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¶ … corporation that I choose is IKEA.
My first choice for a merger will be with Wal-Mart. This is because IKEA is based on the hybrid position of Bowman's Strategy Clock. (Bowman elaborates on Porter's Model of how firms can compete / find their niche by explaining the cost and perceived value combinations that many firms use). The hybrid position is exemplified by IKEA employing moderate price/moderate differentiation where the company offers fair prices for reasonable goods -- for instance discount department stores. ('If it wasn't for Ikea," writes British design magazine Icon. 'Most people would have no access to affordable contemporary design" (Bloomberg Business Week.com p.708)). The company works long and hard to identify functional and quality style materials and least costly suppliers. Whilst it sets the price in middle class tastes, focusing on quality, it also accentuates reasonable price tags, consciously showing its tendency to slit prices. Josephine Rydberg-Dumont, president of Ikea of Sweden, describes IKEA's objective as producing beautiful products that are inexpensive and functional (Bloomberg Business...
On the other hand, it is tricky in that IKEA has to constantly slash its prices in order to compete, and this is where it runs into difficulties. Companies need to produce a high margin. They need to demonstrate profit from their business activities in order to keep afloat. Constantly producing quality products (with punctilious care involved in production) whilst simultaneously lowering prices is, as Rydberg-Dumont pointed out, challenging. This is particular so when it means assessing the competitor's price and 'slashing that in half' (as per Mark McCaslin, manager of Ikea Long Island, in Hicksville, N.Y.) (Bloomberg Business Week.com., 709).
Wal-Mart, on the other hand, follows Bowman's Low Price position and is unusually lucky in that it succeeds when doing so. The Low Price defines companies as driving their prices down to their minimum, whilst balancing low margin with high volume. With large enough volume and strong strategic position, the company can succeed; otherwise, price wars can be triggered that…
Reference
Bloomberg Business Week.com. November 2005. IKEA: How the Swedish retailer became a global cult brand. Business Week online, Retrieved on February 26, 2011, from: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_46/b3959001.htm
MindTools. Bowman's Strategy Clock Retrieved on February 26, 2011, from:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_93.htm
Capital Solutions Bancourp. Learn the pros and cons of various forms of financing. Retrieved on February 26, 2011 from:
http://capitalsolutionsbancorp.com/comparison-3
Neuman, S. (2006). Low price doesn't always mean low quality, but it could mean a challenge to high-end products, Washington Uni. In St. Louis. http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/7318.aspx
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