Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences

- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences


Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Economic Management and Green Development

Series Vol. 30 , 10 November 2023


Open Access | Article

Research on the Optimization Path of Eco-leadership Based on the Beauty Industry

Shirui Yan * 1
1 University of Edinburgh

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences, Vol. 30, 65-73
Published 10 November 2023. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by EWA Publishing
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Citation Shirui Yan. Research on the Optimization Path of Eco-leadership Based on the Beauty Industry. AEMPS (2023) Vol. 30: 65-73. DOI: 10.54254/2754-1169/30/20231427.

Abstract

People's aesthetics and tastes have changed with the progress of time and culture. People are constantly influenced by new things, technologies, and ideas, and the pursuit of beauty has increased. However, the beauty industry is currently facing natural resource and ethical dilemmas. Eco-leadership, focusing on environmental and social sustainability, can solve the current dilemmas and help maximize corporate benefits. This paper contributes to the application of eco-leadership in the beauty industry. The case study approach is used to analyze the application of eco-leadership in some leading beauty companies: the body shop, L' Occitane, Natura & Co, and KIKO. These companies are highly recognizable brands in the beauty industry, have a considerable market share, and their products lead to consumer buying behaviour. It is concluded that the beauty industry requires brand leaders to invest in environmental sustainability and social contribution. The strategies related to eco-leadership are suggested to mainly focus on animal testing, recyclability and availability of packaging, energy, and water management, and research into eco-technology.

Keywords

eco-leadership, beauty industry, environment, social, sustainability

References

1. Kruse, K. What Is Leadership? Forbes,2013.

2. Guastello, S.J. How leaders emerge. American Psychologist, 2007, 62(6): 606–607.

3. DiTomaso, N., & Hooijberg, R. Diversity and leadership demands. The Leadership Quarterly, 1996, 7(2), 163-187.

4. Avolio, B. J., Walumbwa, F. O., & Weber, T. J. Leadership: Current theories, research, and Future Directions. Annual Review of Psychology, 2009, 60(1), 421–449.

5. Western, S. Leadership: A critical text. SAGE PUBLICATIONS. 2019.

6. Redekop, B. W., & Western, S. Eco-leadership: Toward developing a new paradigm. In Leadership for Environmental Sustainability, 2010, 36–54.

7. Axworthy, L. Human security and global governance: Putting people first. Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, 2001, 7(1), 19–23.

8. Chandra Pal, K. Environmental pain with human beauty. Cognitive Data Models for Sustainable Environment, 2022, 231–252.

9. Malkan, S. Not just a pretty face: The ugly side of the Beauty Industry. Langara College. 2017.

10. Park, B.-W. The effects of corporate citizenship behaviour and ethical corporate attitude on consumers' ethical consumption and purchase intention in the foodservice industry. International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 2017, 31(6), 219–234.

11. Crowe, S., Cresswell, K., Robertson, A., Huby, G., Avery, A., & Sheikh, A. The case study approach. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2011, 11(1).

12. Keen, J., & Packwood, T. Qualitative research: Case study evaluation. BMJ, 1995, 311(7002), 444–446.

13. Welch, C., Piekkari, R., Plakoyiannaki, E., & Paavilainen-Mäntymäki, E. Theorising from case studies: Towards a pluralist future for International Business Research. Research Methods in International Business, 2019, 171–220.

14. Freidberg, S. Cleaning up down south: Supermarkets, Ethical Trade and African horticulture. Social & Cultural Geography, 2003, 4(1), 27-43.

15. The Body Shop. The Body Shop, n.d.

16. Proctor, H. Animal sentience: Where are we and where are we heading? Animals, (2012), 2(4), 628-639.

17. Humane Society International Australia. Animals in cosmetics testing. 2021.

18. AKHTAR, A. The Flaws and Human Harms of Animal Experimentation. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 2015, 24(4), 407-419.

19. King, A., 36% of women prefer to purchase cruelty-free beauty. 2018.

20. Norton, S. The Body Shop's bid for a cruelty-free world. 2020.

21. Cruelty-Free International. Cruelty-Free International homepage. 2023.

22. The Body Shop. Forever against animal testing: Cruelty-free: The body shop®, n.d.

23. Newsroom, E. The Body Shop is Exploring 'backup plans' to help reach energy targets. 2018, June 20.

24. Newsroom, E. The body shop owner unveils 2030 net-zero commitment. 2020.

25. Haas, P. M. Introduction: Epistemic communities and international policy coordination. International Organization, 1992. 46(1), 1-35.

26. L’Occitane. Our best-selling beauty products & Fragrances | L'Occitane UK, n.d.

27. L’Occitane. Sustainability: L'OCCITANE, n.d.

28. Natura &Co. Natura &Co. 2022, n.d.

29. Nature & Co. Amazonia is the way to our future. 2021.

30. KIKO Career. Why Kiko, n.d.

31. The Body Shop. Social Media Guidelines: The body shop, n.d.

32. Borchorst, A., & Siim, B. Woman-friendly policies and state feminism. Feminist Theory, 2008, 9(2), 207-224.

33. Statista Research Department. Share of beauty E-shoppers by gender 2022. 2022.

34. The Body Shop. Our history of activism: The body shop, n.d.

Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.

2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.

3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open Access Instruction).

Volume Title
Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Economic Management and Green Development
ISBN (Print)
978-1-83558-081-3
ISBN (Online)
978-1-83558-082-0
Published Date
10 November 2023
Series
Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences
ISSN (Print)
2754-1169
ISSN (Online)
2754-1177
DOI
10.54254/2754-1169/30/20231427
Copyright
10 November 2023
Open Access
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Copyright © 2023 EWA Publishing. Unless Otherwise Stated