Social Corporate Responsibility In The Lego Company

- They came up with the company name Lego, it comes from the Danish words ’leg and godt’, which together means “play well.” Coincidentally it also means “to put together” in Latin.

LEGO, today, has become a household name but it hasn't always been that successful. Throughout the years, it has survived and thrived against all odds, repeatedly.

Do you know any toy company that has been around since 1891? If you think Legos, you win! Let’s examine the History of Legos up until the present day.

Lego, from the Danish words “leg godt” or play well, was founded by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932 (Herman, 2012). Known for producing iconic studded plastic bricks that were enjoyed by both children and adults, Lego produced more than 30 Lego-based video games and, through licensing agreements, popular Star Wars and Harry Potter Lego sets (Baichtal & Meno, 2011). Lego also sold a series of Arctic sets including an Arctic Base Camp, Arctic Outpost, Arctic Helicrane, Lego Ice Crawler, and Arctic Snowmobile. Those sets sold for $89.99, $49.99, $39.99, $14.99, and $6.99 respectively. Lego’s 2014 film, The Lego Movie, grossed more

LEGO Group was formed by a carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932 in Billund, Denmark. The Word, LEGO was meant to attract kids of various age groups, it is derived from Danish phrase, “leg godt” meaning: “Play well”. Initially LEGO was produced as a wooden brick, with their motto, “Only the best is the best.” The LEGO Brick was produced in 1958 composed of interlocking tubes that offered unlimited building opportunities. The purpose of The LEGO Brick was to inspire creative and controlled problem solving, while adhering to common curiosity using your everyday imagination (Sandgaard Jensen). It was awarded “Toy of the century” by Fortune Magazine, as well as British Association of Toy Retailers. LEGOs was sold in more than 130 countries. A couple major products include: Pre-school products LEGO DUPLO, Play Themes LEGO city line, BIONICLE, and many more Licensed Products built up around movies or books also including a LEGO Education Board game. Market sizes category US, Australia, United Kingdom, New

or so many years our society has been thinking of forming new creative and innovative businesses, which would be more environmental and customer friendly. Nowadays a large number of different companies follow the social, ethical, as well as moral consequences when it comes to their decision making. One of the relatively new concepts involving economic and social concerns is Corporate Social Responsibility. Many of us apply this approach not only at work, but also in everyday life without even recognizing.

the Lego offering the company has a strong association with contemporary IT, design and manufacturing

Through involvement in philanthropic activities it will attribute positively to the company’s image and regard amongst varied publics, it will also have increased respect within the community and a stronger desired brand position (Kotler and Lee, 2005:147). Using Asda to distribute the product, the LEGO Group will be communicating to a large and diverse demographic, this establishing relationships outside their normal target audience, thus leading to “national attention and goodwill for the brand” (Kotler and Lee, 2005:152). According to Peattie (1992) organisations can create competitive advantage by going green. However the LEGO Group do not market their green credentials. On product packaging there is no evidence of any CSR through the use of Eco labelling schemes or stating what recycled materials it is made from( See appendix 4). This could be a key area to communicate, as consumers are now changing their spending habits, feeling they have an active part in solving environmental problems by recycling and choosing eco-friendly products (Rokka & Uusitalo, 2008).It has been highlighted in their CSR Report that they plan to use only FSC certified fibres within packaging, if this is fulfilled it will then allow the usage of the FSC logo on packaging, being a third party assessment it has greater credibility within the consumers mind (D’Souza, 2004)

The Lego Group puts much emphasis on their desire to help children learn and develop essential skills purely through

Companies today are heavily influenced by the demands of customers and stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to the social and environmental responsibility policies and practices developed by an organization to increase its positive influence and reduce its negative activity towards society (Parks, 2008). The business approach and corporate philosophy of an organization is easily altered due to economic pressures, technological improvement and stakeholder needs and demands. "Going green" or being eco-friendly is one such demand. Environmental and sustainability concerns originate most often from governments, consumer activists, and the general public (Schlosser, 2008). Thus, organizations must implement sustainability into daily practices. In addition, sustainability alters the nature of competition and drives companies to think differently about products, processes, and technologies (Parks, 2008).

Firstly, I would like to explain what Corporate Social Responsibility is. “It is a company’s sense of responsibility towards the community and environment (both ecological and

One of their first patents passed in October 1961, three years after the initial filing date was the concept of the Toy Building Brick. “This invention relates to toy building elements and more particularly to toy building bricks or blocks adapted to be connected together by means of projections extending from the faces of the elements and arranged so as to engage protruding portions of an adjacent element when two such elements are assembled- Toy elements of this kind will be referred to generally as building bricks, and the principal object of the invention is to provide improved coupling means for clamping such building bricks together in any desired relative position thus providing for a vast variety' of combinations of the bricks for making toy structures of many different kinds and shapes.” The full patent will not be cited, but a main aspect of this paper is to find out exactly what DOES make sense for Lego, and this here is the perfect example of a positive play on IP and protecting an invention that was created by the company that could not simply be published nor kept a trade secret as it is their main product that they offer to

Corporate Social Responsibility are actions taken by a corporation that have positive and lasting impact for all stakeholders associated with the organization, seeking to strike a balance between profits and helping to establish lasting investment in the community (Carrol, 2015). In the 1980’s, then President Reagan challenged the business community to take on more responsibility to address social problems (Carrol, 2015). Socially responsible actions can benefit local communities as well as the greater societal good.

Lego has many diversified products, but the base of all of them are the plastic Bricks, which actually makes the company successful as the result of the possibility of rebuilt the

Corporate social responsibility is the voluntary stance or set of actions from a corporation that demonstrate a contribution to a better society and a cleaner environment. Corporations are already required to operate within the law, but laws do not always protect all people or individuals who will be affected by the corporation’s actions. In addition to this, it is very common for special interests to play a part in legal decisions through lobbying efforts, so it is assumed to be an additional effort for a corporation to be socially responsible. Being socially responsible essentially comes down to being considerate and calculated in the decision making process, paying attention to the consequence of every action. In the ethical decision making model, there are two particular steps that I believe to be of greater importance than the others. The first would be that of