...Executive Summary IKEA is a “privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories”. The company was established in Sweden in 1943 by a 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad, who is one the world's richest people in 2013, the company's name is an acronym that consists of the initials of Ingvar Kamprad, Elmtaryd (the farm where he grew up), and Agunnaryd (his hometown in Southern Sweden). IKEA is currently the world's largest furniture retailer and arguably the most successful global retailer. Being one of the biggest global retailers, IKEA benefited a lot by the globalization of its business; IKEA’s target market is the global middle class who is looking for low-priced but attractively designed furniture and household items. The company started as a home-furniture retailer in Sweden over 60 years ago. Throughout the years with the use of effective globalization, “IKEA managed to increase its business revenue and profit by selling and making home-furniture in different countries all over the world, and it has over 300 retail stores in more than 30 countries”. Other than that, they sell roughly 10,000 different products, which attract customers from different places all over the world. The basic assumption behind IKEA's global strategy was “one-design-suits-all”. This case “IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor ” is about IKEA’s development from a...
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...IKEA assignment Introduction. This is an informative report about IKEA. IKEA is a company that’s internationally known as a retailer for furniture and home furnishing. IKEA was founded in 1943 in Sweden by Ingvar Kamprad. IKEA started out as solely a retail operation, until Kamrad bought his own small furniture factory in 1953. IKEA then started to design its own furniture line in 1955 and opened its first store in 1963 near Oslo. By now IKEA is one of the world’s top retailers of furniture and home furnishings and has more than 361 stores spread around 45 different countries around the globe. (this information comes from http://franchisor.ikea.com/FranchisingtheIKEAway/Pages/All-IKEA-stores.aspx) IKEA is historically known for its high quality items for affordable prices and for their self shopping stores. Customers can come into the stores, buy the furniture they like and take it with them right away. They then have to put it together themselves when they get home, or in some cases IKEA staff would even come to the customers home to help them assemble the furniture. This IKEA concept immediately became a success, mainly for kitchenware and children’s furniture. In 1973 the first store outside of Scandinavian territory was opened in Switzerland and in 1974 in Germany. After this began the expansion into all the markets on a global basis and by 1990 there were 17 stores situated in Western-Germany...
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...Case Study on IKEA Executive Summary The case study of IKEA has been read, analyzed; and the findings are presented in the report as required. The goal of the report was to analyze the case study of IKEA and then to present the findings as well as performing some tasks that are required in this report. Firstly, some terms that are closely associated with marketing has been described and analyzed. In addition to that, those terms are also discussed in relation with the case study. Brand, Business strategy, retail sector, price sensitive and franchisee are the terms that have been discussed in this report in the first section. In the second section, the required calculation for average number of customers of each sector and average spending of customers has been worked out. A new mission statement for IKEA has also been proposed there along with the justification for the mission statement. In the third section, the importance and nature of SWOT analysis has been discussed and elaborated. It is seen in the case study that IKEA performs a SWOT analysis that supports their process of building strategy. Moreover, the SWOT analysis of IKEA has also been performed and justified. In the fourth section, SMART objectives and some new marketing mix ideas for IKEA has been demonstrated. In the fifth Section, the concept of marketing model and minimizing the threats for IKEA has been included and demonstrated. Ultimately, the report contains what were required...
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...Executive Summary Background IKEA, the world’s largest home furnishings retail chain, was founded in 1943 by a Swedish entrepreneur Ingvar Kamprad. IKEA offers standardized products worldwide that are Scandinavian in design worldwide. The unique idea of this famous brand is to offer the option of assembling products to customers. The design of the furniture is very modern and light as it is made of particleboard. The products are of contemporary design and function with the concept that is based on low price. High quality, convenience, affordability, consistency, functionality and good design are the essence of this world class home furnishing retailer. Challenges IKEA faced many challenges in terms of culture and business practices as well as socio-economic and political conditions in China. The biggest challenges were pricing, copycat producers and cheap labor cost for assembled furniture. Alternatives To make the price more affordable for Chinese consumers IKEA has developed manufacturing units in China and collects raw materials locally. Due to country specific environment IKEA chose franchising in China. Because of cheap labor cost of Chinese assembled furniture IKEA offers reasonable fee-based assembling services. IKEA has built its stores near public transportation lines inside cities since only 20% of customers own cars in Shanghai. Recommendations IKEA needs to find more local suppliers to keep price lower. To understand local culture and purchasing habit,...
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...MGNT 3650 June 12, 2011 Chapter 1 Closing Case-IKEA How has the globalization of markets benefited IKEA? Globalization of markets has benefited IKEA by making it easy to expand into different countries. Now that the whole world has excess to the internet, everyone is basically wearing and listening to the same things. This is very beneficial to IKEA because there isn’t a lot the company has to do with the style they originally started in Sweden. With the globalization of markets it makes it easier for customers to buy products from IKEA online or at the warehouse with their country “social” demographics and culture in mind. “The worldwide success of a growing list of products that have become household names is evidence that consumers the worlds over, despite deep-rooted cultural differences, are becoming more and more alike - or, as the author puts it, "homogenized." In consequence, he contends, the traditional MNC's strategy of tailoring its products to the needs of multiple markets may put it at a severe disadvantage vis-a-vis competitors who apply marketing imagination to the task of developing advanced, functional, reliable standardized products, at the right price, on a global scale.” How has the globalization of production benefited IKEA? This has saved IKEA time and money. IKEA has producers to supply each of its big markets; it helps by knowing the styles of each market. For example the producer for...
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...creating this process IKEA is one of the fiercest low-cost furniture competitors in the market today. IKEA’s process for developing a new product contains the following steps: pick a price, choose a manufacturer, design the product, ship it, and sell it. By understanding each of these steps, IKEA’s competitive priorities and exceptional value to its customers, as well as, store placement comes to light. Step One: Pick a Price IKEA’s relentless focus on quality and low prices begins from the very start of developing a product. IKEA assigns a price to a product from the very beginning of the product’s development. Developers must focus on several aspects of a product, at this point in time, including materials, colors, and design. From this price point, developers begin searching for materials to create the product. By using the IKEA Trading Service Offices, developers search all over the world for the materials at the right price needed to create the product. By searching for low cost materials all over the world, IKEA implements its competitive priority of low cost materials from the beginning of a product’s development. Step Two: Choose a Manufacturer Once the materials needed to produce the product at a low cost are discovered, the product moves into the process of choosing a manufacturer. In order to increase its manufacturer’s knowledge of IKEA’s demand and expectations, many of the manufacturers have worked with IKEA for years. During this phase, IKEA works with its suppliers...
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...10/22/14 Cultivating Innovation at IKEA As the manager of the IKEA store I have been instructed to change the layout of my store. Corporate headquarters has instructed to me that the change must be “dramatic”. I will use several steps in order to make sure that these changes are in the best interest of IKEA. First, I will form an analysis of opportunities and identify what it is that I want to do. I will then explore multiple different layout options and then select the best option. Moreover, I would begin detailed planning and then implement these changes of the layout of the store. Lastly, I would get feedback to see if it was a good decision or not, if by chance it was not the best layout, then I would choose the next best layout option. After watching this IKEA commercial of the lady taking out her old lamp and putting it on the curb, and setting up her new lamp on her desk, I have concluded that this commercial is trying to convince consumers that they need to part with their old furniture and buy new, from IKEA. In addition, I found this quote from Alex Bogusky, executive creative director at Crispin Porter, says the "Ikea: Unboring" campaign is trying to convince consumers that it’s okay to throw out Mom's old coffee table and splurge on a new one. While Americans overspend on "fashion" purchases such as clothes and shoes, they still cling to a "till death do us apart attitude" with their furniture”, according to Bogusky. An IKEA executive named Bill Agee, once...
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...1. What factors account for the success of IKEA? There are several factors that can be accounted to IKEA’s success, however there is one factor that can be considered as the key factor: - The low cost approach which is demonstrated by the following: o IKEA corporate culture: even after the extreme success and growth that the company has achieved, its corporate culture of cost cutting sensibility remains the same. Employees and Managers are encouraged and reminded to cut cost by reducing unnecessary expenses. o IKEA designs it own low priced furniture which allow them to cut the middle man by removing the suppliers and in turn allow them to reduce cost which were then passed to their customers. o IKEA stores are strictly self-service which reduces the cost of having to hire additional personnel. o IKEA furniture comes unassembled and in flat packaging. The flat package not only allows customer to transport the products easier to their home, but also allows IKEA to ship more items in bulk and cargo as well as reducing the storage space required for the items. Also, labor costs are reduced as an assembly personnel is not longer necessary and cost related to transportation damages are less frequent due to the flat packaging. o IKEA’s corporate slogan, “Low price with meaning,” shows their commitment to offer attractive and cleverly designed products while maintaining their low cost. 2. What do you think of the company’s product strategy and product range? Do you agree...
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...Case study : How IKEA adapted its strategies to expand & become profitable in China Executive Summary: IKEA is known globally for its low prices and innovatively designed furniture. In China, however, it faced peculiar problems. Its low-price strategy created confusion among aspirational Chinese consumers while local competitors copied its designs. This case study analyses how IKEA adapted its strategies to expand and become profitable in China. It also assesses some lessons the company learnt in China that might be useful in India, where it plans to open its first store by 2014 and 25 stores in 10 to 15 years. Swedish furniture giant IKEA was founded by entrepreneur Ingvar Kamprad in 1943. He began by selling pens, wallets and watches by going door to door to his customers. When he started selling his low-priced furniture, his rivals did everything to stop him. Local suppliers were banned from providing raw material and furniture to IKEA, and the company was not allowed to showcase its furniture in industry exhibitions. What did IKEA do? It innovated to stay in business. It learnt how to design its own furniture, bought raw material from suppliers in Poland, and created its own exhibitions. Today, IKEA is the world's largest furniture retail chain and has more than 300 stores globally. In 1998, IKEA started its retail operations in China. To meet local laws, it formed a joint venture. The venture served as a good platform to test the market, understand local needs...
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...IKEA CASE STUDY by Kasimir.v.k 1) In the early 1970s, IKEA became the largest retailer in Sweden. For the first time, a company changed the concept of furniture. They revolutionized the idea of simple-using furniture. This has been a market niche they entered during the early 1970s, which had an effective impact since furniture retailing did not work well. In addition, IKEA was able to offer the same quality or even better than other Swedish furniture manufactures for a much lower price. This was the first competitive advantage they had at that point; decent quality and low price. Another aspect that led to IEKA’s advantage was that at that point in time, Europe had a much smaller market, meaning it was easy to enter. The key success factors for IKEA were that they have been able to control the customer traffic at the checkouts and the merchandise pickup areas. This was allowing customers to pick up flat-packed furniture to so easily transport it to their homes, while saving maintenance costs. In addition, damage occurred during the transport minimized after flat-packing. The other key success factor was that they were able to compete with their prices in the market that turned them to a leading company in this business. 2) IKEA’s success of entering the European market was due to the low competition. Furniture organizations weren’t that developed and efficient, compared to IKEA. In addition, being part of Europe, the company had a good understanding of what the taste...
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...Scandinavian and American customers, and examine the growth strategy. At age 17, Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA with money (a gift) from his dad for successfully completing his studies. In 1951, he published his first catalog. Two years later, he opened a showroom in Almhuit and soon thereafter began designing his own furniture. In 1956, IKEA started testing flat packages. They designed products that could be packaged flat, which greatly reduced company and customer costs. IKEA opened their first store in Almuit in 1958, followed by another in Stockholm in 1965. Between 1965 and 1973, they opened seven new stores in Scandanavia, capturing 15% of the Swedish market. Business was going great, and it was time to expand. In fact, Kamprad said, "It is our duty to expand," dismissing those who insisted that furniture retailing was a strictly local business (Ingvar Kamprad and IKEA, 1996). Moving full steam ahead, Kamprad purchased a faltering IKEA franchise in Canada in 1979. Within 3 years, the canadian store was a lucrative business, and the management team set their sights on the Unites States. By 2002, the IKEA Group was the world's leading furniture retailer (Ingvar Kamprad and IKEA, 1996). Their 154 stores, across 22 countries, and 286 million customers made up gross sales of $12 billion. IKEA's Culture, Philosophy, and Strategy IKEA's founder once said, "The true IKEA spirit is founded on our enthusiasm, on our constant will to...
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...IKEA Case Study 12/31/2009 GAPR09RM085 Riddhima Chopra IKEA Case Study December 31, 2009 Table of Contents About....................................................................................................................................................... 3 History ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 Corporate Structure ................................................................................................................................ 4 Vision and Mission .................................................................................................................................. 4 The IKEA Concept .................................................................................................................................... 5 IKEA Range .............................................................................................................................................. 5 IKEA Store................................................................................................................................................ 6 Design.................................................................................................................................................. 6 Location.........................................................................................................................................
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...Management IKEA Case Study Sharleen Suwaris-SUSND11 Sharleen Suwaris Executive Summary The following is an analysis of the IKEA case study found in the Strategic Management Text book. This analyses the strategies used by IKEA to gain competitive advantage in markets outside its original area. The report begins by providing a background into IKEA. It studies International Business Level Strategy and the three international corporate level strategies. The case study goes into informing its target market and pricing strategy, which is already discussed. This case study further says how different people in different parts of the world thinks about IKEA, how elegant their designs are and how affordable for them to purchase IKEA products. Some of IKEA’s main markets are in three of the fastest growing markets such as Russia, US and China. IKEA store bring out products such as furniture to small product like a scented candle. IKEA has over 1300 suppliers in about 53 countries. They further have 12 full time in- house designers with 80 free lancers and other production workers to identify the correct raw materials and produce products efficiently and cost effectively. Primarily, IKEA produced standardized products however; this international strategy did not work for one of its vital markets that is, US. Therefore, they had to emphasize on taking corrective actions. The report also analyses the entry methods used by IKEA and its sustainability. IKEA Case Study 2 ...
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...IKEA was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kampard and focuses on stylish but inexpensive Scandinavian furniture targeted at low to mid income families. In 1956, IKEA adopted the concept of self-assembly by opening a self-service open warehouse. Internationalisation began in 1973 and now IKEA is operational in 22 countries with 178 stores, having over 70,000 staff under employment. IKEA is able to maintain low-cost without sacrificing quality and offers great design to keep customers coming back. Instead of having its own manufacturing facilities, IKEA subcontracts manufacturers. and also engages customers as pro-sumers, where they both consume and partake in the production process. Finally, IKEA has one of the most efficient internal production system. In addition, to maintain the cost leadership, IKEA’s suppliers are located in low cost nations with close proximity to raw materials and reliable access to distribution channels. Also, IKEA utilises economies of scale and competitive advantages as they look for suppliers that produce highly standardised products intended for the global market. IKEA is able to keep customers coming back with its effective marketing shown in its eye catching catalogues, good service and strong in stock position as the most popular styles and design trends are continuously anticipated. With these three aspects, IKEA is able to attract its customers, keep the customers coming back and keep the customers satisfied. While there have been successes, there...
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...firm-specific advantages? Country - specific advantages? IKEA’s firm and country specific advantages could be the following: IKEA sells the same furniture all over the world, so IKEA rips huge economies of scale from the size of its stores and the big production runs necessary to stock them. IKEA also offers a low competitive price because of the economies of scale (30% lower than competitors) Exclusive relationship between IKEA and its suppliers, offering modern and exclusive designs for IKEA. Designers also work closely with suppliers, keeping the costs low. Ready-to-assemble kits help to stack products in shelves in order to maintain larger inventories. The cash and carry shopping formula; you can go to the rack directly to collect the product and go home to build it by yourself. Successful use of the word of mouth and the use of catalogues in order to reduce the advertising costs. IKEA has simple and plain staff levels, lowering the fixed costs and giving more freedom to its employees. This management structure also helps making decisions in a faster way. 2. What are the cultural factors that make expansion abroad in retailing difficult? What has made it possible in IKEA’s case? Ikea has encountered many problems when entering the U.S. market because it had to adapt its products and its shopping style to the American standards. IKEA had to redesign its beds because the American citizens were not buying the European size beds (Beds in America are wider than...
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