Toward a Circular Economy in the Toy Industry: The Business Model of a Romanian Company

Nowadays, more and more business organizations are encouraged to find ways to produce high-quality products that are offered to users for their temporary enjoyment and then redistributed or sent to the next user pending. This is done without being conditioned to believe that we need to own something, use it for certain functions for a limited amount of time, and then throw it away. Toys are a perfect candidate for this approach. Given the lack of case studies explaining how companies can design and implement a circular economy in practice, especially in the toy industry, this study aimed to develop a case study based on Evertoys, a start-up operating in Romania, which is a country where the circular economy is only in an infancy phase. This study’s objective was to analyze this business model from the circular economy perspective. Regarding the methodology, the work followed the research strategy of the case study, which was developed by analyzing the opportunities and challenges of this toy-as-a-service model and taking into consideration the components of the Business Model Canvas. Our findings indicated the presence of driving factors, as well as barriers, in the implementation of circular economy practices.

Emotional artificial intelligence in children’s toys and devices: Ethics, governance and practical remedies

This article examines the social acceptability and governance of emotional artificial intelligence (emotional AI) in children’s toys and other child-oriented devices. To explore this, it conducts interviews with stakeholders with a professional interest in emotional AI, toys, children and policy to consider implications of the usage of emotional AI in children’s toys and services. It also conducts a demographically representative UK national survey to ascertain parental perspectives on networked toys that utilise data about emotions. The article highlights disquiet about the evolution of generational unfairness, that encompasses injustices regarding the datafication of childhood, manipulation, parental vulnerability, synthetic personalities, child and parental media literacy, and need for improved governance. It concludes with practical recommendations for regulators and the toy industry.

Child Labor Abolitionists

The national movement to abolish child labor, led by reformer Owen Lovejoy, entered its peak political and cultural phase at the height of the Progressive Era. This chapter reveals that the movement’s embrace of federal authority became increasingly religious in nature as it joined forces with the Social Gospel movement. Pointedly, this turn paid particular attention to girls in the age of Mueller v. Oregon and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. This approach led to many victories, including the Keating-Owen Act of 1916. During World War I, however, the movement shifted as it joined forces with the American toy industry and modern child welfare campaign, setting the stage for the rise of a consumerist ethos and a secular bureaucratic approach to child welfare.

The Study of Nostalgia-Oriented Strategy Aimed at Millennials on The Example of The Lego Group

Objective: The purpose of this paper was to examine the effect that nostalgia-oriented strategy has on the Millennials’ perception of the LEGO brand.Methodology: The methodology was based on past research in the field and used a modified version of a questionnaire developed by Pascal et al. (2002).Findings: The research was conducted among 203 young respondents in the second quarter of 2019. During the realization of research, the indirect method of gathering information, using a survey technique was applied. The survey was conducted with the application of the techniques of electronic survey. The research methodology was based on past research in the field and a modified version of a questionnaire developed by Pascal et al. (2002) was used.Value Added: This paper is the first to have found that companies operating in the toy industry are using nostalgia with aim of sustaining the brand loyalty.Recommendations: The toy industry has become pretty much an unfair place to do business these days, as the biggest toymakers are involved in a fierce fight for the next generations of kids enamoured with the latest high-tech wonders. This paper demonstrates how LEGO®’s efforts reaped dividends as they have begun to address Millennials. It can be said, then, that the future of marketing in the following months would involve nostalgia as a major tool accelerating all the strategic endeavours in this clash of brands as the trend described hereinafter does not seem to slow down.

TINJAUAN MAINAN LOKAL MENGGUNAKAN KECENEDERUNGAN BASIC NEEDS DESIGN, SOCIAL NEEDS DESIGN DAN LOCAL WISDOM DESIGN

The toy product industry is currently stretching and becoming one of the major companies in the world. Those industries are still monopolized by developed countries. Developing countries such as Indonesia have the opportunity to participate in the competition of the toy product industry. The way to deal with the problem is by developing existing potential by utilizing existing local wisdom. Through research on local toys, it is expected to be an opportunity for the possibility of that competition. By using three phenomena in design is expected to open many changes for many new possibilities in the toy industry. The design phenomena are the basic needs tendency (Vitruvius Theory), social needs tendencies (Sir Henry Wotton's theory) and local wisdom tendencies (Viktor Papanek, Schulz and Y.B.Mangunwijaya's Theory). The theory is used to extract the values of basic needs, social needs and local wisdom that is typical of the toy in order to get the variables of the design requirements to be used in the development of scientific design, especially toy product design. The results of this study get about how the design fulfills its basic needs, fulfills its social needs and raises the value of its local wisdom.