- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Thorsons; 1st edition (18 Sep 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0722539878
- ISBN-13: 978-0722539873
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.5 x 4.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 303,134 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Funky Business paved the way; "Traditional roles, jobs, skills, ways of doing things, insights, strategies, aspirations, fears and expectations no longer count. In this environment we cannot have business as usual. We need business as unusual." And here it is, though a guided tour through the past decade at the Body Shop is probably not what the Swedes had in mind.
Since its inception in 1976, the Body Shop has pioneered socially responsive business practices and challenged the nature of the cosmetics industry. Success transformed it into a household name and by 1987, Anita Roddick had accepted the Confederation of British Industry's award for Company of the Year. Naturally, that's when things got tricky--in consultant-speak, the Body Shop reached adolescence. Business as Unusual gives the impression that throughout the 90s, just about everything that could go wrong did. Organisationally, the enterprise had spiralled into a complex and inefficient mess--"a lego set from Hell" in Roddick's words--with a bottom line under pressure from competition happy to mimic the packaging and ethos for their own cut-price ethical chic. Most damaging of all was the spate of negative press the Body Shop received during the mid-90s from commentators queuing up to question their values and practices. By the end of the decade, redundancies and change were high on the corporate agenda as the Body Shop restructured (with "kindness") in an attempt to reinvent the brand for the new millennium.
It all makes for an engrossing business history, but Business as Unusual is not just about the Body Shop. It also serves as a checklist to the major causes and campaigns of the 90s. Much of it is self-evident--"no company can afford to waste valuable brain power simply because it's wearing a bra;" the planet is precious; greed is bad--and the worthiness does occasionally grate, but elsewhere the Body Shop's activism stands out as a shining example of the good that can be achieved through orchestrated pressure. With her unique brand of pumice-stone politics, Anita Roddick has done the unusual and shown that success does not have to come at the expense of a conscience.
Business as Unusual has its faults but it makes a thought-provoking read and shows that Anita Roddick has lost none of her passion for change. Her ethics may stink, but it's of peppermint, tangerine and cocoa butter. --Iain Campbell
Review
“Most CEOs aren’t fit to lick peppermint lotion off Anita’s feet.”
The Observer
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It is rare to find someone who speaks and writes with such guts and gusto. Business as Unusual is a unique look through the eyes of a women who started her business filling her own bottles and painting the shop green to cover up mould. See the business world though the eyes of a well travelled, articulate woman, who have strove to put a conscious back into the business world. See Anita's beliefs come to life on page with passion for all things human and the protection of humans rights across the world. Anita has met so many interesting people who you will learn about on the page and strived to change how we look at the world, to become enviornmentally responsible throughout our everyday lives.
A brilliant book, you will not be able to put it down, lets hope it will encourage others to have such passion about others lives as Anita seems to in this book.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
History is told by the victorious, never the vanquished. The story of The Body Shop, as told by its founder in ÔBody and SoulÕ and now in ÔBusiness as UnusualÕ, needs to be seen in this light. But itÕs about time somebody wrote the book from the inside out. WhatÕs it like to work with Anita? How much is hype and how much reality? Did she and her Body Shop army really believe all that ethical stuff about caring business, or was it a marketing con? Come on, be honest! Well, I can be honest. I was a member of that army. In my case, I ran The Body Shop Foundation and ghost-wrote AnitaÕs hard-driving, campaigning message in countless national newspaper articles. I even remember working on the layout for this book before I left. But, along with many colleagues - all of whom have now left and are consigned in ÔBusiness As UnusualÕ as nameless Ôpassers throughÕ Ð I am a veteran of the battles of the Dispatches court case, the Ôcorporate stalkerÕ, animal testing, Shell and Nigeria and countless other skirmishes. Sure, recount this history with the creativity, the fun, the camaderie, commitment, purpose and sheer bravery, but donÕt claim theyÕre all the story. There are so many untold stories.
I can tell you now that, worth reading though this book is, it reveals only the public Anita and very little of the personal. Maybe sheÕs saving that for the third part ten years hence? I know Anita as a more rounded person than this book portrays. IÕve observed the cycles of favouritism followed by exile, the toleration of obnoxious behaviour by power-crazed managers who could do no wrong, the ever-present troupe of useless, charming, overpaid, male hangers-on, the way all leavers were treated worse than traitors during their notice periods. THAT side of Anita.
But yes, we believed the bigger message. We believed in it. The passion was genuine. We really felt we could change the world. And we did. Nobody who has ever worked closely with Anita is ever likely to forget what we achieved together. ThatÕs why itÕs all the more galling Ð even for we Ôpassers throughÕ Ð to see the Ôvigilante consumerÕ concept so traduced in this country over the past few years. As petrol shows, the crusade is not for greener products but cheaper products, and to hell with the environment. WhereÕs the ethical consumer in that? ... Today, Mori publishes a poll suggesting we are a nation of consumers who leave our consciences at home when we head for the high street. More than ever weÕre living in a hypocritical, materialistic country run by a rabid, anti-social right wing press that interprets any sign of social progress negatively. More than ever is there a need for a voice like AnitaÕs. Faced with the unpalatable likes of William Hague and the back-tracking, pusillanimous conservatism of Tony Blair, some of the advances we all made under Anita now seem like so much of a dream in time. Has all the environmental and human rights campaigning undertaken and championed by The Body Shop come to stand for nothing? No. After all, according to MoriÕs poll, 18% of us are conscientious consumers who shop ethically if we can Ð thatÕs good news, isnÕt it!.
IÕll conclude. ItÕs very odd that those of us who knew the ÔcompleteÕ Anita have never chosen to go public on it. Perhaps thatÕs because we all believed and continue to believe in the greater goal of what she stood for through The Body Shop Ð a positive life-changing experience for many of us. But thatÕs history. And ÔBusiness As UnusualÕ is herstory. Whatever, warts ÕnÕ all, Long Live The Body Shop Ð a great public experiment that this country did not deserve.
Format:Hardcover
Very helpful account of the pros and cons of setting up a business. What can go wrong and what can go right. Anita Roddick's account of the journey of the Body Shop is an honest and passionate tale of her dreams and her ambitions. She was a woman of spirit who stood up for what she believed in, even if all were against her. A must read for any budding entrepreneurs.
I bought this book second hand and when it arrived it was a signed copy. So I take that as a message from beyond the grave. Thanks Anita!!!
I highly reccommend this book.
I bought this book second hand and when it arrived it was a signed copy. So I take that as a message from beyond the grave. Thanks Anita!!!
I highly reccommend this book.
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