profits would decrease immensely as more and more people see what news is spreading about the company. If something within the company drastically changes that the employees might not like than many of them could go on strike or leave the company altogether, if enough people do this the business could come to lose quite a bit of its profits as the employees that have stayed might not be enough to keep the in-store experience a good one. This may also lead to losing many customers and profits. The suppliers may pull out of the contract that allows the body shop to buy their products from them, leaving the body shop low on their supplies and products. This means that there won’t be any products, or not enough, in store that the customers can buy. Leading to a loss of profit, customers and it might even lower business standards, resulting in the downfall of the business if it is to that extreme.

Organisational Structure

The organisational structure of the body shop is Lateral organization structure or team structure. This is a good and organised structure for the body shop as everyone has their own roles and separate bosses for the sections they work at with their different targets for the business. For example all the people whose jobs are to plan out different things for the company, like raising profits if need be, are all grouped together with one being in charge; the boss of the rest. This is a good business organisational structure because everyone would know what department they are in, what they are doing and who they should go to for any problems or inquiries. This leads to better and more frequent deliveries and updates, keeping stocks full and customers happy which could mean that they become loyal and regular customers.