Ikea

1. What has allowed IKEA to be successful with a relatively standardized product and product line in a business with strong cultural influence? Did adaptations to this strategy in the North American market constitute a defeat to its approach?

Standardization - Standardization of products and product lines establishes coordination and control for both management and products. Setting a guideline for business operations allows ease in decisions involving quality control, location and store format, selling/customer service / the IKEA store atmosphere. Also, IKEA is able to remain rooted to their origin and business strategy.

Standardization and value chain - Standardization of products and product lines allow for mass productions of a set number of designs at a low cost. Suppliers are selected from criteria (IWAY), based on their low price of production, ease of resource accessibility, and business ethics. The role and relationships between IKEA and their suppliers directly influences its value chains. Pro/summers expected to transport and build their purchases, which avoid delays in consumer immediate satisfaction. Interdependence between company, suppliers and consumers is lower prices. A set product line allows for consistency in consumer perspective of the brand, it also allows for suppliers to build experience and improvements in their production.

2. Which features of the “young people of all ages” are universal and can be exploited by a global/regional strategy?

The IKEA strategy primarily focus on those “Young people of all ages” which like to buy more or less timeless design furnish for small price. According to the target costumer group IKEA has this fantastic system to build the furnishing by the customer itself and as therefore including the customer in the manufacturing or transportation process. One of the most significant fact is that IKEA includes their consumers in the manufacturing process like building their furnishing by themselves or the...