Uses the cosmetics company The Body Shop as an example of management that considers the company's effects on such stakeholders as its employees, clients, the surrounding community, regulators, and the media
David Wheeler is a senior executive at the Body Shop International and a Visiting Professor at Kingston University. He is a Research Director with the New Academy of business. He is best known for his work in environmental policy and corporate social responsibility.
Professor Wheeler started his career in the water industry where he specialized in bathing water pollution control. Later, as an academic based at the Robens Institute of the University of Surrey he became a frequent consultant to the World Health Organization, the UK Overseas Development Administration and a wide variety of development agencies working in development projects in Africa and Latin America.
In his five years with The Body Shop, David Wheeler has overseen the publication of a number of independently verified audits of the company's social and environmental performance. Throughout his career, he has published papers and articles in a wide variety of medical, academic and popular journals.
Since 1983 Maria Sillanpää has been responsible for the implementation of social auditing within The Body Shop Group and now manages a team of auditors responsible for the production of The Body Shop's public statements on the company's environmental, animal protection and social issues.
She started her career as an academic at Tampere University, Finland, where she initiated a program of business ethics teaching as part of the Business School curriculum in 1990.
Her previous academic work and publications have focused on the linkages between social responsibility and corporate strategic thinking as well as social auditing. Her current research interests focus on the linkages between the theories of learning organizations, complexity, and a dialogue-based approach to business ethics.
Maria Sillanpaa is a member of the Steering Committee of the Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability.
