A Brand Across Cultures : The Case Of Ikea

Competing in global markets entail many factors and centralization of its human resource practices is certainly vital to improve global competitiveness and empower employees for global assignments. To achieve success in global marketplace, the challenge of all businesses regardless of their size is to understand global corporate cultural differences and invest in human resources which includes selecting and retaining talented employee, training and development whilst encouraging employees to be innovative and creative. Employees selected to work in foreign locations should be prepared beforehand with adequate cross-cultural training. For an organization to be successful in the international marketplace, it must be concerned with this fit from both an internal and

In this essay, we will examine the internationalisation process of IKEA, Swedish Company founded in 1943 and the world's lieder in supplying home furnishing at low price with imaginative styles and application facility. In addition, we will describe from the different frameworks that have sought explain the Internationalisation process, the factors that have taken this company to perform its international expansion. From to be a simple local shop in a small town in Sweden 60 year ago, to be an actual powerful multinational with more than 76.000 employees and shops in more than 43 countries.

Extensions are usually introduced as they have more advantages and these can be transferred to a new product, with the same attributes but in a different form.

Given this, the main target of this essay is to analyse the main approaches to understanding national culture and how relevant is such an understanding to an internationalising firm.

This has highlighted a crucial issue for international companies to be aware of the cross-cultural implications in the conception, design and implementation of the various market entry strategies for the Chinese markets, especially when considering the Human Resources Management strategies since Corporate Strategy will in turn determine the Human Resource (HR) strategy to be deployed.

In this assignment, we aim to investigate in which extent an organisation must appreciate cultural differences before entering a market.

Being one of the leading Companies in Furniture, IKEA offers an extensive variety of decently composed, useful home outfitting products at costs that are reasonable to individuals who are attracted to their Swedish design. This is the real trick which led to IKEA’s success, advancement in product design development, targeting proper designers and suppliers to how they offer their products in IKEA stores. Over the past six decades, IKEA went from the cozy forested areas of southern Sweden to being a one of the largest competitors in the retail industry in over 40 countries around the globe. The story of IKEA began in 1926 when organizer Ingvar Kamprad is conceived in Småland in southern Sweden. He is raised on 'Elmtaryd' where he began his entrepreneur skills by selling matchsticks as a source of income where he discovered bulk purchases at discounted rates and learnt how to expand his inventory which in turn led to IKEA. IKEA expands their markets, for example, Japan and Russia. Everything from the

2. When a company grows in size and makes the decision to expand internationally, it is vital for its image among current and future customers to complete projects effectively and on time. Furthermore, it is also likely that such an expansion would entail the representation of more than one culture among the workforce. Indeed, while many employees will be relocated from the home country, a further proportion will be hired from the host country. To facilitate the relations and

Whenever a company is entering a new market it has to take into consideration the cultural differences between countries. Based on the case study analysis, the difference between the two countries in terms of eating out habits and eating preferences seem not to be understood by the Denver headquarter. Denver headquarter believes that it can enforce the same business model applied in the U.S to its stores in China, regardless of local preference. In addition, Foster seems to lack knowledge about the Chinese culture because she was not familiar with the market in China, as she had no experience working internationally. There was a lack of cross-cultural communication between Chen and Foster; even though, Chen had experienced both cultures while studying abroad in the U.S.

The practice of world trade amongst countries has taken over the rate of domestic production. It has led to the free flowing of money across national borders, which opens doors for companies and investors to seek for best rates for financing anywhere across the globe. Such trend is known as globalization and Cullen & Parboteeah (2008) defines globalisation as the worldwide trend of borderless and interlinked world economies, and companies no longer restrain by domestic boundaries and possibly conduct any business activities throughout the globe.

IKEA is known as a furniture manufacturer and retailer. The company is world renowned and known globally. It specializes in knockdown and discounted good quality furniture. IKEA was founded in 1943 by an individual by the name of Ingvar Kamprad. He wanted to serve price-conscious neighbors in the location of Southern Sweden. IKEA was based on developing innovated modern designed furniture. IKEA was also had the recourse to produce in mass produces and venturing early into Eastern Europe to build a supplier network. This was ideal for the company at this time to begin a business. In 1945, the first advertisement for IKEA appeared in the newspaper. Ingvar’s business soon outgrew hi being able to make sales calls all by himself, so he began

In PEST analysis, we will look into what will be affect by the business environment. It includes political environment, economical environment, social environment and technological environment.

The most challenging decision that a company may face in internationalization is the degree of standardization or adaptation in its operations. The question of standardization or adaptation affects all avenues of a business’ operations, such as R&D, finance, production, organizational structure, procurement, and the marketing mix. Whether a company chooses to standardize or adapt its operations depends on its attitudes toward different cultures. These attitudes are defined by three orientations toward foreign culture: ethnocentric, polycentric, and geocentric.

In august 2008, IKEA had total 253 stores where 560 million people visited. Here the total sales became 23 billion Euros. Considering 20% sales profit here IKEA’s average customer per store and cost per store are given below:

The points of the Porter's Diamond are described as four broad attributes. And these attributes promote or impede the creation of competitive advantage.