Poor Americans...Wall Street Journal LEGO Article

[Ed Mack]

Here is an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal I found on my Twitter feed this morning.  Read the full interview here.

[ppsagehen]

A shame that they didn't ask about the fake legos appearing in asian markets and on ebay.

will be interesting to see what the bigger mine craft sets look like and what effect they have on the small ones (if any)

[fuzzy_bricks]

I like the comment about PoP and LR.

[chinothegeeko]

Thanks for sharing Ed. I had hoped for the fake lego question too with all the talk about china. Oh well, good to hear the enthusiasm and the recognition of some flops(lone ranger, PoP) 

 

I'm hoping the mention of success with LOTR will help them add more products in the near future. 

[cladner]

have to figure out a way to start selling legos on alibaba... and shipping to china...

[JRandall]

Well he did kind of address the fake lego topic

 

 

"WSJ: In the foreseeable future, you'll be able to print your own Lego bricks in 3-D at home. How will that change things?"

 

"Mr. Knudstorp: Some of the hard-core Lego enthusiasts might enjoy the capacity to make their own Lego elements. We know that's already taking place today. The question is whether it's a mass market technology. So far, we're not convinced."

 

 

So basically he's saying yes people will be able to use these 3-D printers to create lego knockoffs, but he doesn't believe it will be done on such a widescale to in any way impact official Lego yet.

[Ed Mack]

I guess any discussion about Chinese knockoffs doesn't mix well with a discussion about LEGO's new hot Chinese market.  Speaking from experience, many interviewers are ill-prepared when discussing LEGO, especially a topic like fake Chinese parts.

[Jojoyojimbi]

every company in the world that manufactures in china knows their products are being faked, often times by the same damn factories, it's a term referred to as the "chinese nightshift"  the legit people leave for the day and a second set of workers come in and make the same parts and stuff often using inferior components.

 

the companies won't do **** about it because the chinese government will kick them out of the country if they make a big enough stink about it and they'd lose millions of dollars setting up somewhere that isn't as cheap

 

fact of the matter is that you can rail against chinese knockoffs all you want but until communism actually falls and there's some sort of legit uncorrupt government oversight in china, knockoffs will flow freely out of that country

[binici]

It will be interesting a year from now when the annual report is updated with all the crazy revenue generated from The Lego Movie!

[tractorboy]

every company in the world that manufactures in china knows their products are being faked, often times by the same damn factories, it's a term referred to as the "chinese nightshift"  the legit people leave for the day and a second set of workers come in and make the same parts and stuff often using inferior components.

 

the companies won't do **** about it because the chinese government will kick them out of the country if they make a big enough stink about it and they'd lose millions of dollars setting up somewhere that isn't as cheap

 

fact of the matter is that you can rail against chinese knockoffs all you want but until communism actually falls and there's some sort of legit uncorrupt government oversight in china, knockoffs will flow freely out of that country

There's not much communism going on in China these days. China is more corporatist than communist now. Big money calls the shots over there. I think their obsession with faking goes deeper than some outdated political ideology or dodgy governments.

But yeah, I agree that as long as western companies are happy to do business with them and use their manufacturing base to reduce costs, it seems it's something they will just have to deal with.

 

Amazing how Lego has quadrupled its business in 10 years, from being on the verge of going bankrupt.

[Jojoyojimbi]

There's not much communism going on in China these days. China is more corporatist than communist now. Big money calls the shots over there. I think their obsession with faking goes deeper than some outdated political ideology or dodgy governments.

But yeah, I agree that as long as western companies are happy to do business with them and use their manufacturing base to reduce costs, it seems it's something they will just have to deal with.

 

Amazing how Lego has quadrupled its business in 10 years, from being on the verge of going bankrupt.

 

the communist party is still hugely important over there, the district governors and stuff often times require huge kickbacks in order to facilitate business, they often risk death but the corruption is rampant, from the smallest village mayors on up, if you want something done you have to find the right palm to grease

 

plus the syndicates often own the factories where the stuff is made and either have lines running along side the legit stuff or after hours like i mentioned before, then they sell the products as if they were the real stuff or as knock offs depending on what it is

[legoman12323123]

There's not much communism going on in China these days. China is more corporatist than communist now. Big money calls the shots over there. I think their obsession with faking goes deeper than some outdated political ideology or dodgy governments.

But yeah, I agree that as long as western companies are happy to do business with them and use their manufacturing base to reduce costs, it seems it's something they will just have to deal with.

 

Amazing how Lego has quadrupled its business in 10 years, from being on the verge of going bankrupt.

 Lego is amazing .. I dont think I will ever buy any other toy besides lego