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CSR Case Study on The Lego Group

By Kobe R Jenkins

Saint Francis University

K. Rhodes Corporate Social Responsibility

04/18/21
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CSR Case Study on The Lego Group

When it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility and business are brought to

attention, The LEGO Group is always a surplus business to talk about. LEGO is one company of

many that has made a large impact on society, and they are also one of largest and heavily

popular toy manufactures in the world to date. I took the time to do a CSR report on the LEGO

Group and go over their vast majority of positive accomplishments throughout the year.

Welcome to LEGO

LEGO is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group.

LEGO began manufacturing these plastic bricks in 1949. Since then a global Lego subculture has

developed. Supporting movies, games, competitions, and six amusement parks have been

developed under the brand. The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen in

1891–1958, a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In

1934, his company was now being called Lego, derived from the Danish phrase leg godt, which

means play well.

Mission and Vision

LEGO Brand Framework has set the mindset to keep the brand and its values that are

attached to it in great shape. The group formulated four promises to its key holders and the

community as a whole. The LEGO Brand Framework shows clearly and unequivocally, in addition to

the four promises, what the Group’s vision, mission, motto and values are. This, gathering the whole

ethos of the LEGO brand in one place. The LEGO Brand Framework is to this day the essence of who

they are.
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Mission Statement: “'Inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow' Our

ultimate purpose is to inspire and develop children to think creatively, reason systematically and

release their potential to shape their own future - experiencing the endless human possibility.

Figure 1A: This figure shows the LEGO Brick that we all know in love, designed inside is the

statement that the LEGO Group holds a firm belief and standard on. Tuesday. (2013,

December 31). Mission and vision. Retrieved April 21, 2021, from

https://www.lego.com/en-in/lego-history/mission-and-vision-

b7399c5f31aa4793998e3a34f15401cd

The Children.

LEGO has a strong belief that every child should have an opportunity to achieve their

goals and potential. A study shows that when children are at play, this nurture and develops the

many skills children need to solve problems with a creative aspect. Many programs hosted by the

company are based on bringing children together to learn through play. In 2020, the COVID-19

pandemic forced the company to take a different approach to reaching children and parents with
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Learning through Play initiatives. In collaboration with the LEGO Foundation the focus was put

on financial charity partners and local communities around the world to reach the crisis-affected

children with supplies and opportunities to learn. With the new adjustment programs like the

#BuildtoGive donation, anti-bullying event and World Children’s Day, they were able to reach all

together a total of 55 million families during the year. This boosted the LEGO Foundations

reputation as a multicultural company and redirected many families to take apart in the change of

the inspiration to engage.

Environment

The LEGO Group does an extraordinary job at making a positive impact on society and

the planet, which children can inherit and take into the future generations to come. With the

responsibility to minimize the impact that many business operations have on the world. LEGO

has taken that in to initiative and targets to have all products made from sustainable materials by

2030. In the year 2020 alone, they produced a total of 98,674 tons if LEGO bricks and so far,

100 different types of elements are made from sustainable sources. In 2016, the LEGO Group

partnered with the World Wildlife Fund, and targeted to improve waste efficiency by 10% in the

year 2020. With an improved waste efficiency by 5.8% it still didn’t surpass their goal this year.

They plan to tackle this by removing single use plastic in their operations by the end of 2022.

Also, they already recycle 91% of all waste, including 100% plastic waste from the molding

machines. All together over 381 tons of waste went to a landfill this year.

The outline for environmental change

To achieve this target, we will:

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• Continue to invest in sustainable materials research to reduce the carbon footprint of LEGO®

products and packaging and making our business more circular

• Continue to work with suppliers through the LEGO Group’s ‘Engage-to-Reduce’ programmed

which was set up in 2014 to guide and support them to reduce their own impact

• Increase energy efficiency throughout our operations, expand renewable energy production at

factories and ensure procurement of 100% renewable energy across factories, offices and stores

• Increase investment in renewable energy capacity in all regions where we operate, with the

aim of running carbon neutral operations by the end of 2022

• Design offices and factories to the highest environmental standards, aiming for LEED Gold on

all new construction projects

People.

Employee safety and wellbeing is a top priority here in the Lego foundation. They aim

for zero accidents in the company, factories, stores, and offices. They have an occupational

health and safety policy that ensures all activities are carried out are safe and healthy. In 2020,

the number of lost time injuries was 0.4 per million working hours. Lego strives to ensure that

they have a motivating work place and survey the motivation and satisfaction of all employees

regularly.  Every employee and third party acting on behalf of the LEGO Group anywhere in the

world must apply high ethical standards and principles of integrity, honesty, and legality in all

they do. It is essential that they comply with our LEGO® Code of Ethical Business Conduct,

even if this means losing business or reducing profitability. Their ethics code covers numerous

issues including anti- bribery and corruption, charitable donations, children’s rights, competition

compliance and avoiding conflicts of interest. Employees and third parties must adhere to the

Anti- Corruption Policy and must not take part in any form of bribery, including facilitation
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payments.  It is in their ambition to build a diverse and inclusive organization that helps reach

and inspire all children, regardless of who they are or where they come from. Aiming to build

inclusive behaviors and ensure equal opportunities for all. While working to accelerate the

diversity and inclusion, LEGO partnered with a select number of organizations that are leaders in

their respective areas of D&I. The partners they choose will reflect the broad definition of

diversity, encompassing gender, ethnicity, background, lifestyle and family, and help shape both

the workplace practices and creative output.

LEGO is working with UNICEF child rights and development experts to clearly

understand how discriminatory norms, stereotypes and practices impact children. With a focus

on product, entertainment and marketing activity, this partnership work seeks to develop a

thought-leadership position that will contribute significantly to the LEGO® brand’s ambition to

reach as many children as possible and help create a more inclusive, equitable world for children

everywhere. In 2020 they signed a partnership with UN Women and in turn, the United Nations

Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) which outline how businesses can deliver on gender

equality and women’s empowerment. With this partnership, LEGO is committed to taking bold

steps, as part of the Sustainability 2022 ambitions, to advance gender equality in our workplace,

marketplace and community.

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References

Tuesday. (2013, December 31). Mission and vision. Retrieved April 21, 2021, from
https://www.lego.com/en-in/lego-history/mission-and-vision-
b7399c5f31aa4793998e3a34f15401cd

Nastu, J., Danigelis, A., Silverstein, K., Hardcastle, J., & Weinschenk, C. (2020, May 07). LEGO
archives. Retrieved April 22, 2021, from https://www.environmentalleader.com/tag/lego/

Hutchins, R. (2020, September 16). LEGO to INVEST $400m over next three years in its
sustainability and social responsibility drive. Retrieved April 21, 2021, from
https://www.toynews-online.biz/2020/09/16/lego-to-invest-400m-over-next-three-years-in-
its-sustainability-and-social-responsibility-drive/

Reports. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2021, from https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/lego-

group/policies-and-reporting/reports/

Sustainability reporting 2020. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2021, from https://www.lego.com/en-
us/aboutus/sustainability/reporting/

Tuesday. (2013, December 31). Mission and vision. Retrieved April 21, 2021, from
https://www.lego.com/en-in/lego-history/mission-and-vision-
b7399c5f31aa4793998e3a34f15401cd
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Footnotes
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Tables

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Column Head Column Head Column Head Column Head Column Head
Row Head 123 123 123 123
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Figures title:

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Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4

Series 1 Series 2 Series 3

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