ALQVIMIA

“Mens sana in corpore sano”

Monday 6 June 2016, by Agata

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A. The main facts about the activities of the company.

Alqvimia was conceived 31 years ago in La Garrotxa (Gerona) by Idili Lizcano a perfumer and expert in aromatherapy who’s passionate about yoga and meditation and who feels a strong attachment to plants and flowers.
The company is now a reference in terms of high natural cosmetics. With 100% natural and ecological products they have innovated in the revolutionary beauty sector to offer products that connect body, mind and spirit.
“Mens sana in corpore sano” is their philosophy; they want to teach through their products how to balance a healthy body and a beautiful young soul in peace. In 1991 the international expansion of the company began, in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy markets.
Currently Alqvimia is present in over 20 countries worldwide and their treatments and rituals can be found in the best hotels and spas of Spain and the world.
Alqvimia is the union of mystical knowledge with experimental scientific method. Science and spirituality go together for the company, and they believe it to be the new paradigm that will succeed in the twenty-first century.

B. The Ethical challenges this company is addressing.

The amount of ethical challenges Alqvimia is addressing is what makes them an inspiring responsible corporation pioneer in the natural cosmetics industry.
From the very beginning, the main ethical challenge Alqvimia is facing is to create 100% natural cosmetics under the values of producing without polluting, using recyclable materials and respecting humanity when manufacturing their products.
They believe in a balance between health, body and the world itself and therefore, fight against the daily chemical exposure of cosmetic products in the skin, creating effective and preventive cosmetics for the health of your body using natural plants and oils.
In addition to this, they constantly contribute to ethical practices enhancing the human scale economy. Some of their most recent approaches are to use 100% renewable and sustainable energy sources and to fight for female leadership in business.

C. What makes you believe this company is really ethical and why you trust it?

In 2004 Greenpeace gave to Alqvimia the Green Label for their natural quality and authenticity of products. The company fights against superficial beauty and as we have said they believe that body, health and the world life itself is connected. The company profoundly believes in this connection and that is why they want to take care of it, they have firm ethical values that can be reflected in their policies with employees and the importance they give to natural organic products that have a positive impact in the environment.
A good example that illustrates how the company implements its ethical values is in their employees’ policy. Aqvimia employees’ work from 8 am to 3 pm from Monday to Friday, an intensive timetable of seven hours per day that allows them to enjoy their hobbies, family and social life in the afternoon. Besides that the company salaries’ are 30% higher than the industry average, showing that workers happiness is directly correlated with their efficiency at work, as Alqvimia has been growing every year having more profits than its competitors.
Another anecdote that can help us to understand better Alqvimia philosophy is how through meditation they completely changed the character of their meetings. Every Monday morning the company has a general meeting with all the major departments, and as in many companies some departments like marketing and commercial can’t easily arrive to an agreement as one wants quality and the other good prices. The meetings were long, tedious and not always ended with satisfactory results. That is why Idili Lizcano decided to try to do a one hour meditation with his employees before every major meeting, and it worked. Meditation promotes active listening among workers and puts them in the right state of mind to listen to others ideas rather than impose their own. Now meetings that were taken 2 hours can be done in 20 minutes with better results.

D.The possible challenges facing the company in the future and how you think this company may improve.

In 2003, the company opened shops in Barcelona, Madrid and Gerona. The challenges they maybe will have to face are to expand the Brand all over the world without changing the philosophy and the business line. It is important to mark that the economical situation it is not the best, and it’s a challenge to become bigger in ta serious crisis. That means they had managed to elevate the brand and its products to the concept of cosmetic jewelry, currently considered as a luxury product for its quality and effectiveness.
What company should do to improve is to create a line more accessible for everybody and not as Premium as now (the concept we said before). It’s important that not only “Premium” people believe in 100% natural and ecological products and that’s why people with not a high economical acquisition can’t Access to these kind of products.
Another way to improve is to something that goes correlated with the challenge that is to open more physical stores, which would make the brand more well-known through people as they are used to sell more online and to companies rather than individuals, whom we think is an interesting target too.

Bibliography

http://www.economiadigital.es/es/notices/2013/04/alqvimia_logra_lo_imposible_empresa_feliz_y_sin_deudas_40707.php
http://www.mundobelleza.com/Biografias/Idili_Lizcano/Lizcano.htm

Location: Tortellà (Girona) (Spain)

Sector: Professional, scientific and technical activities, Other service activities

Official website: https://alqvimia.com/es/en/

Key figures:

Annual Revenue: 4.2 millions euros
Number of Employees: 34
Countries of operations: 22 countries
Exportations: 60% of their products

Nbr. visits: 972