Cross-posted at Buy Blue
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 [Her stuff was better].
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 [You can download the .pdf here]:
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.
Speaking of other companies, where is Wal-Mart on this issue? This is from Radio Canada:
Radio-Canada journalists posed as buyers in the Canadian garment industry so they could videotape inside factories in Bangladesh with hidden cameras.
In one factory, typical of many in the country, children were busy with lower-skill tasks. In badly lit, dirty and overheated workshops, young boys were everywhere.
A label reading Simply Basic, one of Wal-Mart's in-house brand names along with the number CA 28885, the corporate ID of Wal-Mart Canada, was seen in the factory.
The same factory also produces Wal-Mart's corporate T-shirt for Canada.
The factory manager told Radio-Canada that the children are working on domestic production.
"They do not work on export garments, like Wal-Mart's," said Liakot Patwary. "I can give you [a] guarantee."
But after filling many orders, Patwary said he had never met inspectors from the company and Wal-Mart had not visited the factory.
Does Wal-Mart have a soul? IKEA shows that you don't have to give it up to sell stuff at low prices.
JR