Lego Case Study Answer

It is inevitable that individuals will hold differing opinions on the best strategy for their firm. Most people probably share the belief that once they share their logic and supporting data everyone will come around to their point of view, but long experience suggests that this rarely happens. The people who have disagreed with your conclusions generally have their own logic and supporting data. This arises from the fact that complete causal knowledge of the future is beyond us. No-one can say for sure that their strategy will work (although you may be able to come close to proving one won’t). How, then, should these impasses be resolved?
In some cases, the divergent beliefs may be compatible. These individuals may be able to synergise their

As a McKinsey consultant with a PhD in Business Economics, Knudstorp had a head start on belief in expertise. He had profitably spent his time as an outside consultant for Lego over the past three years building up friendships with key players such as Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, son of Lego’s founder, former CEO and majority shareholder, and Bali Padda, one of the seven manufacturing executives. Through this he won a sense of obligation. He built a sense of identification with people throughout the business by speaking publicly about their core priorities, with the brand and brick at the heart of their shared vision. Finally, the authority over assets, decisions and informantion he legitimately acquired with the position of CEO was secured and extended by placing loyal supporters in positions of authority, such as Padda in the role of Executive VP of Global Supply Chain. He leveraged this base of power and influence in various ways. The most spectacular was the rationalisation of their product line from over 10,000 SKUs to less than 5,000. In order to effect this he needed to let go five of their seven senior manufacturing executives – an impressive use of power. It must also have been useful in putting structure around their manufacturing planning process. In the past the sales department had often bypassed their official process and directly requested particular products be prioritised by friends in production. With the help of Padda Knudstorp was able to put a stop to this and take firm control of planning. In conjunction with similar efforts throughout the supply chain this got their costs on a short leash with corresponding improvements in