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At Lego, Growth and Culture Are Not Kid Stuff
Video

At Lego, Growth and Culture Are Not Kid Stuff

An Interview with Jørgen Vig Knudstorp


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Editorial Rating

6

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Recommendation

Lego manufactures a timeless toy that has captured the wonder of children around the world for several generations. However, the company lost its way and almost went bankrupt in 2004. Jørgen Vig Knudstorp led Lego’s formidable turnaround. In this brief, focused conversation with Grant Freeland of the Boston Consulting Group, Knudstorp, in his final days as CEO, recaps how Lego recovered and how the corporation remains a market leader. getAbstract believes that Knudstorp’s insights will inspire students of management and organizational strategy, as well as fans of Lego.

Summary

Lego successfully fosters enormous customer loyalty. The corporation has manufactured its modern toy bricks since 1958, and all bricks Lego has since created are compatible with one another. Alas, in the early 2000s, the company struggled to stay afloat. It had lost its focus. When Jørgen Vig Knudstorp stepped in as CEO to guide the recovery, he identified Lego’s core strengths – its unique product, its customer loyalty, and its large but overlooked fan base. Once Lego homed in on these assets, the business grew for the next decade.

At the...

About the Speakers

A former CEO of the Lego Group, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp led Lego out of a bankruptcy crisis. Grant Freeland is a senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group.