Ingvar Kampradi: Wealthy Man, Frugal Man, Entrepreneur Extraordinair

IKEA is a few company that shows the business miracle in this century. From 1943, a boy named Ingvar Kamprad, only 17-year-old and after high school graduated, with the aid of father started his company – IKEA. IKEA

IKEA's strategy is derived from environmental conditions; the Swedish company's understanding before customers want functional furniture, the attractive and modern design, and affordable, with immediate availability. The furniture has lost its status as a heritage object, to become a universal object of consumption.

IKEA has achieved success by offering customer value for functional designer products. The cost conscience attitude has worked in favor for IKEA amongst its target market.

Ikea is a multinational group of companies operating on a global scale in the furniture industry, offering a wide range of ready to assemble (Do It Yourself) furniture, appliances, and accessories worldwide. The company is well known and recognized for its modern designs, functionality of their products, quality services, and their eco-friendliness. Within the competitive market, Ikea aims at being better than its competitors in the market, and offers the best standards of services to its customers, as well as a wider range of products for low prices.

IKEA’s vision is to design a better life at home. Making it affordable as possible so that many people could have admirable furnishing. IKEA use function, quality, design and value to obtain their customer needs. IKEA learn to synchronise the contingency of the supplier and needs of the customers. Using that strategy to sustain the low prices. In order to gain a good condition of a product, IKEA go in for highly automated production. Together with mass producing and keeping long-term relationship with the supplier, IKEA is able to prolong their vision and aim to serve their customers. (Ikea.com/sg)

A different approach about Ikea’s success is given by Sara Kristofferson in her book Designed by Ikea, London 2014. In the first chapter, Kristofferson refers to the relationship between the swedish goverment and Ikea.

Ikea has grown into a worldwide phenomenon with an almost like cult following and the world’s largest furniture retailer due in large part to its founder Ingvar Kamprad’s charismatic personality combined with his own philosophy of business management and the Scandinavian style of open management he has parlayed a fortune that will be left to one of his children who has proven their own business acumen by running one of his many companies profitably. According to Kamprad himself in his July 23, 2008 Acticule published by stoked in Major Companies Kamprad states;

Ingvar Kamprad, an entrepreneur, founded the Swedish furniture company IKEA in 1943 (Chu, 2013). Kamprad was only 17 years old when he founded the IKEA company. He named the company after the initials of his first and last name and the first letter of the farm and hometown he grew up in (Bhasin). In the years following, the Swedish furniture giant has grown to 328 stores in 28 countries as of August 2015. This includes 1.9 billion visits to IKEA.com, 771 million store visits, 213 million catalogs printed in 32 languages and 155,000 co-workers across 6 continents. According to IKEA’s website, their vision is “To create a better everyday life for the many people”. An interesting fact about IKEA is that its furniture production consumes one percent of all the wood produced on earth (Bhasin). The site goes on to explain how they optimize their entire value chain to provide affordable quality to their customers. IKEA expanded into China and other countries so that they could continue to attain their goal of creating “a better everyday life for the many people”. A unique aspect with IKEA is their product packaging. The product is a flat package, so it is easy for the consumers to take the product home and assemble it themselves.

There are two hundred and fifty three of IKEA FAMILYs over the world and five hundred and sixty five millions of visitors. The sales volume grow up to one point four billion Euro from 2007 to 2008. “Low price and good quality” is the most important thing to IKEA. Low price is not equal to poor quality, on the contrary, quality show the valuable brand.

Ikea’s approach to ‘DIY’ has been a massive success and they’ve built a strong based on this unique experience, and best of all, its affordable! Due to their approach to business Ikea is “The world 's largest furniture retailer by sales” (Mollnos). Ikea’s furniture allows room for creativity within the space being designed. Their affordable prices are ideal for the average consumer. Ikea has a fruitful way to bring in a younger crowd based on the success of their Instagram account. The account shows rooms transformed from dull and cluttered to organized and inviting. Being able to view real average people who have transformed their homes with affordable, modern furniture is an excellent move for Ikea. When shopping at an Ikea store, the products displays are meaningful and products that coordinate are placed together. This proves to be successful when additional furniture is purchased.

Known as one the largest global home-furnishing retailers, IKEA currently has over 139,000 employees located in 53 countries and generates roughly 39.3 billion US dollars in annual sales (IKEA, 2014). Ingvar Kamprad began selling different types of items and founded the company in Agunnaryd, Sweden in 1943. Kamprad found that his greatest entrepreneurial opportunity was in furniture. Many households at that time were changing from receiving furniture that was handed down to desiring new, inexpensive, and stylish furniture. Kamprad was able to find a business opportunity to change the current social situation since a lot of the furniture was priced high at the time. He wanted to be able to offer his customers a wide

IKEA established itself as the largest furniture retailer in Sweden by the early 1970s by reinventing the wheel of furniture manufacturing at that time. Majority of furniture manufacturers in Sweden produced expensive products with designs that were basic or passed down generation to generation, additionally other manufacturers stores where located in downtown congested areas. IKEA’s strategies which consisted of low cost low priced furniture, brave intricate designs, self-assembly,

IKEA aims to develop inexpensive products doesn’t mean to sacrifice its promise to consumers – “A better everyday life”. Instead of low quality product IKEA tends to deliver its mission by better purchasing management. IKEA spread its Sweden designed furniture to manufacture in developing countries to keep the lowest production cost. With more than 1000 suppliers over 55 countries, approximately 62% of purchasing is from Europe and around 34% from Asia. (5)

The corporate culture of IKEA has a great influence on the company from the supplier to its customers. At IKEA, co-workers are expected to follow the principles set forth in the “Testament of a Furniture Dealer”, while managers are expected to be role models instead of dictators. IKEA’s corporate conduct establishes standards that follow a command that the IKEA business shall have an overall positive impact on people and the environment. IKEA motivation when it enters new markets is not to only make money, but also develop a relationship with its customers and employees to make a better future for many people. However, many of the company’s high corporate standards stop at the many of its global countries border due in part to cultural diversities.

Swedish company IKEA is a mass market producer of cheap and stylish home furnishings that appear to transcend national boundaries. The company was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprada small town handyman from southern Sweden, who devised the company name by combining his initials with the first initials of his farm (Elmtaryd) and the parish (Agunnaryd) where he was raised. Today IKEA’s business mission is clear. In the words of the company founder, “We shall offer a wide range of furnishing items of good design and function, at prices so low that the majority of people can afford to buy them.”