lego case study
Throughout the course of Lego’s beginning stages, there were many ups and down that the company faced. A big setback happened for them in 2003 when they faced a financial crisis, which caused them $240 million. This was due to the introduction of computer games, which attracted a large selection of their customers, competing toy companies, and the difficulty of manufacturing economically. After this crisis, Lego was able to pick themselves back up and become innovators around technology, mass customization, and community to enhance and extend its customer reach. To start off their prosperity, they were awarded $178 million from the CEO’s family. This allowed much breathing space for which the company could make a turnaround. Lego workers knew that they had to rationalize and cut costs in areas like supply chain and factory location, rethink product development strategy, and learn new ways of working with users so that they could be part of the innovation as well, which began their user-linked approach. Users have always been involved in the concept of Lego, but after their crisis, they became the center focus. Their earliest ideas in improving were based around digital design. Building digital models of all the bricks and components they created made it possible to explore a whole new field of options through computer design. This ultimately aided the cost and time in manufacturing while opening up the market of customizable toys. The earliest product was named “Lego Mosaic” and allowed users to upload pictures to the Lego website. An idea like this struck a chord in users’ brains and they were drawn to it. Users could design their own ideas and have Lego be the service providers by making the ideas come to life. Due to this brilliant and innovative idea, customers have been a key role in Lego’s prosperity and business strategy. President of Lego Systems Soren Torp Laursen said, “It’s only fitting as we celebrate 50 years of a classic play pattern