Introduction: The Business of Beauty
Part I: Beauty Imagined
1: Scent and Paris
2: How do I Look?
3: Cleanliness and Civilization
Part II: Beauty Diffused
4: Beaty Amid War and Depression
5: The Television Age
6: Global Ambitions Meet Local Markets
7: The Uncertain Identity of Beauty
PartIII: Beauty Re-Imagined
8: Challenges from New Quarters
9: Globalization and Tribalization
Conclusion: The Dream Machine
Geoffrey Jones is Isidor Straus Professor of Business History,
Harvard Business School. He previously taught at the universities
of Cambridge and Reading, and at the London School of Economics and
Political Science, in Great Britain. He is the author and editor of
many prize-winning books and articles on the history of
international business, including British Multinational Banking
1830-1990 (OUP, 1993), Merchants to Multinationals (OUP, 2000),
Multinationals and Global Capitalism (OUP, 2005) Renewing Unilever
(OUP, 2005), and The Oxford Handbook of Business History (OUP,
2008). He is a former President of both the European Business
History Association and the
Business History Conference of the Untied States, is co-editor of
the journal Business History Review.
Geoffrey Jones ... intimates in the title of his detailed economic
history of the beauty business, Beauty Imagined , that [beauty] is
created by the collective will of a consumer society. Assessing
beauty as a social construct, Jones takes the late 19th century as
his starting point, when an increase in mass visual dissemination,
particularly the spread of commercial photography, saw ideals of
beauty shift from the personal and private to the communal.
*Nicola Copping, Financial Times*
Beauty Imagined is a pioneering work in its ambition to present a
grounded account of the growth of the global beauty business. Jones
relies on a wide reading of a rather fragmented literature,
supplemented by data from company archives as well as interviews
with entrepreneurs and executives. The volume covers much ground
and is written in a fluent and accessible style.
*Johan Söderberg, Economic History Review*
Both men and women have dressed their hair, painted their faces,
and sought ways to enhance their sexual allure in every time and
place, yet the ways they have done so are infinitely various ...
Given the degree to which beauty is interwoven with cultural
concepts, it might seem impossible to talk of global beauty, but it
is the achievement of this book to show how what was once culture
bound has expanded into a multinational business.
*Kenneth Lipartito, Business History Review*
If you have a passion for beauty then you need to read this book.
True stories about the people behind the most famous brands make
the cosmetic industry come alive as you learn how it has become
such a significant part of our global culture.
*Leslie Blodgett, Executive Chairman of Bare Escentuals and founder
of bareMinerals*
The book is to be admired and its author congratulated for the deft
(and pioneering) fashion in which order is imposed upon such a
recalcitrant subject. For anyone interested in the lineaments,
scope and statistics of the beauty industries this is essential
reading. It teaches us a great deal about the size and comparative
structure of firms and conglomerates as they devour smaller
ventures and then get gobbled up themselves.
*Carol Dyhouse, English Historical Review*
comprehensive and well-illustrated, the product of Jones's
extensive research into historical archives and trade journals, and
his interviews with company executives. getAbstract recommends this
scholarly work as required reading for those in the industry and a
top choice for all business history buffs.
*getAbstract*
A must read for the beauty junkie.
*Julia DiNardo, fashionpulsedaily.com*
a deft, comprehensive history that charts [the beauty industry's]
path from the ancient craft of perfumery to the vast commercial
cornerstone it now is ... Fans of figures and appendices will find
a neat summary of how the beauty business has developed, including
its many mergers, acquisitions, and divestments. Those who simply
love fragrance might be interested to know how Lauder transformed
department store beauty halls, and her own fortunes, with Youth
Dew, a fragrance whose name encapsulates the big promise in a
seductively natural and simple way. The business behind it is
anything but.
*Tasmin Doe, Oldie*
Geoffrey Jones has written a formidable history of the Beauty
Industry that reads like a novel. Beauty Imagined, A History of the
Global Beauty Industry... is poised to become a classic of the
genre. It should be read by anyone involved in the beauty
business.
*Lisa Kaaki, Arab News*
thoroughly researched...Jones offers valuable new knowledge for the
critical eye of a professional business historian. At the same time
the book is a must-read for anyone working in the beauty or fashion
business...deserves to become the standard reference work on the
history of the international beauty industry.
*Ingrid Giertz-Mårtenson, EH.NET*
Although the book is not written as a how-to guide, there are
plenty of lessons for entrepreneurs and industry executives.
*Women's Wear Daily*
Nothing slips away in Jones' book...it's an enormous assembly of
inter-linked stories...all the great cosmetic monsters rampage
through the book
*Veronica Horwell, The Guardian23/02/2010*
This illuminating account of the history of the beauty business, as
well as its current challenges in the face of globalization, offers
unique insights on the drivers of success and failure in an
industry in which branding and marketing are at the heart of
competitive success.
*John A. Quelch, Lincoln Filene Professor of Business
Administration, Harvard Business School*
Geoffrey Jones has distilled a massive amount of evidence from
around the world to produce the intriguing essence of the global
beauty business. This book's incisive analysis of how the industry
grew, and its current challenges and dynamics, makes it essential
reading for people working in beauty today, as well as millions who
delight in using our brands each day.
*Bernd Beetz, Chief Executive, Coty*
Beauty is a sprawling global business, yet Geoffrey Jones has
produced a book broad enough and deep enough to encompass it
compactly and with insight. Beauty Imagined skillfully marshals a
vast array of disparate sources-not just from the usual suspects,
but from high and low, from east and west, from north and south,
and from the present and the past - into a well-honed and
compelling account of the business that one way or another quite
literally touches us all. This book will no doubt be read avidly by
business historians, among whom Jones is preeminent. But it will
also be read far beyond for what it tells us about society, about
business, and about ourselves.
*Paul Duguid, Adjunct Professor, School of Information, University
of California, Berkeley*
The beauty industry has done well by making people look good, and
making them feel good about themselves. Like other corporate
sectors, it has shaped human needs as much as it has responded to
them. This study of enterprise and global reach also sheds light on
the inner self and its interaction with others. It is a great
achievement.
*Avner Offer, Chichele Professor of Economic History, University of
Oxford, author of The Challenge of Affluence*
offers some interesting insights into the realm of consumers and
beauty
*Daphne Kasriel-Alexander, Skin inc*
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