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Case Study

K'NEX (A): 1991 - product development in the toy industry

By Jacques Horovitz and Els Van Weering

19 pages

June 1997

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Reference: IMD-3-0699

The K’NEX cases (A,B,C) focus on entrepreneurship–both in setting up a new business and in keeping the entrepreneurial spirit alive in large established organizations–and on internationalization. The A case describes how toy manufacturer Hasbro receives a proposal from a Mr. Glickman–an American entrepreneur specialized in plastic injection molding–for a new toy. It describes the proposal, the toy industry and Hasbro itself. The immediate issue in case A is whether Hasbro should accept the proposal for the new toy or not. The more fundamental issue is: how can large companies stay open for ideas coming from the outside. Case A is illustrated by a video interview with Mr. Glickman.

Keywords

Product Development, Toy

Settings

United States of America
1991

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

Related material

Teaching note, Video

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