Lego Group Essay

To achieve its business strategies the LEGO has taken the help of the IT vendors IBM and SAP for the establishment of their IS making it possible to extend more quickly and add capacity and functionality as it was needed. Supporting massive expansion brings its own challenges, one of which is to ensure that the underlying systems can scale reliably and effectively. The main issues with the supply chain management, end customer feedbacks, product profit accountability, spread its market and the various unit functioning etc. had been addressed completely by the advent and the establishment of the efficient IS for the business.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers in the industry is low. There are numerous suppliers in this industry, and the large department stores have the ability to negotiate for the lowest prices. In addition, the switching costs are low, as the products are not highly differentiated. There are a large volume of purchases in the industry, allowing the department stores to exert even more power over the suppliers.

Bargaining power of buyers is medium-high because of the low switching costs and wider spectrum of similar products selling at competitive prices due to the influence of developing countries

The Lego Group tried to catch up the market trends during the period, but they ignored that the industry total profit pool decreased by 50% Between 1999 and 2003. It's naturally for players to reduce mass production and focus on core competency. However, the Lego Group invested significantly in expansion not only in brick-based product lines, but also beyond the brick. The expansion was not focusing on its core competency.

reviewed. This is analysed by putting the article in to a wider debate about strategy, then

LEGO,  like  most  companies  in  the  toy  industry  are  fighting  to  stay  profitable  in  this

There are many barriers to new organizations in the toy industry, making the threat of new entrants low. Lego and other big toy companies like Mattel benefit from economies of scale. An economy of scale is achieved by lower costs through large volume production (Textbook glossary). Economies of scale can occur in many departments within the organization including production, marketing, research and development, and finance. Some manufacturing of Lego products was shifted to Central Europe and Mexico in order to benefit from lower wages and to shorten product supply chains (p. 13 of case). The management of Lego additionally holds expertise on production, distribution and customer needs; which are absent in a new organization. To enter the toy sector a potential entrant needs to calculate the start of production at a level that will give a competitive position and production costs lower than the market.

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

The market greatly depends on how powerful buyers are in terms of their willingness to pay certain prices. The following determines the bargaining power of buyers

More young children prefer the game in Ipad video game and online game rather than traditional toys; therefore Toys R Us is facing on high threat of substitution.

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

The Lego Mindstorms series of kits contain software and hardware to create customizable, programmable robots. They include an intelligent brick computer that controls the system, a set of modular sensors and motors, and Lego parts from the Technic line to create the mechanical systems.

environment in the lead up to 2004. The essay will then go on to consider the position of the Lego group from

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