Ikea

Business Cases

Subject:

International strategy of IKEA

Name of students:

Eva Borisova 178174

Nataliya Angelova 178163

Ana-Maria Lazarova 178113

Daniel Mayer 178245

Assessor:

Prof. Dr. Michael Erner

WT 2011/2012

I. Company History: 3

The Early Years: 3

Innovations and expansion throughout the 1960s and 1970s: 3

Worldwide Growth in the 1980s and 1990s: 4

The Mid-1990s: 6

The End of the Century and Beyond: 6

II. Environmental analysis: 7

Company: 7

Collaborators: 8

Customers: 8

Competitors: 8

III. SWOT analysis: 9

Strengths: 9

Weaknesses: 11

Opportunities: 12

Threats: 12

IV. Porter’s 5 force analysis: 13

Threat of Buyers growing bargaining power: 13

Threat of Suppliers growing bargaining power: 13

Threat of Substitute Products: 14

Threat of Intense Segment Rivalry: 14

Threat of New Entrants: 14

V. Management style: 14

VI. Operating strategy: 16

Global strategy: 17

IKEA value chain: 19

References: 25

I. Company History:

The Early Years:

IKEA was founded in 1943 in Sweden by Ingvar Kamprad. In 1943, at the age of 17, Kamprad upheld this characterization when he decided to become an entrepreneur and created a commercial company called “IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad.” Kamprad's new company was essentially a one-man effort, and sold fish, vegetable seeds, and magazines to customers in his region.

In 1947, IKEA issued its first primitive mail-order catalog. Then in 1950, Kamprad set the foundation for the future direction of IKEA by adding furniture and home furnishings to the mail-order line. A year later, an expanded version of the IKEA catalog became available. In 1952, the stability of home furnishings in the IKEA product line was solidified when Kamprad took his items to the St. Eric's Fair in Stockholm and won over customers...