1. Has Anita Roddick betrayed her philosophy about advertising by beginning to advertise in U.S. markets? Does this decision have ethical implications? Or is it just a business decision?
2. Would you invest in The Body Shop in North America? Why or why not?
3. Will the Body Shop’s social auditing program save the firm’s reputation? Has the firm “snapped back” from the damage done to its reputation in the mid-1990s?
4. Do the low buyback prices offered to U.S. franchisees reflect poor Body Shop ethics or just the economic reality of risky investments?
5. At the end of these cases, what is your impression of Anita Roddick? Comment on her strengths and weaknesses and a businessperson and a leader. Was the sale of the company to L’Oréal an indication that Roddick’s philosophy had finally failed?
6. What will be the likely longer-term impact on The Body Shop’s values and priorities under the leadership of L’Oréal and upon Anita Roddick’s death? Would it be in L’Oréal’s best interests to leave the company alone and let it go in the direction Anita had provided it, or should it be brought more into the mainstream of the company?

By 1998, The Body Shop International had grown into a multinational enterprise with almost sixteen hundred stores and five thousand employees in 47 countries. That year, after several years of lackluster financial performance, Anita Roddick gave the company’s CEO post to a professional manager and became executive cochairman with her husband, Gordon. Anita maintained that job titles were meaningless anyway.
Despite the change, the company’s financial performance between 1995 and 1997 continued to be unimpressive: worldwide sales revenue and operating profits grew from $303 million and $21 million in 1995 to $377 million and $19 million, respectively, in 1997.