The LEGO Company

Executive Summary
This documentation report is prepared, provided with analysis of the corporate social
responsibility and sustainability development of the LEGO Company. Being a world leading toy
manufacturing company; the LEGO Company can be considered to be an exemplary in the
context of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as well as sustainability development. This
document includes an overview of the company with highlighted analysis of the company
background and history, the objectives of the company to a sustainability program and also the
CSR strategies implemented. In depth analysis on the success and challenges faced during the
implementation of the strategies are conducted in the following report. Last but not least, the
improvements and recommended strategies for a better business sustainability program can be
viewed in the latter section of the document.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.................................................................................................... 1
Introduction................................................................................................................ 3
Mission Statement................................................................................................... 3
Vision Statement..................................................................................................... 3
Objectives of the Sustainability Program....................................................................4
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategies....................................................4
Success and Challenges of the Sustainability Initiatives............................................5
Children Rights and Support.................................................................................... 5
Education................................................................................................................ 5
Community Well-Being............................................................................................ 6
Community Engagement......................................................................................... 8
Environment............................................................................................................ 8
Improvement of the Business Sustainability Program..............................................12
Employees............................................................................................................. 12
Building an Organization with more Female Leaders.............................................13
Environmental Leadership..................................................................................... 14
CSR Model................................................................................................................ 15
The Triple Bottom Line Model................................................................................ 15
Conclusion................................................................................................................ 16
References................................................................................................................ 17

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Introduction
Ole Kirk Kristiansen, a carpenter, who was the founder of LEGO in year 1932. The LEGO
Company started off with wooden toys which very much succeed in the market (Tine F. M.,
2014); later, Ole Kirk Kristiansen bought an injection-molding machine and started to create
plastic toys, Automatic Binding Bricks, forerunner to the LEGO bricks of today (Ransom R.,
2008). In 1958, the LEGO brick finally came to life but unfortunately, founder Ole Kirk
Kristiansen never lived to see his companys heyday. Now, after 8 decades of time wash, the
LEGO Company is now owned by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the grandchild of the founder. The
name LEGO is an abbreviation of two Danish words leg godt which means play well, LEGO
had kept it as a name, mindset and an ideal. From having just 10 employees in the 1939 till now
being the worlds leading toy maker.

Mission Statement
The LEGO Company has the mission to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow (Martin V.,
2012). This mission clearly shows that LEGO has the will to inspire creativity and systematic
reasoning skills light up the sub-conscious potential that are in the childrens mind, shaping their
future and endures the human possibilities.

Vision Statement
Inventing the future of Play is the vision of the LEGO Company; pioneering into new ways of
playing determines that LEGO widespread the usage of globalization and digitalization,
apprehending possibilities in mankind.

Based on the vision and mission statement of the LEGO Company, it can be deduced that LEGO
bears corporate social responsibility in mind that it is necessary to ensure that children gain
knowledge through the engagement of play experience. Actions done are too, be responsible
towards children, stakeholders, society and the environment.

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Objectives of the Sustainability Program

Companies in this era had taken corporate social responsibility into one of their main priority in
business in order to develop the business sustainability. Sustainability not only prolongs the life
cycle of the business, but it also maximizes the profit of a corporation which is basically also the
most valid reason for a business existence. LEGO Company is constantly enhancing on its
responsibility towards the society and community via several sustainability initiatives that builds
up brand reputation and image passively. The positive community well-being and influence
provides a proactive environment that propels LEGO Company into a rather long lasting
relationship between its stakeholders as well as the society.
The development of the sustainability program is definitely an uphill challenge for LEGO,
however the return values of successful implementations of the initiatives is rather welcoming.
Throughout 2014, the LEGO Company continues to expand and keeping their promise in leaving
a positive impact towards to society through environmental leaderships, children inspiration
support, human resources development and tax contributions (Morten V., 2015). Seeing the
results achieved by LEGO in the previous year, its companys ambition; to expand LEGOs
global footprint and to ultimately reach every children in every country is one more step closer to
achievement. Only the best is good enough, the founders motto is always the LEGO
Companys company spirit and the key expression to be proud of through the review of achieved
results in year 2014 and of course, the room for improvements in years to come (Jorgen Vig
Knudstorp, 2014).

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategies

As mentioned above, LEGO Company had implemented several sustainability initiatives. These
initiatives or strategies are diversified into different sectors but independently focused in order to
achieve the best results. The sectors include children rights and support, education,
environmental leadership, community well-being and engagement as well as employee welfare.
LEGO is ranked at top 5 in the worlds largest survey of corporate reputations: 2015 Global
RepTrak 100 (Reputation Institute, 2015), which truly shows the sustainability initiatives
applied by LEGO is a strategic move. LEGO brings positive impact to the world we live in by

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targeting into responsible business operation; thus, strengthening the companys stand and value
in the industry.

Success and Challenges of the Sustainability Initiatives

The applied initiatives in the LEGO Company is considerably a success as positive results and
objectives have been achieved over the years. LEGOs corporate social responsibility strategies
are listed as above which includes children rights and support, education, environmental
leadership, employee welfare and also community well-being and engagement. These initiatives
will be further analyzed to determine the relationship between the LEGO Company and CSR
which leads to sustainability business development.

Children Rights and Support

The LEGOs mission is to inspire and develop the builders for tomorrow, the builders for
tomorrow in the statement refers to the future generation, which are the children. LEGO
Company sees childrens rights as a supportive principle. Therefore, in year 2014, the LEGO
Company had been the first ever toy-making company to establish a partnership with United
Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to promote childrens rights and
support childrens development (LEGO Responsibility Report, 2014).
The LEGO Company undergo two strategic priorities to boost childrens rights which includes
the 10 Children Rights and Business Principles and encouragement of quality early learning
through play for children around the world. The LEGO Group pledge to strengthen the
governance of child protection in its own business and share best practices with others in the
corporate world (unicef.org, 2015). The 10 children rights and business principles is basically a
list of 10 basic support for children rights and what actions will be taken by LEGO in order to
provide such rights for children. UNICEF on the other hand is constantly providing support on
childrens rights, thus, LEGO sees it as a key partner in this initiative collaboration. Both LEGO
and UNICEF collaborated for the sake of the future generations and sustainability development,
raising awareness to the globe in supporting childrens rights.

Education
The LEGO Foundation was founded and established in year 1986 under the name The
Foundation of December 10, 1986 by Edith and Godtfred Kirk Kristiansen. It was then renamed

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to its present name in year 1991 (LEGO Foundation, 2015). The LEGO Foundation aims to build
a future that allows children to learn through the process of playing with the encouragement of
being creative and engaged to knowledge, allowing them to be life-long learners. One of the core
programs of the LEGO Foundation is support a play-based learning, LEGOs mind set is always
foster a play-based learning environment in order to spark up the inner-creativity of the children.
Besides, the LEGO Foundation is also able to motivate learners in Pretoria, South Africa as well
as to change the education in Ukarine. Approximately 60,000 children in these countries are
benefited from the foundations contribution by enhancing the teaching and learning methods in
the respective countries. Children are the nations future leaders, it is important that every child
deserves an opportunity to learn and go to school; this shows that the LEGO Company had done
its part in sustainability development, for the sake of the future generations.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) (2014), the agency welcomed a
US $ 3 million donation from the LEGO Foundation to build a future for refugee children. This
huge amount of donation would be able to enhance the quality of education for more than
200,000 refugee children. This generous donation would also be beneficial for up to 12 countries
that hold some of the largest number of refugees by providing the students with the best possible
education in some of the most difficult situations and environments. Staff training would also be
provided with the support of the LEGO Foundation to encourage a motivated learning
atmosphere for children.
On the other hand, the LEGO Education shares the same mission with LEGO Foundation, which
is to introduce the concept of learning through the process of playing. Over the years, LEGO
Education had successfully engaged with 10 million children whereas a 101 million target had
been set to be achieved in year 2015 (LEGO Responsibility Report, 2014). LEGO do strive hard
in this initiative to provide the best education for the children and prepares them for the future
challenges.

Community Well-Being
Practicing well-being towards the community refers to how well is the company being connected
to the public that foster civic and social trust. The LEGO Company had definitely achieved a
satisfactory level of community well-being by proudly showing a 5 consecutive years of zeroproduct recalls. Product quality and safety is utmost important especially for the toy making

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industry as the products are mainly manufactured for the children. LEGO practices the strictest
safety and quality standards in the LEGO product production. The best practice used is the safety
assessment that take all sorts of safety matters into consideration which includes chemical,
mechanical, physical, electrical, hygiene and flammable safety. This allows LEGO to ensure that
all products produced are made by materials that are approved and qualified to prevent unwanted
circumstances.

Figure 1: LEGO Zero Product Recalls over the years

Source: LEGO Responsibility Report, 2014 (pg. 15)

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Figure 2: LEGO Group Safety Assessment

Source: LEGO Responsibility Report, 2014 (pg. 17)

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Community Engagement
Similar to community well-being, community engagement initiative illustrates on LEGO
Companys contribution to the local communities. More than 2000 employees from LEGO took
part in this engagement whereas 50,000 or more children from different countries are being
involved. For example, in Czech Republic, LEGO supported a home for underprivileged children
by providing education. In France, children wards in hospitals will never be a scary place for
children as children playroom had been set up by LEGO to improve recovery and learning
through play. Play Agent workshops are also held where agents can communicate with the
children to get more understanding towards the local community.

Environment
The LEGO Company is determined to leave a positive impact on Mother Earth where the future
generations will be inheriting. In order to achieve the determination, two strategic priorities are
developed by LEGO which includes climate change and smart resourcing. The figure below
illustrates the improvement of LEGO in terms of environment sustainability through the practice
of energy efficiency.

Figure 3: LEGO Energy Efficiency Improvement

Source: LEGO Responsibility Report, 2014 (pg. 30)

Climate change is one of the most stressful issues that bothers mankind with the best example,
global warming. Rising of sea levels due to the melting of ice in the Arctic and Antarctic is being
an every-year news announced by global environmental organizations. Thus, LEGO is
countering climate change issues by generating renewable energy to balance out the carbon
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emissions produced. LEGO made their first move to fund the installation of the first wind
turbines at an offshore wind farm (LEGO.com, 2014). This shows that LEGO is truly determined
on its milestone of the 2020 goal in becoming carbon positive by year 2016. Using efficient
energy efficiently is a strategy practiced by LEGO whereby primary energy is used in the most
efficient way to achieve a reduction of energy consumption. In addition, LEGO is also seeking to
reach CO2 equivalent with the generation of renewable energy to balance the level of carbon
emissions.
The LEGO Group had joined forces with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), becoming one of the
Climate Savers members in taking steps to enhance the environment by committing a 100% of
renewables by 2016 (Jennifer E., 2013). Partnering with WWF definitely brings out both the
companies to contribute responsibilities for the environment by reducing carbon footprints, and
to ensure that resource consumptions will be maintained at a lower level that is regenerate-able.
Therefore, it secures the benefit for the future generations in being able access the same variety
of resources.

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Figure 4: LEGO Group Environmental Goals (Climate Change)

Source: Morten Vestberg, 2014

Not forgetting to mention that recently in 2015, the LEGO Group had collaborated with DONG
Energy and William Demant in launching the Borkum Riffgrund 1 Offshore Wind Farm in
Germany, producing environmental friendly electricity for up to 320,000 German households
each year (Dong Energy, 2015).
Smart sourcing is also a strategic move taken by LEGO as the company is innovating in terms of
the use of materials. The Go Green 3 R Concept: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle is the approach
for LEGO in reducing wastage, reusing materials and recycling for a more effective waste
management. Since June 2014, LEGO had made sustainable LEGO boxes that uses 14% less
paper which are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) (Victoria K., 2014). LEGO
had also been using reground materials / old LEGO bricks to make new LEGO bricks that would
be able to reduce wastage significantly. Through these initiatives, LEGO had successfully overachieve the recycling target.

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Figure 5: LEGO Environment - Waste Recycled

Source: LEGO Responsibility Report, 2014 (pg. 34)

Childrens toys can be said to be nearly inescapable with plastic materials, especially the LEGO
bricks. LEGO is constantly seeking alternatives to replace plastic with sustainable materials by
2030 (Gabriel F., 2015). An establishment of a LEGO Sustainable Materials Centre with a total
pledging amount of US $ 150 million this year puts a step closer between LEGO and their goals
to seek sustainable materials for their toys. LEGO is keen on this drastic change as it is relatively
important to sustain the environment for the upcoming generations.

Figure 6: LEGO Group Environmental Goals (Resources)

Source: Morten Vestberg, 2014

Going through all these initiatives, it is clear that LEGO do face several challenges in
approaching the sustainability programs. The environment related issues such as recycling needs
global support as sustaining the environment is definitely a need to be done by all sectors.
Besides, in the journey of seeking alternative sustainable materials, LEGO would be entering
into collaborations with businesses and universities that develop materials with a reduced

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environmental impact. Uncertainties regarding to what the alternative material will be do

challenge LEGO in achieving its goal; LEGO is required to make constant innovation and
improvements in order to not only deliver better play experience but also a greater care of
environment for the future generations.

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Improvement of the Business Sustainability Program

The LEGO Company is definitely doing a good job in the toy making industry, making it a truly
global company. However, there is always space for improvements in order to let the company to
have continuous growth and maintain its sustainable development for many more years to come.
The following writings will provide recommendations for relevant transformation of business
sustainability in LEGO.

Employees
In all companies, the employees are the key elements that keeps a company survive in the
business environment. LEGO treasures their employees and strives to provide maximum safety,
well-being and diversity at LEGO. Employees safety is LEGO Groups top priority as they want
their employees to return home safely after work, therefore, continuous initiatives are taken to
ensure a further reduction of injuries rate at work.

Figure 7: LEGO Employee Safety - Lost Time Injury Frequency

Source: LEGO Responsibility Report, 2014 (pg. 42)

Based on the figure above, the rate of injury had been decreased over the years, however, the
target (less than 1.6) set by LEGO was not achieved in year 2014 (1.7). Therefore, LEGO has to
take actions to achieve a better results in further reduction of the rate of injuries in the company.
LEGO had taken the precaution to strengthen safety governance and employee capabilities via
implementation of global IT platform (LEGO Responsibility Report, 2014). Awareness are to be
raised among the company to remind employees the importance of being careful while working
with machines to ensure qualified developed product.
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Building an Organization with more Female Leaders

Figure 8: LEGO Group's Appointed Female Employees

Source: LEGO Responsibility Report, 2014 (pg. 43)

As displayed in the chart above, LEGO Company is having an increment in the recruitment of
female employees to the management department every year. LEGO had built a culture for
gender diversity in providing equality in opportunities for all employees (LEGO Gender
Diversity Policy, 2014). Gender equality in this century is relatively a key concern as people are
not to be discriminated by their background, races or even gender. Even though the LEGO
Company had met its target for the Gender Diversification Policy, there is definitely still more
rooms for improvement and still, LEGO could encourage more females to contribute their talents
towards the company. Going towards the long term ambition, LEGO strives to have a more
gender balanced management team and targets have been set to be achieved in 2017. At present,
out of seven-person board, one of the independent members is female (LEGO Responsibility
Report, 2014).

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Environmental Leadership
For LEGO, environmental related improvement is considered to be a never ending issue as
everything that leads to sustainability depends strongly on how well the environment is
conserved. For example, reduce wastage, reduce carbon emission and to seek alternatives for toy
making raw materials. Given to the extent on what LEGO had contributed towards the
environment like successfully reducing wastage up to 91%, it is still not enough as the
environmental issues around the world are still beaming up. Thus, LEGO would need to strive
harder in terms of recycling and to reach up to 99% or even 100% of waste management. Still,
conserving the planet for the future generation is not a one man job, awareness needs to be put
up to broadcast the positive message globally to contribute responsibility in preserving the
environment. LEGO can become the pioneer of environmental leadership in the toy industry to
inform other global corporations so that a sustainable development will be an easy achievement.
Petrol do not last forever; this means that plastics will and can never be a products long lasting
raw materials. This issue strongly gives a punch-back for LEGO as the product developed by
LEGO is mainly plastics. Instead of waiting for that day to come, LEGO should plan ahead in
coming out with a strategic solution to overcome the issues. Investing into research to seek
alternatives for raw materials truly is the best strategic step to be taken. LEGO had ventured into
this initiative but still, improvements can still be done by funding into universities or businesses
that are also looking forward into this matter. LEGO can then benefit from the outcome of the
research by getting what they want and also build up a strong brand image in corporate social
responsibility.
Besides, it would be a great step-forward for LEGO if the company will collaborate with more
organizations in generating renewable energies. Instead of just collaborating with companies to
build offshore wind turbine generators, LEGO can consider to build solar panels for electrical
energy sources for own consumptions as well as benefiting the household in the area.
Partnerships with environmental-concern organizations to preserve the environment or even for
the wildlife habitat is also another way for LEGO to enhance its business sustainability program
where these organizations do need funds for their campaigns. LEGO can also improve their
support in environment conservation by protecting endangered wildlife species or even carry out

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reforestation campaigns that can both rebuild wildlife habitat and counter climate changing
issues.

CSR Model
The Triple Bottom Line Model

LEGO practices responsibility towards the community and

social.
Produce high quality and safe products, achieving zero

product recalls for 5 consecutive years.

Practices safety assessment protocols to ensure manufactured

Social Responsibility

products are qualified for chemical, hygiene or even

flammable safety.

Environmental
Responsibility

Economical
Responsibility

LEGO aims to reach carbon positive by 2016.

Joint venture with many organizations to preserve

environment.
Eg: World Wildlife Fund (WWF), DONG Energy
Alternative materials to be researched (replace plastics)

High amount of donations to UNHCR to support refugee

children in terms of quality education.

Tax contributions by LEGO.
LEGO provides job opportunities without segmenting the

employees gender.
Practices gender equality, encourages female employees to
contribute talents.

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Conclusion
In a nutshell, the LEGO Company is definitely doing a very good job in terms of corporate social
responsibility. Contributions in most of the sectors are given as a repay towards the society with
regards to a sustainable development. Sustainable business development is a long term
commitment and results cannot be seen with just a contribution of a short period of time,
therefore, the LEGO Company must continue striving in practicing corporate social
responsibility in order to gain benefit for the companys growth and stay competitive in the
challenging business environment. The ongoing business sustainable program initiatives creates
welfare for the society and the stakeholders, therefore, LEGO should maintain the initiatives
provided with strategic improvements to continue the responsibility contribution for the
community and the environment.

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References
DONG Energy (2015), DONG Energys First Offshore Wind Farm in Germany Inaugurated
[Online] Available

at:

http://www.dongenergy.com/en/media/newsroom/news/articles/dong-

energy-lego-koncernen-og-william-demant-indvier-den-f%C3%B8rste-danske-havvindm
%C3%B8llepark-i-tyskland
[Accessed 25th October 2015]
Gabriel F. (2015), LEGO says its Plastic Pieces will be made with Sustainable Material by 2030
[Online] Available

at:

http://qz.com/437264/lego-says-its-plastic-pieces-will-be-made-with-

sustainable-material-by-2030/ [Accessed 26th October 2015]

Jennifer E. (2013), LEGO Group Partners with WWF, Commits to 100% Renewables by 2016
[Online]

Available

at:

http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/collaboration/jennifer-elks/lego-grouppartners-wwf-commits-using-100-renewables-2016 [Accessed 27th October 2015]

Jorgen Vig Knudstorp (2014), Only the Best is Good Enough motto as Key Expression of
LEGO [Adapted LEGO Responsibility Report, 2014]
LEGO Foundation (2014), The LEGO Foundation Milestones [Online] Available at:
http://www.legofoundation.com/en-us/who-we-are/milestones [Accessed 23rd October 2015]
Martin V. (2012), LEGO Mission and Vision [Online] Available at: http://www.lego.com/engb/aboutus/lego-group/mission-and-vision [Accessed 20th October 2015]
Morten V. (2014), The LEGO Group Environmental Goals [Online] Available at:
http://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/responsibility/environment/goals [Accessed 25th October
2015]
Morten V. (2015), LEGO Our Responsibility Ambitions [Online] Available at:
http://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/responsibility [Accessed 21st October 2015]
Ransom

R.

(2008),

The

Early

History

of

LEGO

[Online]

Available

at:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/19400/early-history-lego [Accessed 20th October 2015]

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Reputation Institute (2015), See who made the 2015 Global RepTrak 100 [Online] Available at:
https://www.reputationinstitute.com/research/Global-RepTrak-100 [Accessed 21st October 2015]
The UN Refugee Agency (2014), LEGO Foundation donates US$3 million to build a future for
Refugee Children [Online] Available at: http://www.unhcr.org/52e296b69.html [Accessed 24th
October 2015]
The LEGO Group (2014), LEGO Sustainability Report 2014 [PDF]
The LEGO Group (2014), Gender Diversity Policy [PDF]
Tine F. (2014), The LEGO Group History [Online] Available at: http://www.lego.com/enus/aboutus/lego-group/the_lego_history [Accessed 20th October 2015]
Unicef.org (2015), Partnering to Support Childrens Rights and Development LEGO Group,
LEGO

Foundation

and

UNICEF

[Online]

Available

at:

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_81196.html [Accessed 23rd October 2015]

Victoria K. (2014), LEGOs new Packaging Production Reduces Paper by 14% and CO 2
Emissions

by

10,000

Tons

[Online]

Available

at:

https://www.2degreesnetwork.com/groups/2degrees-community/resources/legos-new-packagingproduction-reduces-paper-by-14-and-co2-emissions-by-10000-tonnes/ [Accessed 25th October

2015]

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