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Date Submitted: 04/08/2015 09:19 PM
IB 303 International Business
IKEA Regrets Cutting Women from Saudi Ad
Javanna Murray
February 1, 2015
Dr. Michael McGinnis; Professor
II. Introduction
Ikea, a Swedish furniture company, has been scrutinized for digitally removing women from their catalogs sent to Saudi Arabia. Ikea’s original ad depicted a family in a bathroom, which included a mother and her child at a sink. However, the Saudi version of the same ad depicted the same family, without the image of the woman. Throughout the entire catalog all the women had been removed from the same ads they were previously in. When Ikea was confronted on this decision, Ikea apologized for removing the women from their catalogues stating, “[they] could very well have been included in the Saudi Arabian catalogue” (www.wsj.com). Although Ikea apologized for this occurrence, one would assume that their decision to cut women from their Saudi catalogue was meant to cater to the culture of the area they were looking to do business with.
Ikea faces legal and political risk which is the “likelihood that political forces will cause drastic change in a country’s business environment that will adversely affect the profit and other goals of a particular business enterprise” (Hill, pg. 82). Ikea business success depends on the company being cross cultural literate, they must “understand how the culture of a county affects the way business is practiced” (Hill, pg. 90).
All companies must approach these situations with a proactive attitude and be adaptable. Since we all live in a globalized world, companies such as Ikea must always consider how they will be perceived when they conduct business internationally and dealing with different cultures. I will briefly discuss the problems Ikea will face if this kind of discrimination continues. How this can affect women from purchasing goods from Ikea and message it sends to stake holders. I will also identify the goals of the stakeholders and discuss the key problems that...