This case charts the development of LEGO MINDSTORMS-a product built around a programmable LEGO brick containing a computer chip–which bridges the toy and computer industries. LEGO established a strategic project team to develop this idea into a marketable product, which the MINDSTORMS team did while operating at extremely high speed and using what LEGO’s “core business” would consider highly non-traditional management techniques. The core business operation is also described, along with some of the change initiatives it had undertaken. The case ends with a senior management dilemma: should the MINDSTORMS business and team be integrated into LEGO’s core operations following its successful launch, or should MINDSTORMS be set up as a separate business within the LEGO Group?
