Sustainability of the Lego Company in the Age of Virtual Platforms

Categories: Economy Innovation Sustainability

Essay, Pages 4 (811 words)

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Lego is rapidly becoming an international buzzword today, as the vast toy market continues to expand over a period of a century. Rarely can one get anywhere without stumbling on a portion of Lego or come across through its advertisement and movie which has ranked highly in the American box office, taking first position in three consecutive weeks. The Lego is a Danish toy company that grew from developing small wooden play crafts in the early 20th century to the manufacture of the common plastic building bricks we are quite familiar with today.

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The word Lego was coined from two Danish words, leg godt meaning play well by the company's founder, Ole Kirk Kristiansen.

He then committed the company to nurturing the child in each one of us (Wiencek, 34). However, due to the rapid technological revolution, the business toy company is becoming trickier and perennially faddish such as the Barbie toys. The convulsion by technological innovation is proving difficult for Lego as children today are abandoning the physical world and embracing the virtual platform.

This has seen the company moved to an almost collapsing stage in 2003 (Schumpter).

This paper thus focuses on measures of sustainability of the Lego through background research of the above mentioned problem statement. Having drifted for a while into venturing Lego branded products, the company under its new management, Vig Knudstorp opted to revert to its initial purpose which is manufacturing of the core Lego products. This was a harsh and risky measure for the company but it aimed securing its already established niche in the market.

The Lego originally focused on enhancing a child's creativity through creation of new designs using the building blocks. It produces a range of kits with readymade designs such as spaceships and forts to act as templates (Hansen, 50). However, it insists that the bricks can be added to a child's collection and reused to come up with all sort of other things. According to Knudstorp, it was now time that the company needed to strike a successful balance between tradition and innovation to keep its sales growing and to give its clientele a reason to expand the brick stock and have them buy from Lego and not their cheaper competitors.

One the criterion that Lego used to sustain itself is reducing its production to cater for innovation rather than mass production (Tidd et al, 65). Production of the Lego movie by Warner Bros. also came to the rescue of the company as it attempted to venture into the virtual world. Another measure that Lego undertook is expanding its market to other countries as they had already exhausted the West with a slow growth and reducing net profits. Lego is now focusing on replicating it growth and success in the East and China especially due to its wide population hence transforming the company into a global venture (Schumpter).

In pursuing its long-term goals, Lego has to focus on conducting an external background research to help its sustainability in the current inflection period so that the business can continue thriving. The first source is in pursuit of embracing technology whereby Lego can have its bricks constructed in a robotic form to enhance flexibility and usability. The robot can be configured in a number of ways through integrating different software and hardware.

It can also help interface with other technologies through the use of sensors such as light, sound, touch and Bluetooth. The longevity of the robot can also be enhanced through upgrades of both the software and the hardware. Another source of external background research is considering the manufacture of environmental savvy techniques to enhance disposal of the product when one ages. This can be done through a return and disassemble measure to create a new usable product for the client instead of sticking with a bulk of toys even at maturity. Lego also has to pursue sustainability measures. A background research reveals that through considering the durability, energy consumption of their products, and recyclability, the toys can be subjected to optimal utilization with limited resources which does not harm the environment (Tidd, et al, 16).

Lego should also focus on absorbing the toys as a disposal measure and using the as raw materials to make new ones. This can help reduce its demand for supply and the creation of more plastic. This measure can greatly help increase its profits while ensuring a rich customer base that is assured of a disposal plan once they exhaust the use of the product. To date, Lego has managed to maintain its iconic brand with a loyal clientele through tapping its legion of adult fans who used the toys and feel reassured in buying the toys for their kids is as well a good measure to help distract them from video games and mobile apps.