A (CSR) Toy Story – Mattel’s corporate social responsibility

In our ongoing look at the CSR Business practices of leading corporations I wanted to look at the progress of a company who really should have a default underlying interest in the future of the planet as their target market happens to be children. Well, their products are used by children so their target market would be the parents of young children.

Mattel, Inc are the world’s largest toy manufacturer product line includes such household names as Fisher-Price, Matchbox and of course Barbie dolls. The company was founded in 1945 and has grown remarkably since with global revenue approaching $6 billion per annum and counting on 31,000 employees to fulfill the toy needs of millions of children. Mattel began their initial Corporate Social Responsibility program when the idea was still in its infancy for many companies back in 1997, they released their first GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) in 2003 and have done so annually since. In the summer of 2007 the company went through a social responsibility media nightmare after the revelations that various toys in their product line exceeded the safety levels for lead which resulted in the recall of over 18,000,000 products. At the time it was a huge story that naturally impacted the company in a negative way but if there is a silver lining it would be that the company has subsequently fully revamped their testing and auditing processes for all manufacturing. The company’s more robust position in 2011 demonstrates that huge business mistakes can be overcome if lessons are learned, which appears to be the case for Mattel.

The company now prides itself upon one of the most developed sustainability strategies within any industry and encourages a mindset of sustainability at every level within its organization. Lisa Marie Bongiovanni, vice president of corporate affairs at Mattel adds:

“Mattel is a company that is focused on playing responsibly in all that we do, which includes how we impact the world around us. From the products we make to the people who make up our organization, the Mattel organization is always seeking ways for the company to improve and evolve, to actively make the world a better place to live and play.”

Mattel have performed a complete rethinking about the way they create new products with sustainability in mind. At the design stage developers are encouraged to always have the end in mind, when it comes to the raw materials needed, packaging and distribution, plus examination of the entire supply chain. They’ve looked to breed a culture of employee empowerment that will lead to more responsibility being demonstrated in terms of sustainability and encourage an environment that leads to grassroots ideas being launched from within their own workforce. If you’ve ever had to aid with a birthday party gift unwrapping you’ll know that packaging is a huge matter when it comes to toys. Mattel have made reducing the impact of packaging a major priority and thankfully have cut down on the use of those ever so annoying and environmentally unfriendly twist ties by more than 90 percent across the entire company’s product line. The company is also looking to further study the lifecycle of certain toys to better identify possible improvements in the future. As you would expect the company has also taken a hard look at its manufacturing processes in order to reduce energy use and conserve water. The company have identified over 250 initiatives which will lead to potential savings of 22 million KwH and more than 9,000,000 gallons of water.

The company also launched huge initiatives concerning composting from employee lunch waste , are extremely active with supporting local communities via their purchasing practices, and have demonstrated greatly improved results in recycling. They also demonstrated a commitment to their employee culture and satisfaction and were named one of Fortune Magazine’s “100 best companies to work for” for the fourth year in a row in 2011.

Learn more about Mattel’s sustainability efforts in the corporate responsibility section of the company’s website:

2 responses to “A (CSR) Toy Story – Mattel’s corporate social responsibility”

  1. Helen says:

    Its really nice to read a story looking into how well a company is doing with CSR (now) – makes it appear more achievable for any size company. I think a lot can be learned from companies that do have issues to address and can bounce back with reputation still intact and prove they understand what it is about and can make the difference. Packaging is a big part of the marketing for a toy – it proves that there is headway with everything. I am glad to hear that they have got rid of those twisty things by 90%

    • Tim says:

      Thanks for stopping by Helen. Couldn’t agree more, especially the fact that Mattel took a good long look at many of their processes after the issues of a few years back.

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