Strategic Risk Management at the Lego Group

C OV E R STO R Y

STRATEGIC
RISK MANAGEMENT
AT THE
LEGO GROUP
By Mark L. Frigo, CMA, CPA, and Hans Læssøe

How can organizations manage strategic risks in a volatile and fast-paced business environment?
Many have started focusing their enterprise risk management (ERM) programs on the critical strategic risks that can make or break a company. This effort is being driven by requests from boards and other stakeholders and by the realization that a systematic approach is needed and that it’s highly valuable to include strategic risk management in ERM and to integrate risk management within the fabric of an organization. Some companies are at the forefront of this evolving movement.

February 2012

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S T R AT E G I C F I N A N C E

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C OVE R S TO R Y
Figure 1: Four Elements of Risk Management at the LEGO Group
3

4

ACTIVE RISK &

PREPARING FOR
UNCERTAINTY

OPPORTUNITY
PLANNING (AROP)

In this article we describe strategic risk management at the LEGO Group, which is based on an initiative started in late 2006 and led by Hans Læssøe, senior director of strategic risk management at LEGO System A/S. It’s also part of the continuing work of the Strategic Risk Management Lab at DePaul University, which is identifying and developing leading practices in integrating risk management with strategy development and strategy execution.

The LEGO Group Strategy
To understand strategic risk management at the LEGO
Group, you need to understand the company’s strategy.
This is consistent with the first step in developing strategic risk management in an organization: to understand the business strategy and the related risks as described in the Strategic Risk Assessment process (see Mark L. Frigo and Richard J. Anderson, “Strategic Risk Assessment,”
Strategic Finance, December 2009).
The LEGO Group’s mission is “Inspire and develop the