Mark Constantine: The Willy Wonka of the Beauty Industry
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Case Details:
Case Code : LDEN046
Case Length : 24 Pages
Period : 2002-2006
Pub Date : 2007
Teaching Note : Available
Organization : Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics
Industry : Beauty care / Cosmetics
Countries : UK, Europe, USA
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Please note:
This case study was compiled from published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. Nor is it a primary information source.
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"We're far more challenged by our customers than we ever
are by our competitors."1
- Mark Constantine, Managing Director and Co-founder,
Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, in 2005.
"Constantine's learned the hard way what works, and what
doesn't. He's been in the cosmetics industry for years, and was instrumental in
making The Body Shop such a success in the 1980s."2
- Charles Orton-Jones, Deputy Editor of Real Business,3
in 2005.
"... whether he knows it or not, Constantine
has stumbled upon a solution to what Harvard professor Clayton
Christensen famously called the "innovator's dilemma," in which
companies become so devoted to their successes that they over-look
disruptive innovations: He's doing the disrupting himself.
Otherwise, he might miss the next hot thing that the invariably
fickle cosmetics customer craves."4
- Lucas Conley of Fast Company,5
in 2005.
Constantine and the Cosmetic Factory
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In October 2006, Mark Constantine (Constantine), the co-founder of Lush Fresh
Handmade Cosmetics (Lush), a UK-based producer and marketer of ethical beauty
products, received the "Trail-blazer" award from the People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals (PETA)6 Europe for
the contribution made by Lush toward environment- and animal-friendly products
and for the company's campaigns against animal testing.7
Constantine was one of the pioneers who championed the cause against animal
testing in the cosmetics and beauty care industry. He is also admired as an
innovative entrepreneur, with Lush having more than 400 stores worldwide.
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In the 1970s, Constantine started his first venture Constantine and Weir Plc.
(C&W), which produced and supplied bath and beauty products to a number of
retailers. It grew to become the primary supplier of beauty products to The
Body Shop International Plc.8 (Body
Shop).
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In the early 1990s, Body Shop bought out the rights to Constantine's
formulas as it wanted to shift production in-house and expand the supplier
base. Constantine invested the proceeds of the sale in a new venture
Cosmetics to Go (CTG), a mail order catalogue of beauty products. However,
this venture was a failure.
In 1994, when CTG went bankrupt, Constantine and
his team started selling handmade cosmetics at car boot sales. The team
experimented with products such as fruits and vegetables that were rarely
used in the manufacture of cosmetics at that time. The products were sold
fresh with an expiry date. |
Mark Constantine: The Willy Wonka of the Beauty Industry
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