LEGO ranked highest in perceived corporate responsibility
Posted by TheBrickPal,
While The LEGO Group may not be doing the best with their profits so far this year, they seem to still be doing a lot right in the public eye:
"Yesterday, Reputation Institute released the 2017 Global CSR RepTrak100 survey specifically measuring companies’ reputation on corporate responsibility. This year, the LEGO Group has climbed the list to a ranking as number 1."
"Commenting on the result, Chief Financial Officer of the LEGO Group, Marjorie Lao said:"
“We are honoured to see that our efforts to positively impact the planet resonate with people all over the world. We feel a huge sense of responsibility to inspire and develop children through play while leaving a significant positive impact on the world children will inherit. It is part of our DNA as a company, and we will continue to set the bar high for ourselves to do better.”
"In the overall 2017 Global RepTrak 100 survey released earlier this year, the LEGO Group was ranked as number 2 on the list of the most regarded companies in the world when it comes to corporate reputation (LEGO Group ranked as the 2nd most highly regarded company in the world)."
"The RepTrak 100 study, developed by Reputation Institute, measures the corporate reputation of 100 companies by asking the public in 15 countries around the world questions about the emotional appeal of each company. Furthermore, the study scores the companies on seven dimensions: Products & Services, Innovation, Workplace, Governance, Citizenship, Leadership and Performance."
"The CSR survey compiles data from three of the seven dimensions measured in the overall Global RepTrak100: Workplace, Governance and Citizenship."
"Read press release from Reputation Institute here."
Bravo!
38 likes
21 comments on this article
Yeah but the set prices... /s
Reputation Institute ? Sounds like a serious consulting company or ?
Bear in mind this would have been decided before the upcoming layoffs.
So who at Lego is RESPONSIBLE for the product availability failures that come w/each new big set release? WhereismySaturnV :)
'The RepTrak 100 study (...) measures the corporate reputation (...) by asking the public (...).' Sure, it says something but it's PERCEIVED responsibility, nothing factual.
Sorry, but what is the actual meaning of this!? Just a popularity contest? I think @BeaR hits the nail on the head.
@TheBrickPal, can you please update the title:
LEGO ranked highest in *perceived* corporate responsibility.
gunther.schnitzel + Bear the Builder got it right.
^^ You're probably right, but it's what LEGO is saying. I'm not saying it's totally factual, I'm just reporting on what the companies said. Press release is not my words. However, the headline has been changed to prevent confusion. :-)
The Internet has a lot of haters, doesn't it?
Nice feather in LEGO's cap for what many in the company could feel is a 'down' year. Hopefully it can help bolster corporate morale during some difficult decision making and leaner times while they re-boot some of their strategies.
Firing 1,400 people because PROFITS dropped from 4.5 billion to 4.4 billion is responsible. I wonder if anyone's perceptions have changed. Mine sure has.
No offense to Lego, but a lot of these "reputable" companies are well known for some pretty unreputable actions...
Interesting to see Rolex at number 1... I would have expected Google to take that place. And how did Disney get to number 3?! This is clearly just popular opinion based too heavily on the companies' products and not enough on their ethical conduct, as the general public tend to confuse.
Perceived though the result may be, I'd say every single person I met or even had passing glances of during my Inside Tour seemed to really enjoy their job with a good sense of teamwork all around. There were also neat little touches like 'fruit stations', shared Lego bicycles to get around the Billund facilities and my personal favourite - a basketball hoop in one of the main warehouse corridors! I would imagine that working in the London Office has its own good culture too.
I can't speak for the layoffs but they should not be reflective of the general workplace culture - though it would be easy enough to combine the two to form an opinion when thinking about the company as a whole.
People bashing LEGO for sacking 1400 people is getting a little tired. Going from double digit growth to decreased profits is not to be glossed over, it means their momentum has been cut off and in many markets they are no doubt making a loss. Would people prefer they wait a few years until they start making losses and then respond in more drastic ways to avoid bankruptcy (like they did in the early 2000s). Less profits mean less risk taking with large and more innovative sets. If they can restrategise and lay off people they probably only hired during the last few years of aggressive expansion then they can redeploy in growth markets once they have time to reassess. Lego is not as cheap as Lepin because they create instead of steal, pure and simple.
Yes, let's ignore the way that Lego takes advantage of kid's, making them brainless addicts to their products. Lego are fine, as long as they are used as a creative outlet, not as a consumer product. However, it seems as if lego's approach to marketing has grown more and more consumer driven.
Hey, I'm not a brainless Lego addict! I embrace my addiction rationally and very thoughtfully! ;-P
Plus, this past year in particular has taught me more about money management, cash flow, and risk assessment than my previous lifetime of stock investments.
I agree with stefzen about LEGO becoming more consumer driven instead of focusing on creativity and education. Symptom number one of this would have to be the focus on Minifigures.
Lego do focus on education. It's a major part of the Lego corporate culture. Have a look at education.lego.com. Of course it's possible to be cynical and say they are just training kids to be future customers. But I use Lego in an education setting (for adults) and I know how it can encourage people to be much more involved in the learning process.
As for marketing- how else would you like marketing to be, except "consumer driven"?
@bigginsd: It's profoundly easy for adults to look at the way children enjoy things and assume their generation's way was better, more creative, or what-have-you. People have been doing it since the dawn of time. It requires very little intelligence or critical thinking skill, and generally there's little truth to it.
Really, how is LEGO any less of a creative product than they were back in the day? Not only do they have far more fantasy themes set outside the scope of real life or history to encourage kids not to constrain themselves to building things that are real or familiar, but in general a lot of sets tend to feature way more building than they once did, which means more potential for rebuilding. Furthermore, what the minifigure lacks in building play it makes up in storytelling play, which is just as creative an activity.
It's not like minifigures weren't a big deal in the 80s or 90s, either. Classic sets from the early days of the minifigure had a way higher percentage of minifigures to building elements than today's sets do. In fact, pretty much every year of new Castle sets in the late 70s and early 80s came with at least one set that was nothing but a glorified minifigure pack. Where exactly is the creative building value in a set like https://brickset.com/sets/6103-2/Castle-Figures or https://brickset.com/sets/6021-1/Jousting-Knights? Compare that to a modern Star Wars battle pack or City starter set and you see a profound improvement in the balance between building and storytelling play.
I plan to get all the street modulars from Parisian onwards (got a few already) and break them up when our baby is old enough to play.
A wide variety of bits and colours and imagination to be let loose.
I think Lego has become increasingly explicit rather than implicit.
The Street modulars are great in that respect because they use parts in more imaginative ways than their explicit initial purpose they were made for.
On the subject of perception. Given the general public are by and large quite ignorant, their perception of Lego is probably meaningless if we hope Lego 'will make the world a better place'
But it's nice that they're seen that way. Lets hope they use the influence it affords the in a positive way... ie, not sacking loads of people and using other reasons to justify it.
I haven't bought the mini figures for at least 3 series. I think it's ridiculous having to pay £2.99 for a figure. If they were half that price a lot more people would buy them who usually would only buy a couple of figures. Also too many sets are now out of reach for simple birthday presents. Just like the new death star or the brilliant new m falcon. Sell them cheaper lego and you will sell more.