Corporate Social Responsibility of Lego Group

Agasi Guliyev

Business, Government and Society

Final Paper

Corporate Social Responsibility of the Lego Group

Lego Group is a privately held company founded in 1932 by Ole KirkKristiansen in Denmark. The company is still owned by the Kristiansen family and is considered to be one of the leading manufacturers of playing materials in the world with headquarters in Belund, Denmark. Lego is valued at $14.6 billion and sells its products in over 130 countries. Lego brick, which is considered as main product of the company, has been named twice "Toy of the Century". The company has passed a long path over the past 80 years and now it strives for sustainable development by maintaining balance of environmental, social,and economic aspects of the organization. Thus, Lego pays close attention to Corporate Social Responsibility as an internal part of its business.

Due to the fact that the main customers of the company are children, Lego regards its responsibility for facility they provide for them. It is not only about having fun while playing with Lego toys. The company wants to help young generation in developing their social, emotional and intellectual skills by combining bricks and building new Lego constructions. Lego does not limit its opportunities and in order to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow, the company has founded Lego Education. During 35-year period, this program has engaged with 85 million children around the world by encouraging a positive mindset towards studying. The main objective is to make the education for children more attractive. In order to achieve this goal, Lego Education has more than 35.000 trained educators and supports teachers with a mix of Lego bricks, relevant curriculum, and assessment tools.For example, Lego Math for second graders uses bricks and online software in order to explain abstract math problems. LEGO Education has experience in approximately 19.000 schools in the USA, 10.000 schools in China and 8.500 schools in Germany and organizes international online competition for students aged from thirteen to eighteen. The results of this project have been great. In 2014, more than 265,000students in more than 80 countries solved real world challenges through hands-on skills in science, technology, engineering and math.

From just a toy manufacturer, Lego turns into the company that supports the education and school activities. And arises the main question - why? For sure, by doing so, the image and reputation of the company increases. It gets the trust of the parents who are happy to buy such kind of toys for their children as an investment into their education.  As a result, sales rapidly increase causing revenues to rise, which is considered to be the main objective of any company. However, Lego might invest all spent amount in advertising and commercials and get more promotion of their toys rather than dealing with education and prosperity of the young generation. We should agree that it is not that easy to reach an agreement with ministries of education, schools, and teachers all over the world. Nevertheless, the company still continues doing so, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility. Lego Group does not stop with already achieved results and is confident that Lego Education will achieve strategic target of 101 million children by 2015. As a result of such activities, the company's existence becomes more meaningful and significant.