IKEA Assignment 2 Chamara Amarasinghe ECU10201793
IKEA Assignment 2 Chamara Amarasinghe ECU10201793
IKEA Assignment 2 Chamara Amarasinghe ECU10201793
Executive Summary
The key intention of this report is to conduct a strategic analysis of IKEA’s business strategy,
organisational structure, organisational leadership style, the founders’ leadership style they
follow still and to identify the areas of the organisation where they need to reorganise. As a
market leader in all around the world IKEAs’ market is outsized. Due to that as identified in
the first part of the thesis the external and internal environment is covered by varies forces
that makes IKEAs’ business more complex.
This report has identified the current strategy of IKEA by using the appropriate theories and
models where I have consider about the data available in their web site also. As IKEA is a
very large company which deals with more than 410 million shoppers per year strategic area
that IKEA should improve in order to overcome the challenges they face in the market
currently have been identify using the SWOT and the PESTEL analysis of the previous report.
Being a company which manufacturer and retail furniture in a large scale, IKEA is directly
affect to the world reduction of the forest. Due to these reasons to make the brand image
positive in the customers mind, as a company IKEA has started number of projects to
protect the environment such as reduce the gas emission, using plastic and etc to make
furniture with wood and using public transport whenever they can.
As a company that has a unique concept, well trained employees, a challenging pricing
strategy, when analysing and identifying the IKEAs’ strategy I could identify that all the
factors for the growth of the company is in a positive side.
Nowadays due to the dynamic environment strategic management plays a vital role in the
successfully operating organizations. Further it plays an essential part of the organizations
to achieve their goal successfully. So after identifying and analysing the organisational
structure, system, business strategy and the leadership style, I have presented some
recommendations for the company to improve its operations further.
Table of Contents
2.3 What customer and geographic markets does it plan to service? ............................ 6
2.4 What generic strategy does it plan to follow to position itself uniquely against
competitors? ..................................................................................................................... 6
1.0 Introduction
The main purposes of this assignment is to analyse and identify the IKEA’s current strategic
choices, identify the barriers and issues for implementing the strategies and recommending
some strategic initiatives and areas for improving the strategy implementation for IKEA.
This report is based on the information about IKEA (Appendix 01) in Helsingborg, Sweden in
2005. According to the information in the case study, IKEA has to face some critical issues
such as re-entering into the Japanese market, intensity of competition, keeping the core
founding values alive and the risk of drifting into the stuck in the middle situation etc.
Where are we now, where do we want to be, how do we get there and how do we ensure
our arrival are the main problems in selecting the strategy. In the first (previous) report the
answer for the first problem was provided by conducting a situational analysis for IKEA and
generating a SWOT. In this report, the other areas also will be covered with the use of
models and frameworks such as Ansoff’s matrix, value chain, strategic clock etc and new
strategic options will be recommended for IKEA as the final outcome.
Services: IKEA provides retailing service for furniture plus other household products.
2.4 What generic strategy does it plan to follow to position itself uniquely
against competitors?
IKEA was following the “cost leadership” as its competitive strategy sometimes back, but to
position itself uniquely against the competition, a hybrid strategy is followed at present
(Appendix 04). IKEA is trying to achieve the “best cost provider” status by lowering the costs
through value leveraging and increasing the value (Appendix 06) through differentiation,
simultaneously.
IKEA has a divisional or product based structure at present (Appendix 07). Though it’ll help
to strategy implementation through efficiency, the effectiveness may be decreased due to
the competition among divisions for the centralised resources. Since providing more
resources for each department is unfeasible at the moment due to the cost reasons, the
current organisational structure can be identified as a drawback for the strategy
implementation in IKEA.
The leadership can be the path to success for an organisation whereas it can be the path to
failure for another. There’s no doubt that the leadership of Ingvar Kamprad was the key
success factor of IKEA, but it should be taken into account that the style of the leadership is
ECU 10201793 | Chamara Sampath Amarasinghe 7
Assignment 02 : IKEA STRATEGY IDENTIFICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION
The main leadership activities are direct action, managing people and managing
information, but there’s something special in IKEA, which is the leading by example. As an
example, at IKEA frugality is not limited to the organisation’s red tape. The top management
including the CEO is practising it in the real life to be examples for lower level staff members
to follow. “It helps that frugality is as deeply ingrained in the corporate DNA as the
obsession with design. Managers fly economy, even top brass.”
He doesn’t have his own office room and he always stands out among other corporate
executives
Always think from both the employee and customer perspective before spending money
He always tries to go for the best deal possible when purchasing products and services
for the business as well as for his personal use
His vision is one with no limits and he always dreams for more
5.0 Recommendation
Since the timber is the only major weakness that IKEA has, it’ll be recommended to make
use of its biggest strength, the creative designing team to overcome the issue.
It’ll be recommended to provide the customers video recorded instructions with the
product and upload those instructions to social networking sites. Through that IKEA can
reduce the cost of advertising, printing and can increase the customer satisfaction by
identifying and satisfying their needs before the competitors. As the threats in the
ecological environment have the potential of becoming serious issues, it is advisable to use
the strength of the designing team to come up with suitable, feasible and acceptable
solutions beforehand.
It’ll be recommended to have backup plans if the company drifted into the suck in the
middle situation due to the hybrid strategy. But, do not try to change the strategy as it’s one
of the major sources of IKEA’s competitive advantages.
5.5 Diversification
IKEA can diversified through backward integration and try to produce timber for themselves.
It’ll help them to reduce their raw material costs further as well as to get rid of the bottle
neck in timber supply.
6.0 Conclusion
The main purposes of this assignment is to analyse and identify the IKEA’s current strategic
choices, identify the barriers and issues for implementing the strategies and recommending
some strategic initiatives and areas for improving the strategy implementation for IKEA.
To identify the current strategy the five questions were taken into account. After identifying
the current strategy, the issues for implementation of the strategy were identified through
analysing the IKEA’s organisational structure and leadership styles. Some recommendations
were proposed after identifying the key success factors for IKEA, which will be useful for
improving the IKEA’s strategy implementation.
7.0 References
(n.d.). Retrieved September 26, 2010, from Profex:
http://www.profex.co.uk/images/pdf%20files/Foundation/44BOP04Specimen.pdf
Eisenhower, D. D. (n.d.). What is leadership? Retrieved September 25, 2010, from Mind
Tools: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_41.htm
Hubbard, G., Rice,J., & Beamish, P. (2008). Strategic Management: Thinking, Analysis, Action
(3rd ed.). NSW: Perason Education Australia.
Welcome to The Times 100. (n.d.). Retrieved 08 11, 2010, from www.thetimes100.co.uk:
http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/case-study--swot-analysis-sustainable-business-planning--
110-368-2.php
Suuronen, H. Z. (n.d.). Leader of the future. Retrieved September 27, 2010, from Henric
Suuronen: http://www.henricsuuronen.com/portfolio/leaderfuture.pdf
Zakomurnaya, E. (2007, April 03). Ingvar Kamprad, Founder, IKEA. Retrieved September 27,
2010, from Good 2 Work: http://www.good2work.com/article/3391
8.0 Appendices
IKEA is an internationally known home furnishing retailer. It has grown rapidly since it was
founded in 1943. Today it is the world's largest furniture retailer, recognised for its
Scandinavian style. The majority of IKEA's furniture is flat-pack, ready to be assembled by
the consumer. This allows a reduction in costs and packaging. IKEA carries a range of 9,500
products, including home furniture and accessories. This wide range is available in all IKEA
stores and customers can order much of the range online through IKEA’s website. There are
18 stores in the UK to date, the first of which opened in Warrington in 1987. (Welcome to
The Times 100)
Vision: The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. (About us)
Strengths
The IKEA culture itself is strength for IKEA as it supports the IKEA’s competitive position.
The culture and the method of packing the furniture (flat packed) are huge strengths
which helps the company to reduce their operational costs (value leveraging).
The IKEA brand itself is strength for IKEA. It’s a world renowned brand for low price
quality furniture. “Awareness of our brand is much bigger than the size of our company”
– CEO, Anders Dahlvig.
When IKEA was leveraging value, all the costs were reduced except the designing cost.
IKEA increased the cost of designing rather than reducing it. Today IKEA has the best
designing team; they are the dominant factor of IKEA’s success.
Successfully implementing the hybrid strategy without drifting into a stuck in the middle
situation has created an unique strength for IKEA which can’t be easily imitated by the
competitors
IKEA’s price reduction strategy is strength for the company as the competitors cannot
beat the price of IKEA since it’s slashing off 2 – 3 percent from overall prices in every
year.
Weaknesses
The main row material, timber is the bottle neck in IKEA’s operations. Even the high
timber prices are also a huge issue for IKEA.
Niche market – the minimalist design doesn’t appeal to everyone.
Product and style selection is limited.
Opportunities
Low inflation rate will be an opportunity for IKEA as it’ll maintain constant prices for raw
materials.
Holding hands with EU will create opportunities for IKEA, as it allows the company to
buy raw materials and labour from members of EU without any extra tax.
Threats
High taxation can create threats for IKEA as it can increases the overall cost which
conversely affect the furniture prices.
Preferences over paperless processes can create a threat for IKEA, as the company is
giving the catalogues and furniture building instructions in printed form.
Deforestation will be a huge threat for IKEA as its main source of raw materials is timber.
Higher level of industry rivalry can be a threat for IKEA as they might have to sacrifice
their profit margins to beat the competition.
Figure 3.1
Low inflation
Threats (T)
High taxation
Identify new materials that
Use the designing team to
Preferences over develop new styles that
can replace the timber to
overcome the poor timber
paperless processes consume lesser timber to
supply and the
face the deforestation.
deforestation issue.
Deforestation
Increasing competition
Competitive Advantage
Narrow Differentiation
Cost Focus
Focus
Figure 4.1
Cost Leadership:
The product will be manufactured at a cheaper cost than the competitors. Only one firm can
be the lowest cost provider in an industry.
Differentiation:
The product is different from the competitors’ products. Product quality, brand name,
product innovation etc help organisations to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Cost Focus:
Cost based competitive strategy for small or niche market.
Differentiation Focus:
Differentiating the products for a small or a niche market.
Best Cost:
Combination of low cost and differentiation, but not lowest cost or highest differentiation.
Product
New Product
Diversification
Development
Market Penetration:
IKEA is running sales promotions to penetrate the market and customers are pretty
much attracted to those.
Many facilities are provided in IKEA stores to make shopping at IKEA a leisure activity
and through that the company is expecting more sales from the customers.
Cross trading also allows IKEA to penetrate the market by getting more from the existing
customers.
Market Development:
IKEA is continuously expanding to new geographical markets and there are 226 stores in
Europe, Asia, Australia and US, 19 are set to open in next year; 2006.
Product Development:
IKEA is continuously developing new products cheaper and cheaper to cater the needs
of their customers.
Diversification:
IKEA has diversified from the retailer status to the manufacturer (backward integration).
INFRASTRUCTURE
HRM
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
Profits
PROCUREMENT
Figure 6.1
IKEA
Org. Size
Maturity
Stage
Shakeout
Stage Declining
Stage
Growth
Stage
Introductory
Stage
Org. Life
Simple Functional Divisional SBU Matrix
structure structure structure structure structure
IKEA is in the Shakeout stage, which is just before the maturity and it has a divisional or
product base structure.
Figure 7.2
Source: http://stevenclark.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/d.gif
(Profex)
Figure 7.3
Systems
Operating systems
Information systems
Control systems
Reward systems
Kamprad's vision has always been the driving force of the IKEA's success. He believes that
the company exists not just to improve people's lives, but to improve the people
themselves. The core of the IKEA idea is "democratic design": the trinity of attractive form,
inexpensive production, and high function. That idea, combined with what Kamprad calls
"the underdog's obsession with always doing the opposite of what others were doing,"
propelled him along a path of constant innovation and experimentation.
"We are a concept company," used to say Ingvar Kamprad. IKEA's concept is articulated in a
document drafted by him in 1976: "a furniture dealer's testament." It outlines a set of nine
commandments including perpetuation of the "IKEA spirit" of enthusiasm, thrift,
responsibility, humbleness, and simplicity; and "always asking why we are doing this or that
. . . refusing to accept a pattern simply because it is well established."
Striving for being as egalitarian as his brand, Kamprad insists on flying economy class, taking
the subway to work, driving a 15-year-old Volvo and encouraging IKEA employees to write
on both sides of a paper. He also asserts that his home is furnished mostly with IKEA
products. Kamprad also has been known to visit IKEA for a cheap meal and to buy Christmas
presents in the post-Christmas sales.
Kamprad has been extremely shrewd in creating IKEA's organizational structure. In 1982 he
established an intricate system of foundations, trusts, and holding companies to avoid high
taxes and ensure that IKEA could not be broken up by family fighting. Rather than face the
prospect of watching his life's work destroyed by a succession battle among his three sons,
Kamprad split the company in three, restricting his children's ability to change his vision
fundamentally. He has repeatedly resisted pressure to take the company public, feeling that
it would slow its decision-making processes that have allowed its phenomenal growth.
(Zakomurnaya, 2007)
Concern for
People Participative Team based
leadership style leadership style
Ingvar Kamprad
Directive
leadership style
Concern for
Figure 9.1
Figure 10.1
Source: http://blogs.southworks.net/vfugante/files/2008/09/image16.png
Figure 11.1
Source: http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_7S.html
IKEA
Figure 12.1
Source: http://www.marketingteacher.com/image/content/bowmans_lesson.gif
Efficiency
improvement
Single loop
Effectiveness improvement
Double loop
Triple loop
Figure 13.1
Source: http://www.mindtools.com/media/Diagrams/CulturalWeb.gif