SCA is one of the world’s largest companies in personal care products, with presence in approximately 100 countries. This Deep Dive looks at their journey on the way to recognising children as key stakeholders to their company and ensuring that children’s rights are integrated into their daily operations. It also describes how SCA has entered several strategic collaborations and partnerships with different organizations to further children’s rights in different ways, but always integrated with their core business.
This Deep Dive is part of our series that looks at how companies find solutions and harness opportunities that create meaningful change.
(Photo credit: SCA – Alecsandra Raluca Dragoi)
With its roots in the forest industry in northern Sweden, family and community have always been part of SCA's identity as a company. How did they formalise this business culture to ensure that the best interests of children were integrated into their company?
This study was commissioned by the Global Child Forum and written by Boston Consulting Group. The study was based on interviews and surveys with around 400 CEOs globally, representing over 60 countries and 20 industries of various sizes.
In the recent report The Corporate Sector and Children’s Rights in the Nordic Region, Global Child Forum and the Boston Consulting Group published the results from a benchmarking of how the 299 largest1 listed Nordic companies address children’s rights in their public reporting. To compare the findings from the screening of publicly listed companies, we assessed 30 non-listed Nordic companies; the 15 largest privately owned and the 15 largest state-owned. A summary of those results are presented below2.
Of a total possible score of 9, the privately owned companies scored on average 2.1 points, while state-owned companies scored 3.7 on average. In contrast, the 15 largest listed companies scored 5.1 on average.
One explanation for the difference could be due to the region’s stringent regulations on sustainability, reporting, and board accountability that affect primarily listed and state-owned companies. Due to the small sample size, not all industries are fully represented; approximately half of the private companies are in the Consumer Goods industry, with the remainder spread across Oil, Gas and Utilities, Food and Beverage and Industrials. The state-owned companies assessed are in all of the industries except ICT.
RESULTS PER INDICATOR (%)
When looking at the results for each of the indicators, it is notable that:
This benchmark study investigates 353 publicly listed companies in the region. Without measuring actual performance or compliance, the study aims to highlight if and how these companies address and report on children’s rights. The 353 companies were selected from industry sectors with exposure to children’s rights issues: Food & Beverage, Consumer goods, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Travel & Tourism, Basic materials, Industrial goods, Oil & Gas, and Healthcare.
SCA is one of the world’s largest companies in personal care products, with presence in approximately 100 countries. This Deep Dive looks at their journey on the way to recognising children as key stakeholders to their company and ensuring that children’s rights are integrated into their daily operations. It also describes how SCA has entered several strategic collaborations and partnerships with different organizations to further children’s rights in different ways, but always integrated with their core business. This Deep Dive is part of our series that looks at how companies find solutions and harness opportunities that create meaningful change. (Photo credit: SCA – Alecsandra Raluca Dragoi)
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