Lego Case Essays

Lego Case Essays Lego Case Paper Lego Case Paper TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction1 Strategic Analysis2 A. Internal Core Competences2 B. Company mission and vision3 C. Future goals4 D. Organizational Structure5 E. 7-S model analysis76 Improvements9 Open Innovation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 10 A. Organization of innovation. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦11 B. Matrix Innovation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦.. 12 Reference14 Appendices†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 15 A. Memos†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦15 B. Project A Log for mm215†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦.. 17 Executive Summary LEGO Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, and has a long history which started with making wooden toys, plastic toys and then getting to the famous brick. Because of the foreign competition, many companies, including LEGO, had to reevaluate their strategies to regain competitive advantage. As a consequence, the current corporate vision in Lego energizes all employees. Furthermore, the bond between them and top management can make every decision become a successful strategy. LEGO Goals focus on increasing, developing and expanding â€Å"direct to consumer† activities. The company has three main divisions in order to secure a successful implementation: â€Å"Market and Product† division, â€Å"Community, Education and Direct† and Operation division. This report discusses the 7 S model analyses: strategy, structure, systems, shared values, style, staff and skills. Excelling in this areas, LEGO became the fourth biggest toy manufacturer in the world and the brick was called the â€Å"Toy of the Century â€Å". LEGO Games provide the opportunity for a unique combination of building with Lego bricks and social play with family and friends. LEGO core values are: fun, creativity and quality. The company structure consists of the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer and four Executive Vice Presidents each responsible for their own business area. The company has always been a family business and now it’s the first time when an outsider becomes part of it, but with his visionary leadership style pulled LEGO out of the crisis. The biggest innovation of LEGO is the way they work with users and other external agents for development and product improvement. For the manufacturing of new products LEGO implemented a mechanism known as LEGO Development Process (LDP). The company has split its innovation efforts into 8 distinct areas, from product development to business model innovation. This report reviews and synthesizes the information presented on the project, and shows case of the Group’s strategies and vision. The issues of diversity and innovation occupy a central role in showing the company’s values. Nevertheless, the Group must advance and focus on its fundamental mission, adapting to the external realities that affect the market. Introduction The LEGO Group, a privately held company based in Billund, began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891 – 1958), a carpenter, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1947, it started to produce plastic toys, and in 1949, LEGO began producing the now famous bricks, calling them â€Å"Automatic Binding Bricks†. Bricks are colourful and they are accompanying array of gears, mini-figures and various other parts. LEGO Company takes its name from the two Danish words ‘Leg Godt’ meaning â€Å"play well. † The LEGO Groups motto is ‘det bedste er ikke for godt’ which means roughly only the best is good enough’. This motto was created by Ole Kirk to encourage his employees never to skimp on quality, a value he believed in strongly. The motto is still used within the company today. Today, LEGO Group ranks among the four biggest construction toy company around the world. Globally, there are approximately 10,000 employees in the LEGO Group, which is presented in more than 130 countries. The concept of â€Å"Play Well† serves their philosophy for all LEGO products today, a philosophy encouraging children to be open and curious, to stimulate their creativity, imagination and learning – while they’re having fun. In 1968, LEGOLAND Billund opened and it became Denmark’s most popular tourist attraction outside the capital. LEGOLAND parks are family parks in which children enter an exciting world of adventure built of LEGO bricks. There are 4 LEGOLAND’s in the world and soon there will be 5. There is one in the south of England, which opened in 1996, one in USA, in California which opened in 1999 and one in Deutschland, which opened in 2002. LEGO Group announced the opening of 2 new LEGOLAND parks, in Florida at the end of 2011 and in Malaysia in 2012. Strategic Analysis The threat of foreign competition has caused many companies to re-evaluate their strategies in order to regain the position of competitive advantage. The whole purpose of a strategic analysis is to figure out the most suitable planning strategy in respect to the company’s production and people, to set overall goals for the business and to develop a plan to achieve them. This process involves stepping back from the day-to-day operations and asking where the business is heading. 1 Internal Core Competences [pic] All the internal core competences that LEGO promote are properly balanced, adding value to the company strategies. Leadership The corporate vision is inspirational and energizes all employees throughout the company. Leaders are energetic, communicating strategic decision and lead by example. The top management within LEGO Group knows how to help its employees to expect and respect data-driven decision making, by making strategy everyone’s job: the work force understands the strategy and further, understands how their locale, everyday decision can contribute to successful strategy implementation. Corporate Culture The shared values of the LEGO Company within the employees are what link the organization together so that everyone lives the values, nurturing an attitude of relentless growth. Teams are infused with purpose, personality and passion for continuous improvement. Empowered Employees The employees of the LEGO Company are sharply aligned with the corporate vision and strategy, having a decision-making authority. All the innovators employees have the freedom to experiment, fail and begin again more intelligently. Performance Management LEGO Group has two major systems that are performance wise: motivation systems and suggestion systems. Motivation systems encourage extraordinary performance from all employees, as suggestion systems involve them in continuous efficiency improvement. Corporate Capabilities Combining all the structures, LEGO has established strong corporate capabilities on the basis of high promotion of effective creativity, ideas and knowledge. Within the company, teamwork is made a religion and innovation teams are empowered and diversity is leveraged. 2 Company mission and vision For the vast majority of companies, having well-defined visions and mission statements changes nothing. The exercise of crafting them is a complete waste of time and talent, if visions and mission statements are used for nothing but being published in the annual report and displayed in a reception area. In connection to this, LEGO Group has a remarkable strategy of sharing the missions and vision among all the employees and customers. Mission: ‘Inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow’ LEGO’s ultimate purpose is to inspire and develop children to think creatively, reason systematically and release their potential to shape their own future experiencing the endless human possibility. Based on the world famous LEGO brick, the company currently provides toys, experiences and educational materials to children living in over 130 countries. The LEGO Group has approximately 10,000 employees and is the fifth-game material in the world. Vision: ‘Inventing the future of play’ LEGO wants to pioneer new ways of playing, play materials and the business models of play leveraging globalization and digitalization it is not just about products, it is about realizing the human possibility. In order to achieve this, LEGO is: We try to achieve this by providing a wide range of fun and high quality, based on our build system. In the hands of children, encourage products to implement the unique LEGO style: a style fun, creative, engaging and stimulating all at the same time. This activity provides children self-esteem and allows them to experience the special pride of getting things. Throughout the process, develop automatic and informally a set of future skills of ou tstanding importance: The resolution of problems from a creative standpoint, structured, curiosity and imagination, interpersonal relationships and physical motor skills. Building with LEGO is ultimately synonymous with play. 3 Future goals The LEGO Group has seen continued growth over the previous five years, and sales have increased by double-digit growth rates in the last few years. On this basis, seven growth goals have been defined by the company: Increase market share in USA Increase market share in Eastern Europe Invest in emerging markets Develop innovative new products Expand â€Å"direct to consumer† activities Expand LEGO Education The company’s aim is to create growth in the area of educational materials for preschools, schools and educational institutions all over the world. Expand Electronic Activities The LEGO Group currently operates on electronic platforms through the www. LEGO. com website and video games. According to LEGO’s website, its electronic presence will be further expanded, in particular through LEGO Universe – the first MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) from the LEGO Group, which was launched in the second half of 2010. 4 Organizational Structure An organizational structure combines activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims. In order to secure the successful implementation of the LEGO Group strategy a new organizational structure was introduced in Feb 2006 with three main divisions: 1. The ‘Market and Products’ division is focusing in creating value for the customers and ensure a higher degree of innovation. 2. The ‘Community, Education and Direct’ Division is developing the group xisting and new direct-to-consumer sales and ensure that the unique LEGO communities are catered through direct dialogue. 3. In order to ensure optimal operation and efficiency, all the supplies of products via the value chain , as well as the supply chain and central functions will be united within the ‘Operations’ Division. 5 7-S model analysis7 [pic] You can divide the factors into so-called hard and soft factors. Strat egy, structure and systems fall under the hard element because they can be easy to identify and affect. On the other hand there are shared values, style, staff and skills which fall under the soft elements because they can be difficult to identify but are equally important to have a successful company all around. Strategy: The company plan or route-map to maintain competitive advantage Structure: The company hierarchy Systems: The day-to-day processes and procedures throughout the company Shared Values: The core values of the company Style: The company leadership style Staff: The companys employees and their broad abilities Skills: The skills and competencies of employees Strategy: LEGO is always trying to have a competitive advantage. Always trying to expand and get the LEGO band into other countries and have also inspired to open LEGO amusement parks around the world – USA, Germany, Japan and England. Their market share in the US has increased with 5% over the past years and it is also their assessment that it can increase more over the next years. They have become the fourth biggest toy manufacturer in the world and manage to keep their position because they are very innovative and always come up with new concepts and new ideas of fun and play for kids to engage in. Structure: The company structure consists with the chief executive officer, the chief financial officer and 4 executive vice presidents with responsibility for their own business areas. This has both pros and cons. They all specialize in their area and that can be a pro because they know everything there is to know about their area and they are excellent at their job. It can also be a con because it also means they do not know a lot about the other business areas and it would not be the easiest thing to go help the other vice presidents if they needed it. Systems: LEGO has since 2005 been undergoing major organizational change and the CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp introduced the LEAN process in the company. It is a system that has two main areas, customer value and waste. Shared values: LEGO Games provides the opportunity for a unique combination of building with LEGO bricks and social play with family and friends. Players build the game from bricks, play it – and can then build a new version of the game or change its rules. The many games in the series have been developed on the basis of LEGO core values: fun, creativity and quality, and with an appeal to children aged five years and older. Style: The company has always been a family business with a member of the original family at the top, but now for the first time it’s an outsider that has been made Chief executive officer. He has a very visionary leadership style, and you can see that because he pulled LEGO out of a crisis and saved it from destruction, and focuses on how the leader defines the future for followers and moves them towards it, with his 4 vice presidents each responsible for their own business. He carried out the LEAN process and it has shown to be a great success. One of the areas in LEAN is about reaching the full potential of the employees and having them think about improvements regarding the customer’s needs. For this to work it is very important that the management have an attitude that shows trust, recognition and respect towards the employees. The company also has a unique and admirable style when you look at their code of conduct making sure that all their suppliers work after their high standards, and LEGO require that their suppliers sign a statement saying they follow the Code of Conduct of LEGO which is regarding: Child labour Pay and work hours Discrimination Force and harassment Forced labour Work environment Environment Fighting corruption Staff: The LEGO Group has 10,000 employees and they are both experienced and competent and they care a lot about all their employees being trained by someone more experienced so they learn from the inside and from the best. They show their employees a lot of trust so that they fe el confident and like a big part of the organization. Skills: The creative core of LEGO is made of 120 designers, always making sure LEGO is ahead on the toy ideas. Most of them have designer degrees and art school degrees although this is not a requirement to be a part of LEGO’s creative core. They always have to be on top of things and they are very skilled and capable, which is also a part of the great leadership style at LEGO. By doing the analysis of all these elements of LEGO it gives an overview on the internal organization, and it is clear that LEGO is a very functional company with a very capable CEO who is always up front on the marked and trying to make LEGO even bigger. There is always room for improvement but LEGO has a good solid organization for that Improvements Every process produces information on the basis of which the process can be improved. The focus is on continuous improvement throughout the organization through constant effort to reduce waste, rework and complexity. LEGO Company has business process thinking and it is based upon the central belief that is fundamentally the simplicity, shared vision and technology enabling that creates value to the customers and builds a good image for the organization. Integrating best practices Outline best possible strategies Because of their organizational structure with four vice presidents responsible for their own business areas, it could be a good idea to have them work in each other’s areas to get a wider knowledge about the other areas and make it easier to help each other if needed. World Class Competitiveness Market impact, focus on a balanced culture Further definition of client’s needs Development of an Integrated Strategy Built outcomes into new strategies Simplifying the processes, measures, and data gathering for a better action planning. Employee force development Prioritizing the options, resourcing the teams and find the most suitable plan for action. External improvement Developing the customer relationship Long term relationship with the suppliers Customers focus and feedback Open Innovation Since the discovery of its benefits, many companies are distinguished for being at the forefront of work processes and methodology, have opted for open innovation. He who works alone, he adds, who works in networks, it multiplies. The scenario has changed and we need not only internal innovation, the advantages or benefits that represent the adoption of open innovation models in companies or organizations, such as cost reduction, flexibility of structures, accelerated innovation and creativity or increase revenue, but we need for an organization to be more efficient against the competition, both in creation and in the capture of value. What is it? Basically expand innovation, listening in decision-making organizations to all its members and outsiders and not limited to R D Department or the Directorate. Open Innovation brings together innovative products and innovation model business across the R D process. In the research phase, companies seek and discover inventors, start-ups and other sources of available technologies that can be used as a basis for internal development project or assembly. In the development phase, established firms can acquire innovations outside that provide the opportunity to develop new generations of technology. In the marketing stage, it can buy or sell products or technologies, depending on the potential value that can be generated. Open innovation has acquired a new dimension, thanks to booming Internet collaborative tools and social networks. The most important for each organization must be clients, users and beneficiaries of each product or service. There are many cases in which companies currently have user communities of each brand that have given a boost in times of decline. External flows of technology, experience and knowledge through the collaborative work we now, say that open innovation have even become an almost essential tool for some companies when it comes to reinvent itself, leaving behind the obsolescence that seemed doomed their products and services. The biggest innovation of LEGO is the way they work with users and other external agents for development and product improvement. An example of this is what happened whit the product LEGO Mindstorm, a line of building blocks and programmable robots. Given its complexity, users, children and adults, without programming knowledge could not build their robots and make them work correctly and that frustrated them, so that meant Lego was facing a drop in sales. The first step to solve this problem was to seek advice from the outside. They got prototypes mountable in 20 minutes and easy to use for people without computer and programming skills. Later, they took a real leap electing 5 people from their community of consumers, 5 people with experience in computer science, programming and design and were fans of Lego. They worked on a new prototype of Lego Mindstorm, but were not paid with money but with advantages in the purchase of new products that were not yet on the market and free tickets to LEGOLAND. In addition to that, 100 users formed a community of developers. Shortly after the release of Mindstorm, a hacker revealed the programming code and hung it on the network. Lego then saw a new opportunity to increase the added value of their products to share with the world some of their knowledge. Another example of Open Innovation is the website that created LEGO, Lego Factory, where people can customize and design their own toy and buy it. Also, people can upload their designs and if they are good, Lego makes them to sell to the public. This makes LEGO closer to the people and that consumers will identify more with the company and its philosophy. And its a very good method of developing the user loyalty. 1 Organization of innovation For the manufacture of new products LEGO implanted a mechanism known as LEGO Development Process (LDP). This mechanism became a cumbersome bureaucratic mechanism because the workers had to fill in many forms, and each product took a long time to arrive to the market and only a few products were finally launched to the market. This process was modified and simplified, steps were removed, and the results to be obtained at each stage of the innovation process were clarified. The company has split its innovation efforts into eight distinct areas, from product development to business model innovation. It divides responsibility for them across four areas of the firm: the functional groups, the Concept Lab, Product and Marketing Development, and a unit called Community, Education, and Direct. To implement the new innovation process and manage and coordinate innovation across the entire company, LEGO created an Executive Innovation Governance Group. This committee determines innovation goals and strategy, decides the portfolio of innovation projects that the LEGO Group will take on, coordinates efforts, it delegates authority, allocates resources, and monitors the development process through the LDP review points. The four areas in which it divides the process of innovation are: 1. Functional Groups: Create core and enabling business processes in functions from Sales to manufacturing and supply chain. Areas of Innovation: core processes (sales, operations, financial planning), enabling processes (forecasting, marketing planning) 2. Concept Lab: Develops fundamentally new products and play experiences; located in its own building. 3. Product and Marketing Development (PMD): Develops the next generation of existing products and innovates on existing play themes (for instance, â€Å"pirates†), packaging, and campaigns. Areas of Innovation: Messaging (advertising campaigns, websites) Offerings (products, packaging) Platforms (toys’ technology elements) 4. Community, Education, and Direct (CED): Supports customer communities and taps Them for product ideas; manages the LEGO retail chain, the online store, and educational-market offerings; creates online play experiences. -Areas of Innovation: consumer interaction (communities, customer service), sales channel (retailers, direct to consumer), business model (revenue, pricing). 2 Matrix Innovation After failed innovations in different types of products, to make it easier and specific new process development (LPD) for each area, to help coordinate and identify the innovations necessary to develop a new product, LEGO creates the Matrix Innovation. This matrix identifies four areas in which innovation can take place within the company product, business, communication, and the process as well as the innovativeness of the improvements. In completing the matrix is achieved coordinating innovation efforts and identify where they need to focus resources. Matrix also used innovation as a guideline for restructuring the company and clarifies specific innovation responsibilities for each department. This allows each group to have greater authority and responsibility in achieving their goals. It also serves to coordinate this new form of open innovation in which ideas are taken into account and use the work of consumers, retailers, start-up companies, inventors and others who are interested in helping in developing Lego products and innovation. Reference http://1000ventures. com/business_guide/org_balanced_5elements. html businesslink. gov. k/bdotg/action/detail? itemId=1079687246r. i=1079687767r. l1=1074404796r. l2=1074446322r. l3=1079687477r. s=scr. t=RESOURCEStype=RESOURCES http://en. wikicollecting. org/the-lego-group http://cache. lego. com/upload/contentTemplating/AboutUsFactsAndFiguresContent/otherfiles/download98E142631E71927FDD52304C1C0F1685. pdf lmcuk. com/management-tool/the-7-s-model-for-organisational-change http://aboutus . lego. com/da-dk/corporate/default. aspx ouh. dk/wm267615 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing docstoc. com/docs/6899468 http://blogs. alianzo. om/redessociales/2008/08/08/innovacion-abierta-casos/ slideshare. net/dsanchezbote/open-innovation-comunidad-de-innovadores-presentation josemira. com/2011/01/articulo-el-fenomeno-de-la-open-innovation/ www. LEGOFactory. com innovationgovernance. net/legostudy. html innovationgovernance. net/legomatrix. html Appendices Memo To: Meg Sonderlund From: Maria Carlsen Date: October 10th 2011 Subject: My development during project A During the week of our project A regarding the LEGO Group I feel like I had a personal development with understanding and helping my group members. It was a challenge to communicate and work together as a team with someone who is from another country and speaks another language, and is maybe used to doing things differently from me. I always fall into the role of the leader in a group and is used to doing things my way and just had everyone follow me. But this week I got a lot better at slowing down and listening to the others and explaining what I meant and what I am doing so they could understand and also lean. I was really nice to help and show them ways to do things, and I also learned from them. I got better at Word processer by the help from one member of my group and she also showed me how to do a great layout for a paper and a power point. It was a challenge to work together in such a big group and with people that have such different backgrounds, but I really enjoyed it and I think I also became a better team player this week and got better at doing things together instead of just doing my own thing and finish my part. This group came together and I also made some friendships I don’t think I would have otherwise so that makes this week a success. To: Meg Sonderlund From: Hannah-Rebecca Doukhan Date: October 10th 2011 Subject: The memo of Project A During this week of Project A, I have improved some knowledge about the LEGO Group, in constructing a paper and in Word Processor. I can use my class of Communication and Organization to write the paper. Furthermore, I have improved my English and met new people. Indeed, during this week I learned so many things about LEGO Group. I already knew the company because in France we have the LEGO toys, but I didn’t know that it is a Danish company and that it is the fourth biggest toy company around the world. It was so interesting to learn things about this group because it is very stimulating to be acquainted with a company better. Furthermore, for the presentation of the paper, we have to make a table of contents automatically generated by our word processing program. But I did not know how to do this. So I did some researches on Internet and now I know how to make a table of contents automatically on Word. When I arrived in Odense, I had some difficulties in speaking English and still have, but this week helped me to improve my English. I think I have made more progress during this week than since I got here. All the day I spoke English with the other members of my group and I had to be understood by them, so I had to make effort. During this week, I have met some nice people. And it was so exciting to speak with them. They helped me improve my English, they corrected my mistakes. To conclude, I think I can say that this week was a very good week. I learned so many things and it was more stimulating than classes. To: Meg Sonderlund From: Laura Dragomir Date: 07. 10. 2011 Subject: Personal Development This memo has a key role in showing case of my personal development while working in a group for Project A. In the beginning it took me a lot of time and energy in understanding and accepting the others ideas and proposals, but soon I found out how interesting and challenging a group task can be. I have learned to develop my analytical skills and to be more concise about all the knowledge that I want to pass on. Furthermore, I was introduced to a practical issue of analyzing a theory model and I believe that my knowledge in that area has improved considerably. Other than the achievement and improvement of the practical skills I have also enjoyed the social part of the group project. I got to know my group colleagues better than I would have done it in the class room, and it was very exciting to learn about their different life stories. Other than reaching a positive result in the group project we also established a connection with each other. To:Meg Sonderlund From: Maria Enasoae Date: October 7, 2011 Subject: The Memo of Project A During our first project, the Project A, having like task the LEGO Company, I consider that we gained more knowledge about LEGO, we had the opportunity to implement some things from the communication class, and not the last is that we learned working like team. We met during this week; we talked and exchanged ideas between us, sharing tasks that we hope to be fully accomplished. Like every beginning, was a little bit difficult to work with people that you don’t know very well, speaking in English instead of your mother tongue, different culture, different ways of thinking, but I think the end was a benefic one and we made a pretty good job. We worked allot for this project, we tried to find as many topics discussed to lead us to a favorable result, each of us coming up with an idea and finally choosing the one that we all agreed. We learned how to make an Executive Summary, Appendix, and Analysis, how to write them in Word, how should be the page, and many other interesting and useful staffs. Besides working to this project we made time also for coffee breaks and lunch, moments of relaxation in which we had the opportunity to socialize, to find out more one about each other, we talked about us and our personal life, daily life, things that we like and things that we don’t like, we learned how to communicate, and in my opinion the communication is crucial between members of a group or organization to be successful in their jobs. I think now, after this project, we learned many new and interesting things about us, like team, we get used more one with each other and become more confident regarding our qualities and also defects. Now, that the project it’s done and our mission has ended for the moment, we hope that will have achieved good results to be proud of. It was a nice and positive experience, first project like group, so for us it was a first step until the next projects, and our target for the future is to reach higher and higher like team. We thank you all for your interest and attention, hope you liked our project and team work! To: Mary M. l. Sonderlund From: Gustavs Erglis Date: October 7, 2011 Subject: Project A Project A was a great experience for me, because I’ve never really done anything like this before. At first it was very hard for me to understand what the objective was, and what do I have to do, but thanks to my group mates I kind of managed to get through my part of the work. Also I really liked that this was the second time we did a case together, so we didn’t have to spend much time getting to know each other. I gained a lot from this project. For example, I learned something about the strategic analysis, for any means I don’t want to say I’ve gotten very good at it, but at least now I have some knowledge about this. We had a very nice atmosphere in our group, everybody was very friendly and helped me, when I had some difficulties. In the end I can say that I really enjoyed doing this project, and I’m glad that we got through without many major difficulties. To: Meg Sonderlund From: Amador Ignacio Fidalgo Omil Date: October 10th 2011 Subject: The memo of Project A Work on this project on LEGO Group has been interesting because I learned many things about this company and also because it helped me to improve my English skills a little because I have a low level. I liked working with my classmates because they listen to my views and helped me when I had some problem with vocabulary or looking information. And I liked to know the working method of Lego. Learning this new concept to me that is the Open Innovation as Lego takes into account the opinions of its users to develop or improve their products. I think it is a philosophy of work very interesting and exciting to the fact that consumers can make decisions on the product creation process that subsequently will buy. Maria Carlsen Hannah-Rebecca DoukhanPROJECT A Laura DragomirLog for group 2 Maria Enasoae Gustavs Erglis Ignacio Fidalgo Monday October 3rd The group met and got the assignment on the LEGO Group. We all agreed on going home and each find some information about LEGO and come up with some ideas on how to do the paper and which model to use, and then we agreed to meet Tuesday morning to brainstorm all of our ideas and start the paper. Everyone did a really nice job and came up with different interesting ideas for our project. Tuesday October 4th We met at 9 o’clock and started brainstorming and showing the others what we came up with for the paper. At first we had a hard time getting started and trying to figure out what to write in the project and which models to use. After some discussion and debating we made a rough draft of the table of contents and divided it so we each had an area to focus on and also decided to do a little bit of homework each day so we do not fall behind. After dividing the different parts of the paper we could decide to stay at the school and work or go home. Some went home and some stayed a little longer. Wednesday October 5th We met at 10 o’clock this morning and started reading what everyone did at home. Everyone did a really good job and had a lot to share. We now have 17. 000 keystrokes and are almost done with the paper, so all we need is just a few last parts of the paper and all the appendices, and for everyone to read through the paper so we can do the power point. That is what we plan to start tomorrow. This day was a really good day. We worked very well together as a team and listened to each other and tried very hard to understand and explain if someone had a hard time with the language or something else. Thursday October 6th We met at 10 o’clock to finish the paper and start our executive summery and power point. We all had some different ideas of what to write in the executive summery and we discussed a little bit and tried to put everyone’s ideas into it. Hannah-Rebecca worked on the layout of the paper and the power point and the others worked on the summery and the grammar in the paper. Friday October 7th Today we just finished the last grammar corrections in the paper, the table of contents and the last touch to the power point. Some members of the group had some jobs they did all through the week. Hannah-Rebecca worked on the layout of the paper and the power point and did a very fine job on both. She is the creative one in the group, and Laura and Maria C did all the grammar and spelling corrections in the paper. The rest of the members helped out where it was needed and also did work from home like everyone else in the group. This team worked very well! Tietgen Business College MM215 COM 1st Semester Project A 2011 Carlsen Maria Doukhan Hannah-Rebecca Dragomir Laura Enasoae Maria Erglis Gustavs Fidalgo Ignacio Group 2 21,054 keystrokes Meg Sonderlund Peter Storm-Henningsen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ProductBusinessCommunicationProcesses 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Meg Sonderlund Peter Storm-Henningsen 1st semester mm215 21 22