Case studies are an essential learning strategy in business classes as they provide an opportunity for you to critically analyze events that have taken place in real-life businesses. This develops your critical thinking and research skills as you research the competition and industry in which your business resides in order to formulate a recommendation for the challenges faced by the company.
For this unit, review the Marketing Spotlight: LEGO case study in Chapter 5 of your textbook. This assignment will be comprised of two parts; one part will ask you to respond to questions, and the other will require you to complete a case analysis.
Part 1
Evaluate this case and respond to each of the following questions using both theory and practical managerial thinking.
How does LEGO manage to constantly reinvent its business?
What role did marketing research play in LEGO’s market success?
What differentiates LEGO from its competitors? Is LEGO’s competitive advantage sustainable?
Review any potential ethical implications with LEGO. How are they aligning with good ethical practices?
Your Part 1 response must be at least two pages in length. Follow APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment. Note that you will submit Part 1 and Part 2 in one document.
Part 2
Complete a case analysis of LEGO. This requires that you conduct research on LEGO beyond the case study material in the textbook. In the case analysis, you will look at the situational analysis, problem, and alternatives, and you will provide a recommendation. Refer to the instructions below as you construct your analysis.
Situational Analysis
Discuss the external environment through the compilation of a PEST (political, economic, sociocultural, and technology) analysis.
Discuss the internal and external environment through the compilation of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis.
Problem
Identify at least one organizational problem that LEGO is currently having or one that you project it will have in the future. Base this on your research and critical thinking.
Alternatives
Compile three or four potential marketing-related solutions to the problem above. Remember that these are potential alternatives; you will not select all of the alternatives to solve the problem.
Recommendation (Marketing Strategy)
Select one or two of the alternatives above to solve the problem that you identified in this case analysis.
Discuss your rationale for choosing these and not the others. Include supporting research that will increase the depth of your analysis