Body Shop Company Values

The Body Shop’s company values stem from Anita Roddick’s vision of the company. She believes “…there is a better way. I think you can rewrite the book on business. I think you can trade ethically; be committed to social responsibility, global responsibility; empower your employees with being afraid of them… That is the vision, and the vision is absolutely clear.” Anita’s vision along with the company mission statement and statement of values set the tone for socially responsible management of the Body Shop.

The Body Shop is encompassed by five values which set guidelines for the administration of the company. The first value is the respect of human and civil rights as set in the Universal Doctrine of Human Rights. Based on this pronouncement, the Body Shop created a framework to ensure certain rights for workers such as healthy work environments, fair wages, no discrimination and no physical oppression of any kind. The company also allows their employees to take time from work to work on community projects and grants sabbaticals after five years of work to travel and volunteer at company sponsored orphanages in other countries. The Body Shop’s pro employee stance has had positive effects with 75 percent of employees being proud to be a part of the company.

The second value aims to create and support long term sustainable relationships with communities in need. The Body Shop’s Trade-not-Aide program is one example of this value put into action. As part of this program Anita Roddick traveled to third world countries discovering natural products and creating suppliers out of local villages. The Trade-not-Aide program was a way for both the company and communities to benefit from this socially responsible guideline.

The next value pertains to using environmentally sustainable resources where possible. This includes purchasing supplies based on a system of screening and investigating the ecological qualifications of all products and ingredients. The Body Shop purchases such products as blue corn from the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico and nut oil from the Kayapo Indians in Brazil. These ingredients undergo evaluations and are then used in a wide range of products.

The fourth value states that the Body Shop will promote animal protection throughout its business activities. The company does not test on animals and does not purchase