Business as Unusual: The Triumph of Anita Roddick

Anita Roddick is one of the world’s most outspoken, controversial and successful businesswomen. Business as Unusual turns the tables on the way society looks at business and forges a move toward greater corporate responsibility and accountability.

“In terms of power and influence, you can forget the church, forget politics. There is no more powerful institution in society than business, which is why I believe it is now more important than ever before for business to assume a moral leadership. The business of business should not be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed." Anita Roddick

Business as Unusual charts the progress of Anita Roddick and her company The Body Shop through the last decade. It also looks at the parallel growth of vigilante consumerism and predicts how businesses can evolve in the new Millennium.

Ranging from personal issues – such as self-esteem – to wider political issues like the human rights abuses associated with globalisation, Roddick offers her own vision for dealing with the demands of ethical business. Roddick believes we should never underestimate the power of public pressure to create change, from the boycott of Shell in 1995 to the battle of Seattle at the World Trade Organisation Conference in late 1999.

Roddick argues that waves of public consciousness are steadily forcing corporations to re-evaluate their actions. By expanding the concept of the entrepreneur and the language of business and business ethics, we can compel the corporate world to change.

She talks openly about :
• The ‘greed culture’ of the 90s
• The Body Shop vs. Shell
• Trade Not Aid: Pleasures and pitfalls of trading with indigenous communities
• Taking on the US – The Body Shop in the states
• Creating community both within and outside the workplace
• How to campaign for human rights in the business environment
• Women and business