IKEA: "Low Prices, But Not at Any Price"
Corporate Heroes
Posted by JR on December 11, 2005 - 3:03pm
IKEA is a Swedish furniture/houseware chain that has branches around the world, but only has 24 stores in this country. If you've never had the chance to go, they are gigantic places with lots of high-quality, low-priced, elegant items. I equipped my first apartment at an IKEA in Virginia (one of the first in America) and everything I got there held up until I got married and had to get rid of it because my wife made me
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It turns out that one of IKEA's slogans is: "Low Prices, But Not at Any Price." Of course, they're talking about the code of conduct for the company's suppliers. Like every low-cost retailer these days, IKEA has inspectors that look into the factories run by the subcontractors who produce the products they sell. But unlike some companies (with headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas), these Swedes actually do what they say.
Take the issue of child labor. This is from their corporate responsibility brochure :
IKEA does not accept child labour and works actively to present this. All IKEA suppliers and their sub-contractors must comply with a special code of conduct, "The IKEA way of Preventing Child Labour". When they make their regular visits to suppliers IKEA employees always check that there are no children working on the premises. In Southern Asia, where child labour is common, unannounced inspections are made at least once a year by independent auditors.
IKEA has been working on this issue for over a decade. Alongside the last quote is this blurb from Chris Davis of the International Save the Children Alliance:
IKEA was actually in a state of shock when they approached us in the early nineties. The accusations of using child labour hit IKEA very hard since this contrasted with the image of IKEA as a child-friendly, family-friendly company....
IKEA has achieved more than many other big companies. The company appears to understand the problems and is aware that working with Save the Children to create a better life for children, can also be good for business and gives the brand a soul.
More:
http://www.buyblue.org/node/5647
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