Body Shop International Limited: A Business Report

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INTRODUCTION TO
BUSINESS
BODY SHOP INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................2
Body Shop’s key issue and recommendations.......................................................................2
Benefits of CSR projects........................................................................................................2
Possible Impact of Brexit.......................................................................................................3
Individual reflection...............................................................................................................3
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................4
References..............................................................................................................................4

Introduction
The main purpose of the report is to evaluate the operations of Body Shop International
Limited in UK along with the identification of one of the key issue which the company is
facing while operating in UK. It will also provides and analysis of the benefits of
implementing CSR for the society and for the future generations. It will also explain the
impact of Brexit on the current and future operations of Body Shop International Limited. It
will also explain the benefits and the challenges when they working in a team and the
identification of the areas of development.
Body Shop’s key issue and recommendations
The main issue which the organization is facing now is the increase in the competition from
the large and huge fashionable brands like Loreal, Boots who have started operating in the
UK and providing Body Shop the huge and intense competition in this market (Killen et al.
2012). It is seen that due to the strong product positioning of the other cosmetic companies
like Loreal and Boots in UK the company Body Shop could not be able to bring up their sales
which shows its performance in its market share when they are operating in the UK market.
In 2016 the sales of Body Shop Limited is 920.8 billion Euros which was down from 967.2
million Euros in 2015 (Butler 2013). This is mainly due to the fact that the company Body
Shop is not been able to make their differentiation in the product which they deliver it to the
customers. In the past 20 years or so they have not made product development on a
continuous basis by which they can bring in innovation in their products for having the
competition to be made with the similar and small cosmetic high street shops operating in the
UK market (Bendell 2017). Thus the intense competition is facing by Body Shop from the
similar brands and also from the smaller cosmetic shops who are offering the same products
at lower prices to the UK customers.
With reference to the human relations management theory, the company is recommended to
develop and improve the relationships with the employees and the customers they have in the
UK market. They need to be developing such HR policies by which they could be able to
align with the needs of the employees by which they can better serve the customers. The
useful and cordial human relations have also helped the company to rebrand their company
name and attract wide base of customers in UK.

Benefits of CSR projects
The CSR projects which are to be undertaken by Body Shop International Limited have the
advantages to the society and the future generations in a huge way. They have been involving
community trade programme from 19-40 suppliers and help enriching the supplier
communities by which the supply of the raw materials could help in development of the
products all the time. They have been benefiting 40,000 economically vulnerable people with
their sustainability projects which is related to the supply chain. They have started their
biggest campaign ever Enrich Not Exploit for creating awareness to the people in the society
of not exploiting the natural resources (Selmier II Newenham-Kahindi and Oh 2015). They
have also been investing 250,000 hours of the skills for enriching the bio diversity of the
communities. The company is focusing on the using of 100 percent natural ingredients by
which the environmental damage could be reduced which is useful for the society and the
future generations. The company is also considering the development of an innovation
pipeline which is delivering the cosmetic ingredients for improving the biodiversity and
enrich the different areas of the society. The company is also ensuring that there should be
the powering of 100 percent of the renewable energy in stores for reducing the high carbon
content which is good for the future generations (Lauritsen and Perks 2015). It is also
reducing 10 percent of the energy use at all the stores of UK for making the use of energy for
the future generations. There would be recycling and refurbishing the wastes generated from
the products for applying it for the future generations.
Possible Impact of Brexit
The impact of Brext is quite harsh for the current operations in the UK market. Brexit is the
condition where UK had to leave EU. This has created problems for the companies who have
been operating in the UK. It is seen that due to the occurrence of Brexit BHo0dy Shop has to
shift some of their stores in European countries mainly in Germany. For example, the
company has its store in Littlehampton UK where the store has moved some of their
operations in Europe (Charter 2017). Due to Brexit there is always a problem for the
spending power of the people of the UK. It has been reducing the spending power of the
people due to the reduction in the disposable income which is directly affecting the sales of
the cosmetic products from Body Shop (Howard and Kollanyi 2016). This is due to the fact
that the economy of the UK has affected which is due to the low GDP growth of the country.
The Brexit occurrence has also increased the condition of unemployment and high job risks
in the UK. This is due to the fact that after the Brexit has occurred the distribution of the

wealth is not equally done among the lower and the higher income groups of the societies of
the UK (Dhingra et al. 2016). This has created a high pay gap between them which has
resulted in high uncertainty of employment in the UK.
Individual reflection
When I have been working in a team for preparing and delivering the group presentation I
have felt some of the benefits which have improved my work ethics as a team. I have been
able to increase collaboration with my team members and this has allowed me to do
brainstorming. I could be able to foster creativity and learning when I have been working as a
team. I have been able to improve on my decision making ability as the decisions are taken
only after the long discussions to be made with the team members as well.
When I am working as a team I also found some of the challenges. I have found that working
in a team, has made my communication level reduced as I was felt shy in sharing of my own
ideas if my team members has shared something with me. I could not be able to communicate
effectively when I was working as a team. I also found myself in the situation of conflict
when the ideas are shared between the team members. I was also confused of what
suggestions or action plan I would be providing it to my team members. The skill areas which
I still need to improve could be the communication and the problem solving skills which i
have lacked yet.
Conclusion
From the study it is evident that the current market of Body Shop International Limited is not
good for UK. It is concluded that the Brexit issue in UK has made the performance of the
company at the unsatisfactory level. It is evident that the product differentiation and
innovation in product development will hold the key for Body Shop to rebuild its branding
and competing with the similar and small cosmetic firms operating in the UK market.
References
Butler, H. ed., 2013. Poucher’s perfumes, cosmetics and soaps. Springer Science & Business
Media.
Charter, M., 2017. Greener marketing: A responsible approach to business. Routledge.

Bendell, J., 2017. Terms for endearment: Business, NGOs and sustainable development.
Routledge.
Killen, C.P., Jugdev, K., Drouin, N. and Petit, Y., 2012. Advancing project and portfolio
management research: Applying strategic management theories. International Journal of
Project Management, 30(5), pp.525-538.
Drucker, P., 2012. Management challenges for the 21st century. Routledge.
Lauritsen, B.D. and Perks, K.J., 2015. The influence of interactive, non-interactive, implicit
and explicit CSR communication on young adults’ perception of UK supermarkets’ corporate
brand image and reputation. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 20(2),
pp.178-195.
Selmier II, W.T., Newenham-Kahindi, A. and Oh, C.H., 2015. “Understanding the words of
relationships”: Language as an essential tool to manage CSR in communities of
place. Journal of International Business Studies, 46(2), pp.153-179.
Dhingra, S., Ottaviano, G.I., Sampson, T. and Reenen, J.V., 2016. The consequences of
Brexit for UK trade and living standards.
Howard, P.N. and Kollanyi, B., 2016. Bots,# StrongerIn, and# Brexit: computational
propaganda during the UK-EU referendum. Available at SSRN 2798311.