Although the company has been in business for over a hundred years it has encountered several challenges. One weakness is its image. As described earlier this image is not conducive to one to be associated with the kindler, softer side of humanity. Another threat or weakness is the continued outsourcing of manufacturing of parts and accessories into overseas markets and companies. Although, there is no set percentage
On one hand, partnering with such supplier has offered the company the greatest freedom to operate. One the other hand, technological spillover and inventions came up from the developmental stage are also likely to occur. The worst case is that competitor might protect those inventions which prevent the LEGO Group form using their own innovation. Protection of those inventions is deemed necessary to the growth of the
The company, Lego was hacked and of course very disturbed by this, however, they discovered these hackers were lego fans and could actually add value to their consumers and the business as a whole. working with hackers who had attacked their systems allowed them to develop new products and grow their revenue. It resulted from speaking to the hackers rather than suing them and created what the Lego director of community development Tormod Askildsen described as 'the platform for the 21st
By 2004 Lego was in considerable trouble; it had made a loss of approximately £200m; sales fell by 40%. One reason for this was lack of success in moving into new markets, such as computer games and clothing. However, a major cause for the financial woe was due to issues in the supply chain; costs were not being squeezed out, and the increase in specialised LEGO models had led to an explosion in the total number of unique bricks; each requiring expensive moulding, production and inventory. LEGO rightly decided to address this supply chain cost issue, and turned to Flextronics, a company with considerable experience in
Lego Corp was established in 1932 by founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen. With just 10 employees, they start crafting wooden construction toys. The most famous of these were the wooden duck. As the popularity of plastic toys rose in the mid-1950s, the company did away with wooden toys and started focusing on manufacturing plastic automatic binding blocks. As early as the beginning of the company, their motto was “Only the best is good enough.” High quality and safe products have been the focal point of LEGO Group for decades. Over the years LEGO Group has kept its word on that motto and has supplied millions of families with creative toys that last.
LEGO, like most companies in the toy industry are fighting to stay profitable in this
The high brand equity of Lego and other well established organizations offer another disadvantage to new entrants. Collaborations with the film industry helped Lego sustain market share and increase sales volume in the toy industry through franchise agreements on Harry Potter and Star Wars.
Lego, from the Danish words “leg godt” or play well, was founded by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932 (Herman, 2012). Known for producing iconic studded plastic bricks that were enjoyed by both children and adults, Lego produced more than 30 Lego-based video games and, through licensing agreements, popular Star Wars and Harry Potter Lego sets (Baichtal & Meno, 2011). Lego also sold a series of Arctic sets including an Arctic Base Camp, Arctic Outpost, Arctic Helicrane, Lego Ice Crawler, and Arctic Snowmobile. Those sets sold for $89.99, $49.99, $39.99, $14.99, and $6.99 respectively. Lego’s 2014 film, The Lego Movie, grossed more
Based on the case study Lego appears to be using the Focus strategy. Michael Porter proposed three generic strategies Cost Leadership, Differentiation and Focus. Focus is a strategy where organization focuses on specific niche markets; this may include a particular geographic region or particular segment of customers. Organizations which use this strategy develop their products after having a study of dynamics of the segment and unique needs of customer. Lego before the appointment of the new CEO appear to use the focus strategy as their top priority was always to focus on innovation and creativity with taking profits into consideration. Add to that the case study also mention that Lego used to create products that primarily targeted boys. After the appointment of new CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp the company appears to have changed its policy form Focus to Cost-Leadership. Cost-Leadership is a strategy where organizations focus on gaining competitive advantage by offering products and services at the lowest possible price. They achieve this by increasing profits by reducing production cost and other way is to increase market share by reducing the prices of products compared to the competitors. Knudstorp after taking charge of Lego changed their focus on reducing the production
Ever since LEGO started experiencing double digit annual sales growth, (by launching new toy games, branded theme parks, entering the video game sector, introducing mobile applications, introducing toys for girls, etc.) they realized they needed a model that was standardized, modular and scalable. Hence, allowing them to expand to new markets in a less amount of time. They already had a decently established market in USA and UK; they were looking for an expansion in other countries as well. This model had to tackle major issues like scalability challenges, employee
In 2002 and beginning of 2003 LEGO struggle with low sales and an increase in their inventory levels due to an intensification of their competitors, adapting their process as LEGO did in the beginning
As their name and ideal, Lego has been beloved by the children as well as the parents for decades. Not only as plastic toy bricks, but also effective educational tools, the LEGO Company enjoyed continuous growth and broaden the global brand value. The LEGO brand moved to third place in 2002/2003 with only Coca-cola and Kellogg having greater respect among families with children. Even though as the overall toy market faces challenges, LEGO’s revenue and profits are increasing rapidly, especially since 2005. This profitability didn’t change even in the current recession in the global market. The LEGO Group achieved record-breaking profits in
Lego's key strengths may be seen as coming from both its brand recognition and its ability to use innovative
The LEGO Group is a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. It was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, initially a small carpenter’s workshop (Lego Group, 2011). It has since grown into a modern, global enterprise that is now, in terms of sales, the world’s fourth-largest manufacturer of toys (Keynote, 2010). The LEGO Groups core product is a line of plastic, interconnecting building bricks, predominantly targeted at children aged 3-14 years, sold in over 130 Countries (Encyclopaedia of Consumer Brands, 1994). The LEGO Group operate globally in the Toys & Games sector, with the UK market valued at
One of their first patents passed in October 1961, three years after the initial filing date was the concept of the Toy Building Brick. “This invention relates to toy building elements and more particularly to toy building bricks or blocks adapted to be connected together by means of projections extending from the faces of the elements and arranged so as to engage protruding portions of an adjacent element when two such elements are assembled- Toy elements of this kind will be referred to generally as building bricks, and the principal object of the invention is to provide improved coupling means for clamping such building bricks together in any desired relative position thus providing for a vast variety' of combinations of the bricks for making toy structures of many different kinds and shapes.” The full patent will not be cited, but a main aspect of this paper is to find out exactly what DOES make sense for Lego, and this here is the perfect example of a positive play on IP and protecting an invention that was created by the company that could not simply be published nor kept a trade secret as it is their main product that they offer to