Ikea Strategy Essay

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Ikea Ikea, the iconic Swedish company formed by Ingvar Kamprad makes innovative lifestyle options for people across the world. Most of their business is in Europe and they are growing in the US and Asian Markets. The company is best known for giving people a host of options so that they can have their ‘own’ lifestyle and all this for an affordable price. It is the combination of price, quality and lifestyle that makes Ikea one of the most well known brands across the world. Ikea was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943 at an age of 17 and he started by selling Christmas cards, pens etc. By 1951, he started a catalogue that featured all the products. Gradually he started opening stores in Sweden and then the rest of Europe. Currently they have 230 stores worldwide, most are in Europe and the rest are spread across USA, Canada, Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. On the face of it, Ikea is a family owned company and it is controlled primarily by Ingvar and his close aides, people who have pledged their lives to Ingvar and Ikea. However, the corporate structure is very different. The owner of Ikea is a Dutch company by the name of Inter Ikea Systems BV, the operator of the stores is another company Ikea Group that is owned by a charitable trust, again based out of Netherlands. INGKA holding BV is the parent company of all Ikea companies and it is a registered foundation in Netherlands. The founder, leader and succession Ingvar is the dynamic force behind the company and like other family owned companies (Ikea may not be family owned, but its run like that) the founder is the key to the business. Ingvar has a good team in place that is responsible for the day-to-day running of the company and other things, however, like Microsoft, Ikea is also known for its founder. Here lies a problem for Ikea, the company is ‘owned’ by a charitable trust and an organization, the

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