IKEA Company has a global supply chain with sales in over 250 own stores in around 24 countries across the globe and 32 outside franchises in 16 countries. The company's stores are supplied directly from the 1350 suppliers or through 31 distribution centers in over 50 countries. As a result, the firm's supply chain has an international spread comprising of sales and purchases across major regions in the world. Since inception, the growth of IKEA has been remarkable as its sales continue to increase and grow. As part of its strategy to ensure increased growth of its business operations, IKEA has plans to open approximately 20 new stores annually within the next five years in order to double its sales. The growth of the firm and increase in sales is despite of the challenges in supply chain planning, which makes some businesses to change up to 30% of its assortment….

The company sees tremendous potential in a number of global markets and intends to pursue geographic diversification as the primary means of growth. It is aided by globalization, which has allowed it to also diversify its supply chain. The ability of IKEA to enter and exit markets around the world, both as retailer and purchaser, has been facilitated by globalization. The eradication of trade barriers in particular has allowed IKEA to leverage purchasing economies of scale by purchasing globally to service its stores.
The company has consistently viewed efficiency improvements as a means of delivery improved profitability. IKEA leverages this opportunity by using its buying power, its strength in product design and by expanding globally to improve its economies of scale in countries and regions around the world. Though IKEA is a differentiated firm, it also competes as a cost leader, marketing its products at a relatively low price as….

The stylishly designed, low cost furniture is appreciated by many customers. Even in the recession, IKEA was still able to maintain sales growth. IKEA has used word-of-mouth as their marketing strategy, and customer loyalty is the major component of IKEA's success.

Not every furniture company has the ability or money to develop smartphone apps. However, IKEA is able to increase its sales through e-commerce, which also increases company's accessibility and brand awareness (Ikea assembles record profits for 2011, 2011).

Moreover, IKEA is one of the very few furniture stores that carry a wide range of products with relatively low prices. Although the Bay is one of the largest retail chains, it does not offer a wide range of home furnishing and housewares selections compared to IKEA. The Brick and Leon's are furniture focused companies, but they do not operate internationally and their brand awareness is lagging behind IKEA's.

New entrants of furniture company….

IKEA in the U.S.A.
How 'culture' in the U.S. may impact upon IKEA company and brand

People at IKEA are well-known for living on a slender means, working hard, and being innovative to maximize the use of limited resources. At IKEA, wasting resources is a grave sin. This has become a characteristic of the entire company. This culture of doing things is at the core of the company's approach of keeping low prices. However, IKEA does not compromise quality for the sake of costs. It has a global reputation for quality, safety that customers can trust, and prides itself in providing the appropriate quality in all situations (Daw, 2006). The company's product range is broad in various ways: the situation is the same in all its stores. The product line is wide, comprising of everything a customer will need to furnish a home. The style is wide; it provides just furniture but….

IKEA was founded in the 1940s as a home furnishings company and quickly expanded into its current form. The companies mission is to "offer home furnishing products of good function and design at prices much lower than competitors by using simple cost-cutting solutions that do not affect the quality of the products" (Ikea.com, 2011). The company operates on a franchise model. There are IKEA stores in 41 countries around the world. The company is privately held, but does publish its revenue figures in an annual report. According to this report, the company earned €21.8 in revenues and €2.5 billion in profit.
Internal Environment

Ikea's success derives from several strengths. The company has earned a strong brand, and this means that wherever it opens a store there is immediately a strong demand. People in places with no Ikea know the brand and that pent-up demand allows the company to easily expand to new….

It is also very possible that some questions will not be asked, if person interviewed does not know how to answer them, or does not want to answer such questions.

For the beginning, a first section of questions wants to find out more about the subject of the interview, about the persons' background with the industry (Name, age, company and position, plus responsibility with the company). Also, the total experience of the persons with the industry of furniture in Thailand is of interest. We want to understand such elements in order to know the relevance to be given to this person's answers in the case of opposing opinions.

Next types of questions in the interview refer to the opinion of interviewees about the business of furniture in Thailand.

The differentiation between Ikea and the other main competitors (Index Living Mall and S.B. Furniture) is also tested with the subjects in a following section….

By looking at globalization as a catalyst for growth Ikea has also been able to successful manufacturer highly customized Nordic and Scandinavian designs in lower cost regions of the world (oncha, 2008). This has had the net effect of giving customers the opportunity to own advanced design furnishings without having to pay designer prices (oncha, 2008). The idea of providing exceptional value at a low price is the essence of the Ikea value proposition as a company.

QUESTION 3: What does the IKEA story teach you about the limits of treating the entire world as a single integrated global market place?

The Ikea story shows that by taking a more heterogeneous approach to markets and seeking to capitalize on the unique strengths of each area from both a supply chain and retailing perspective pays off. Ikea has been able to make the highly fragmented global nature of retail markets work for them….

Terminating the contract completely would further jeopardize the exploited workforce by eliminating payment for work they have already done and force greater hardship upon them. The second alternative would ultimately respond only to the needs of the contractor/supplier and would not show the consumer good faith in the situation or respond to ongoing exploitation beyond what the contractor itself deems they can "get away with."
Expected esults and ationale for the solution: Detail your conclusions and recommendations with supporting rationale including concepts from the text or other sources. elate how you would have handled situations, problems and people. Write a clear and concise conclusion. Cite sources to substantiate what you say.

The expected results of the third alternative would likely be a proactive/long and short-term solution-based response where the needs of those already exploited are responded to functionally through programs such as those suggested by Hue, such as an educational opportunity….

The rising demand for convenience is also a very strong motivator for customers as is the demand for stylish but sustainable and eco-friendly products as well. All of these elements together work to further strength the company's position in the global do-it-yourself market.
Threats

The greatest threat is from competitors who are also selling do-it-yourself store concepts throughout North America and also working to create highly effective supply chains. There is also the continual competitive threat of changing customer needs, tastes and changing market preferences over the lifecycle of a customers' buying cycles in the areas of furnishings and furniture.

Problem Statement

Modifying a highly efficient business model to take into account the individuality of U.S. customers and also adapt product offerings to local tastes are both critically important problems to IKEA today. Their advertising is very European-centric as well, which needs to be changed to better fit the American market, where their….

IKEA case study by mapping the facts to the two famous concepts known in marketing, the Porter's generic strategies and the Strategy Clock.
Difference in purpose and application of Porter's generic strategies and the Strategy Clock

Michael Porter, generally known as the king of marketing developed a scheme in which he devised three strategies that companies usually undertake or should undertake in order to maintain or achieve their competitive advantage. The model can be best summarized in the figure below.

Porter's Generic Strategies (Wikipedia, 2012).

If we carefully analyze the model above, on x-axis we will see strategies being devised on type of competency that they have and on y-axis we will see strategies being devised on the level of scope that the company is operating in (Porter, 1998). As the case facts suggest, IKEA had a broad market scope and had a low cost competency. Thus, the strategy for IKEA is Cost….

2) What would Edwards hope to gain from such a strategy?

The new marketing strategy could serve to bring a greater customer base to the company.

Case study: Dogfight over Europe (J.Rivkin, Harvard Business School case no. 9-700-115 / 116/117, rev. November 2007)

1) What is your assessment of Ryanair's launch strategy?

Ryanair ran four round trips each day and offered meals and amenities that were similar to Aer LInguis and British Airways. The company decided to distinguish itself by first, focusing intently on delivering first-rate customer service and secondly, charign a single fare for a ticket with no restrictions. Lowering of fares in May 1996 was met by Aer Lingus and British Airways with a lowering of their fare and in response Ryanair lowered its unrestricted fare in what was termed to be "predatory pricing…to take over market share." The initial performance of Ryanair was good with its flights being nearly 100% booked.….

General description of site The moment you open www.ikea.com you get into a global gateway display. The page allows the user to voluntarily select their location. The page is not country specific. No country, even Sweden, has a preferential billing on the site. To add on this, each country supported by the website is denoted by 2 letters on the domain name. For instance, Germany domain is titled www.ikea.de while France domain is denoted as www .ikea.fr. The U.S. domain is denoted as www.ikea.us (Yunker, 2007). The website uses a banner that covers the entire home page. The banner communicates the niche covered by the site i.e. furniture. The banner also allows the website visitors to easily maneuver to their country details. If the website does not contain store information for the country specified there are alternative details made available.
Beneath the banner, there are country-specific domains with regional organization, that is,….

Executive Summary This report provides information on each of the following areas pertaining to IKEA’s organization, culture, ethical framework, revenue and so on. The following sections provide the relevant data:
1) Organization Background & Benchmarking
2)Organization Background, Ethics/Legal, and Current events
3) Marketing, Financials & Accounting
4) Organization Culture, People, and Diversity
5) Strategy and Planning Analysis—Organization Goals
6) SWOT analysis 
7) Recommendations, 21st Century, and Moving Forward
A brief summation of the separate sections is as follows: 1) focuses on IKEA’s standard store concept and how benchmarking analysis can be used to more effectively harness the firm’s potential in development. It also examines internal benchmarking that is a factor in the firm’s ability to promote progressive ideals; 2) focuses on ethical and legal compliance within the organization and how the company has addressed issues such as child labor and equality in the workplace; 3) focuses on how the firm differentiates itself from competitors, the strength of its financials,….

Future of IKEA / IKEA: Challenges and Solutions
IKEA

IKEA was started just before the end of the Second World War. Ingvar Kamprad who was in his late teens at the time, named the company after himself, his farm named Elmtaryd and the place where he was raised, Agunnardy. Since its inception when it sold household goods, the store has experienced rapid growth, moving from carrying furnishings to designing furniture, all the way to becoming a large-scale furniture seller with outlets around the world. It is one of the preferred stores for value-based consumers.

Factors that Account for IKEA's Success

Many factors account for IKEAs success, but chief among them is the cost advantage that it possesses, differentiating it from its competitors. The firm is known for delivering quality and practical furniture that it customers are able to assemble. The company takes advantage of the good relations with its suppliers, thus, ensuring low costs….

IKEA is a Swedish company that is well-known for its brightly colored furniture and among the largest furniture retailers in the whole world whose specialty is modern and competitively priced furniture that is Scandavian designed. The company boasts of having about 270 stores in 24 countries. The company's mission is to ensure that they offer their customers a value for their money. Their typical customers are young families of low to middle class income. IKEA's success in the retail industry is due to the vast experience the company has in the retail market, cost leadership and global differentiation. On a global platform, the company is among the world's most successful retailing firms as a result of its unique concept of selling the furniture in kits which require to be assembled by the customers at their homes.
IKEA's Core Competencies

IKEA's capabilities have come up from its unique resources and its core competencies….