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Bath Body Works

Profile of the CEO

Anita Roddick chose to take a trip to the United Nations to study women in the third world. There, she found that women in underdeveloped countries used organic potions to care for their skin. This provoked Anita to open up her own cosmetics shop carrying natural products.

Anita was a 33-year-old housewife with two young daughters. As her husband was pursuing his dream of horseback riding from Buenos Aires to New York, she decided that she needed to start this business to earn enough money for her family to live on.

The Body Shop was not managed professionally for years. Even Anita Roddick stated, “You’d bury your head with laughter if you saw how unprofessional we were.” (Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach. Charles Hill. Gareth Jones.) She had never managed a company before she started The Body Shop. She didn’t even know the first thing about what she would even have to do to keep the business running. Her husband advised her that if she made 300 pounds per week, she would stay in business.

Anita had very strong beliefs and values, and thought that the employees, community, and environment should come before shareholders. She also felt that financial figures were unimportant and should not be put ahead of the values of the company.

History

The Body Shop was founded in 1976 in Brighton, England, by Anita Roddick. The Body Shop at first carried 25 naturally based skin care products. Anita sold these products in clear urine bottles that she bought from a local hospital. Handwritten labels were glued to the bottle, which had product information on it.

The business was going so well that another store opened in 1977. At this time, Anita’s husband, Gordon, returned home to help his wife with the business. Gordon began to handle the financial side of the business.

In 1978, they decided to begin to franchise the business. Franchisees paid a fee of 60,000 pounds and then paid a minimum of...