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Strategic Management
, Sixth Edition
Charles W. L. Hill, University of Washington
Gareth R. Jones, Texas A&M University
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Case Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions for Case 13--the Body Shop International: U.S. operations
- Do you think that Anita Roddick possesses the skills necessary to run a large
organization?
- Anita believes that shareholders should not have more rights than the employees, the
community, and the environment. What do you think is the primary responsibility
of a business organization? Is it to the shareholders, the employees, customers,
or the community? Explain your answer.
- Anita believed that "business should do more than make money, create decent jobs, or sell good
products. Rather, business should help solve major social problems such homelessness,
unemployment, and social alienation." Where do you stand on this issue? Do you think that the only goal of business
is to increase shareholders' value or to solve social problems as well?
- Anita was against advertising claiming that "customers were so overmarketed that they became increasingly cynical about advertising
which told them half truths or untruths." Critique Anita's philosophy showing why you would agree or disagree with it.
- Do you agree with Anita that "to the vast majority of employees, profit is boring and that they did not
care about it even if they get a piece of the action." Provide your reasoning.
- Does the composition of the Body Shop's board of directors constitute a strength or a weakness for the company? Why?
- Evaluate the mission statement of the Body Shop.
- Evaluate the Body Shop's vision statement.
- Evaluate the Body Shop's values statement.
- Evaluate the Body Shop's statement of objectives.
- What grand strategy did the company use? And what was the rationale behind it?
- Why did the Body Shop's grand strategy in the U.S. begin to falter?
- In what way did the Body Shop's failure to understand U.S. consumer behavior contribute to the company's strategic problems?
- If you were an outside member of the company's board of directors, would you recommend ousting Anita and hiring a new
CEO? What are the pros and cons of ousting her?
- If you were selected as the CEO of the company, what strategies and actions
would you take to improve its performance in the U.S?
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