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The paper presents a benchmarking analysis that investigates the efficiency gap in relation to spot welding robots in automotive body shops at foreign and domestic companies in North America. The main purpose of this paper is to determine body shop efficiency improvement opportunities for the domestic companies or the Big Three, therefore reducing the competitive gap and improving business performance.

The following paper is an extension of an earlier dissertation study conducted by EL-Khalil that focused on improving body shop overall efficiency. The Harbour Report was utilized to determine the best in class facilities that must be visited for benchmarking purposes. The data and information presented were obtained from the facilities visited through observations and interviews. The research utilized the corresponding facilities' labs in order to perform measurements and inspect product welding efficiency. The data obtained were a result of a two-year benchmarking study.

The inspection results of spot welds applied on the door flange do not justify the utilization of additional spot welding arm designs and/or robots for the domestic companies. The data presented provide a good opportunity for improving business performance at the body shop Big Three facilities. In order to reduce the current competitive gap, decrease cost, and improve utilization, the Big Three must adopt new strategies (i.e. communization of specific vehicles parts).

The benchmarking study was limited to the aperture area. Researchers are encouraged to test the propositions further on different types of vehicles and different areas of the vehicle body.

Based on the actual findings, this paper presents a case that impacts the improvements of the body shop overall performance in relation to reducing the number of spot welding arm and robot designs at the automotive industry in North America.

The presented gap analysis on body shop spot welding efficiency for automotive companies in North America was not conducted previously. Therefore, the data can be utilized as a benchmark target to drive improvements at the domestic automotive body shops.

To demonstrate how a company's retail store design relates to its brand and is influenced by, and contributes to, its corporate values.

The case study briefly summarises the significance of corporate values, branding and design in the retail industry, and subsequently explores The Body Shop's application of these elements to its business. The case study is contextualised by The Body Shop's retail environment forming a particularly important communication channel for the company.

The Body Shop has in many ways been the victim of its own success. Being a unique proposition, and having effectively created its own retail category, it has appeared slow to evolve its brand identity. The strong association between the company and its campaigning founder, increasing competition and changing consumer attitudes, have been significant factors in the company's struggle to re‐align and update its brand.

The case study largely draws on secondary sources. However, it is informed by one of the authors' experience and knowledge of The Body Shop's design process, which has previously remained unpublished.

The problems of planning and managing store design as a communications channel are highlighted. In particular, it demonstrates the difficulties in aligning a retailer's visual identity with its brand and market.

The case study examines the under‐researched relationship between retail branding and design, and contributes to knowledge of the problems created over time by strongly held ethical values, for both branding and design.

The purpose of this article is to explore the pollution prevention practices performed by workers in the Mexican auto refinishing industry as well as their implications on the occupational, safety and environmental health of workers and community.

Interviewer‐administered questionnaires were conducted with shop owners, workers, and neighbors, and repeated site visits to collect information on occupational practices (personal protective equipment (PPE) in use, engineering controls, hazard communication, level of technology), environmental impact (chemicals usage, wastes amounts, disposal, supply chain, impact to the neighborhood), and possible symptoms of work‐related adverse health effects.

The findings indicate that the Mexican auto body shop industry is not consistent with the accepted precepts of sustainability because it is not addressing the underlying topics of health, safety, and environment. When comparing working conditions between auto body workers in developed countries and those in Mexico, it is evident that Mexican workers perform their tasks under critical conditions; therefore, under considerable occupational and environmental risks.

This article reveals five P2 opportunities that seem to have a potential relevance to the development of prevention and intervention strategies in the region to secure long‐term economic growth while improving environmental and working conditions.

This article provides the first insights about several opportunities for adopting pollution prevention strategies that improve environmental and occupational conditions in the auto refinishing industry in developing countries.

At the beginning of January this year, The Body Shop's Training School opened its doors. Andrew Ede spoke to Pauline Lalor, the manager of the school, about The Body Shop, training, franchising, and Pauline Lalor.

Jaguar Cars has invested millions of dollars in two new facilities – a press shop and a body‐in‐white shop – to produce aluminium bodies for the next generation XJ luxury passenger car.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether clothing benefits sought (CBS) affected fit preferences, satisfaction with the fit of ready‐to‐wear, label style preferences, and shopping behaviors of US women.

Written questionnaires were completed to determine the relationship between the CBS paradigm and the fit and shopping variables examined in the study. A larger study from which these findings are drawn involved behaviors related specifically to pants.

Responses on questionnaires from 150 women indicated four CBS factors: Fashion Forward, Sexy, Reputation, and Individualist. Study participants who desired Fashion Forward benefits preferred to shop in specialty stores and a tighter fit. Participants who sought Sexy benefits spent the most money on average, for a new pair of pants, preferred a tighter fit, clothing sized by waist dimension, and shopping in specialty stores. Participants who desired Reputation benefits from clothing shopped in specialty stores. Respondents who sought the Individualist benefits were more likely to shop via catalog/internet.

Data were obtained from a convenience sample of women in a metropolitan area of the USA, thus generalization of results is limited.

In an overstored, highly competitive retail environment, the CBS paradigm will be useful in targeting product and product delivery. The findings indicate, however, that women who seek different benefits from their clothing do shop differently.

Results of the study will help one to better define markets according to an intuitively useful psychographic variable for which there has been limited research.

Critics maintain that for profit, business corporations should be more “responsible,” that they should take account of all constituencies affected by their operations and should even assume responsibility for broader societal problems which they may only impact tangentially. Defenders of a narrower set corporate goals and constituent interests argue that corporations should be concerned exclusively with maximizing the profits they can earn for shareholders within the law. This controversy regarding corporate goals and stakeholder interests has spanned most of the twentieth century.

On 10 September 2007 the world was stunned by the news that Anita Roddick – the founder of The Body Shop – was dead at the age of 64. Everyone recognizes the success of The Body Shop, but it is not easily explained using traditional strategic thinking. This paper aims to shed new light on Anita Roddick's entrepreneurial and managerial flair, as well as on her legacy to the field of management.

Configuration as a quality is an intriguing and intuitively appealing new idea. The main innovation is the premise that organizational elements form common gestalts such that each can be best understood in relation to the other elements in the configuration. This paper probed the conceptual notion of configuration as a quality in an empirical sense by revisiting one of the classic Harvard Business School (HBS) case studies: The Body Shop International.

The paper shows The Body Shop as a good example of a comprehensive configuration that allows immediate intuitive apprehension of the new idea of configuration as a quality.

The main issue is the limited depth of analysis that has been achieved through the single HBS case as the main source of evidence. As such, although the propositions put forward seem highly plausible, the supplementary explanation still remains incomplete, opening opportunities for further research.

Re‐visiting classic case studies such as the HBS Body Shop International can stimulate the debate and fuel the process of theory building through the amalgamation of diversified old and new perspectives of the same phenomenon.

Calls into question the widespread, and seemingly inevitable, globalization of Western business practices into every corner of the planet. Challenges the assumption that host countries will necessarily benefit from globalization. Stimulates critical thinking and reflection about globalization′s origins, cultural sensitivity, fairness, sources of power and future impact on the wellbeing of our planet. Employs a variation of “deconstruction” and notions of post‐modernism to engender an emancipatory anti‐globalization praxis for teaching and consulting. Offers some preliminary contours of a postmodern anti‐globalization discourse employing examples from The Body Shop International plc.

The current economic crisis increased the demand on management to improve process efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to identify and resolve inefficiencies within the car assembly system utilizing discrete simulation modeling and analysis in order to improve productivity at one of the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) body shops in North America.

This research was driven by a manager’s recommendation from one of the Big Three (GM, Ford, Chrysler LLC) companies in order to improve operational performance. The data utilized in creating the simulation model was obtained from one of the assembly facilities that produce three different vehicles over a period of one year. All model simulation, inputs and outputs were discussed and agreed upon by facility management.

The established base model was verified and validated to mimic the actual facility outputs indicating all process bottlenecks. Two model scenarios were considered: the first scenario focussed on the top bottleneck processes flexibility with a ROI of 497 percent, while the second considered changing the model mix percentage leading to a cost improvement of $1.6 million/annually.

The model only considered management decision on buffer sizes, batch size and the top bottleneck station alternatives to make improvements. Simulating improvements in labor efficiency, robots uptime, scrap root cause, and maintenance response to downtime where not considered.

This paper indicated the importance of discrete simulation modeling in providing alternatives for improving process efficiency under certain financial limitations. Given the similarity of the automotive manufacturing processes among the various companies, the findings for this particular facility remain valid for other facilities.

Investment cost and process improvement are currently the two biggest challenges facing operations managers in the manufacturing industry. This study allows managers to gain a broader perspective on discrete simulation ability to simulate complicated systems and present different process improvement alternatives.