The Sunday Times Online (UK) reports on an obscene business practice within a seamy industry:

For the past 15 years David Smith, a builders’ merchant, has been killing healthy greyhounds no longer considered by their trainers to be fast enough to race. He buries them in a one-acre plot at the back of his home in Seaham, Co Durham. Last week The Sunday Times covertly filmed Smith on two consecutive days receiving greyhounds from trainers before killing them with a bolt gun, dumping them in the plot and covering over the “graves” using a mechanical digger.

Continue reading "Grave Concerns" »

Posted by Starling Hunter at 6:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For the most ardent and dedicated animal rights activists, yesterday's news that The Body Shop was agreeing to be bought out by the French cosmetic giant, L'Oreal must seem like the deepest of betrayals. Their swift reaction is, then, not entirely surprising:

Animal welfare activists have called for a boycott of the Body Shop after its founder Anita Roddick and fellow shareholders sold out to French cosmetics giant L'Oreal for £652m. The boycott was called by Naturewatch and backed by Uncaged. The animal welfare groups oppose L'Oreal's policy on the testing of cosmetics ingredients on animals.

Even though co-founder Anita Roddick stepped from management of the company some years ago, the Body Shop was still viewed by many as a beacon of social responsibility, a positively and proactively moral company in an industry reviled for business practices that abused both animals and its customers self-image. No longer, it seems.

Continue reading "When Animal Rights Activists Attack" »

Posted by Starling Hunter at 7:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The first course I ever taught in strategic mangement included a Harvard Business School case about a firm known as "The Body Shop" and its co-founder, the very charismatic Anita Roddick. Almost every strategy course I have ever taught in the last seven years has included this case. This year I gave the case to my three classes here at American University of Sharjah for the first midterm. Per the usual, the case was a great deal of fun to discuss with the students. The case is so richly detailed and so amenable to being understood from so many perspectives that it never fails to produce both strong opinions and humorous responses.

So what to make then of today's news that The Body Shop is allowing itself to be bought for $1.1 Billion by cosmetics giant, L'Oreal.

Body Shop International PLC, the British retailer which promotes natural-based cosmetics, said on Friday that it has agreed to be taken over by L'Oreal of France in a USD 1.14 billion cash deal.

Body Shop will retain a separate identity and its current management, the companies said.

Body Shop was founded 30 years ago in Brighton, England, by Anita and Gordon Roddick. They stepped down from managing the company in 2002, but retain an 18 per cent stake and have remained as non-executive directors.

L'Oreal paid USD 5.25 per share for Body Shop, a premium of 34.2 per cent over the share price on February 21, the day before takeover speculation appeared in the media.

"A partnership between our companies makes perfect sense. Combining L'Oreal's expertise and knowledge of international markets with The Body Shop's distinct culture and values will benefit both companies," said Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, chairman and CEO of L'Oreal.

Anita is taking great pains to tell people that this deal does not constitute a sell-out of all the principles The Body Shop once held dear:

Continue reading "Where Will They Bury The Body (Shop)?" »

Posted by Starling Hunter at 7:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)