A CASE STUDY ON IKEA : FURNITURE RETAILER TO THE WORLD

Abstract : The case study will look into the development of IKEA from a small Swedish
furniture company to global home furnishing giant that it is today.

Keywords : IKEA, case study

CONCLUSION
IKEA business success as has been seen from the case study, is not made
overnight. It took Kamprad years of hard work and risk taking before IKEA become
the furniture giant that we know today. The case study also shows that IKEA is not
perfect and have also had their fair share of ups and downs.
The case study also shows that IKEA is a strong company which have a strong
economic appeals to investors. Had Ingvar Kamprad and his family decided that
IKEA should go public, investors will line up to subscribe the shares. However for the
time being, that seems to be a faint horizon in the far distance of retailing business
landscape. The reluctance of Kamprad and his family to let go control of IKEA may
disappoint investors, but for the purveyors of IKEAs products i.e. the customers who
cannot wait for IKEA new products catalogue every year, they are rest assured that
their IKEA experience will continue and will be enhanced.As stated by IKEA current
Group President and CEO Mikael Ohlsson : fiscal year 2010 was a good year
financially for us sales grew despite tough market conditions in many countries.
Profits give us the resources to grow and reach more people on existing and new
markets as well as lowering prices. The main part of the profit was re-invested in
existing and twelve new stores in order to become even more inspiring and
accessible. In times like this, even more people appreciate value for money in terms

of good design and functional home furnishing products at affordable prices and we
are committed to continuing that journey.

REFERENCES

Anon. (2009) China teaches IKEA limits of homogeneity: Not yet part of the Eastern
furniture. Strategic direction. 25(11). p.44
Bredrup, H.(1995) Competitivenes and competitive advantage, In : Rolstadas, A. (ed.)
Performance management: a business process benchmarking approach. London : Kluwer
Academic Publishers, pp. 43-60
Ferrel, O.C. & Hartline,M.D. (2008) Marketing strategy. 4th edn. Ohio : Thomson
Southwestern
Grol, P., Schoch. C. & CPA (1998) IKEA : Managing cultural diversity, In : Oddou, G. &
Meddenhall, M. (eds.) Cases in international organizational behavior. Massachusetts :
Blackwell Publishers Ltd,pp.88-112
Gupta, A.K.,Govindarajan, V. & Wang, H.(2008) The quest for global dominance:
transforming global presence into global competitive advantage.2nd ed.San Francisco : John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Gummesson, E.(2002) Total relationship marketing. 2nd edn. Woburn MA : ButterworthHeinemann
Hancock, G & Bolling,K. (2005) GCSE Design and Technology for AQA : Graphic products.
Oxford : Heinemann Educational Publishers
IKEA (2011) IKEA [Online] Available at
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/about_ikea/facts_and_figures/ikea_group_stores/inde
x.html# (Accessed 25 January 2011)

Kling, K. & Goteman, I.(2003) IKEA CEO Anders Dahlvig on International Growth and
IKEA's Unique Corporate Culture and Brand Identity.Academy of Management Executive,
February 2003, pp. 3137
Konzelman, S., Wilkinson, F., Craypo, C. & Aridi, R.(2008) The export of varieties of
capitalism : The cases of Wal-Mart and IKEA, In : Elsner, W. & Hanappi,H. (eds.) Varieties of
Capitalism and New Institutional Deals: Regulation, Welfare and New Economy. Vol. 69.
Massachusetts : Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.,pp. 123-150
Kwapong, O.A. (2003) MBA concepts and frameworks : Tools for practicing professionals.
Bloomington : Songhai Group
Leroux, J., Thamhaksa, D. & Yokoi, H. (2007) Home Sweet Home A Controversial
Thought? A Case Study of IKEA in Japan. Bachelor Dissertation, University of Lund.

McKinnon, R.I. (2009) Competitive advantage, In : Reinert, K.A., Rajan, R.S., Glass, A.J. &
Davis,L.S. (eds.) The Princeton Encyclopedia of the world economy. Vol. I.Oxfordshire :
Princeton University Press, pp.208-228
Mares, R. (2004) Business and human rights: a compilation of documents. Leiden : Brill
Academic Publishers.
Mulhern,F.J. ( 2004 ) Marketing at retail and marketing management today, In : Liljenwall, R.
(ed.) The power of point of purchase advertising: Marketing at retail. Washington :Point of
Purchase Advertising International, pp. 15-22
Peteraf, M. (2005) A resource-based lense on value creation, competitive advantage, and
multi-level issues in strategic management research, In : Dansereau, F. & Yammarino, F.J.
(eds.) Research in multi-level issues : Multi-level issues in strategy and methods. Vol. 4.
Oxford : Elsevier Ltd,pp. 177-188

Private Man Behind Private IKEA Keeps Tight Grip on Growing Empire," South China
Morning Post, July 30, 1998
Regan, W.J. (1963) Self-service in Retailing, The Journal of Marketing. 27(3).pp. 57-62
Acra, S. & Fischer, T. (2008) The Effect of Culture on Retail Customer Service Expectations:
A Case Study of H&M in the US and Sweden. Lund : Lund University
Rosenhauer, S. (2005) Profit is a wonderful word : IKEA strategy behind the
profit.Norderstedt,Germany : Grin
Rothacher, A. (2004) Corporate cultures and global brands. Singapore : World Scientific
Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.,pp.115
Shih, S.C. (2007) Integrated E-enterprise supply chain security design and implementation,
In : Wang, W.Y.C., Heng,M.S.H. & Chau, P.Y.K (eds.) Supply chain management: issues in
the new era of collaboration and competition.Hershey : Idea Group Publishing, pp. 286-312
Simchi-Levi, D.,Kaminsky, P. & Simchi-Levi, E. (2004) Managing the supply chain: the
definitive guide for the business professional. Ohio : McGraw-Hill Company

Dunne,P.M. & Lusch, R.F. (2008) Retailing .6th edn. Ohio:Thomson South-Western
Ward, A.(2011) Retail and consumer : IKEA takes cautious approach on China, Financial
Times

[Online].

Available

at

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3ee8a40-1f42-11e0-8c1c-

00144feab49a.html#axzz1CQVg99gn (Accessed : 25 Januari 2011)