...of IKEA'S competitive advantage? Ikea is a Swedish global furniture retailer, established in 1943 by Ingvard Kampard. It is well known for it’s wide range of functional, uniquely designed, low-priced home furnishings that has 330 stores across 40 countries. With its annual turnover reaching 140billion USD many are wondering what the stores secret to success is. This report will take a strategic approach into analysing IKEA’s competitive advantage through Porter’s value chain model, which divides the actions of a firm into two categories: support activities that can assist businesses to become successful in the marketplace, in Ikea’s case these are Human Resource Management, firm infrastructure, procurement and technology development. The second category, which this essay will look closely at, are the primary activities such as inbound logistics, operations, and outbound logistics, marketing and sales and service. IKEA’s supply chain management has gone from decentralised to centralised planning of its network of suppliers, distribution centres (DCs), stores and forwarders. This has taken them from a fragmented management to a coordinated, centralised supply chain planning (Jonsson, Rudberg and Holmberg, 2013). With IKEA’s stakeholders demanding to know the origins of the supplier’s ethics towards their workers and the environment, IKEA are recognising that their supply chain must be sustainable, transparent and not opaque, creating a fundamental competitive advantage within...
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...Strategy adopted? http://www.oppapers.com/essays/The-Strategy-Adopted-By-Ikea/740556 1 Explain, in details, the strategy adopted by IKEA, and how it successfully did the positioning. *** At business level strategy Focus Strategies By implementing a cost leadership or differentiation strategy, IKEA choose to compete by exploiting their core competencies on an industry-wide basis and adopt a broad competitive scope. Alternatively, IKEA can choose to follow a focus strategy by seeking to use their core competencies to serve the needs of a particular customer group in an industry. In other words, IKEA focus on specific, smaller segments (or niches) of customers rather than across the entire market. Focused Business Level Strategies involve the same basic approaches as Broad Market Strategies. Focus strategies can be based either on cost leadership or differentiation. Focused Cost Leadership Strategy IKEA that compete by following cost leadership strategies to serve narrow market niches generally target the smallest buyers in an industry (those who purchase in such small quantities those industry-wide competitors cannot serve them at the same low cost). Global furniture retailer IKEA provide customers with “affordable solutions for better living” through use of the focused cost leadership strategy. The company offers home furnishings that combine good design, function, and quality with low prices. IKEA does this by offering low-cost, modular furniture (assembled by customers)...
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...answer…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1 1b - Which specific requirements do potential suppliers of IKEA need to meet in order to be considered as supplier? 3 1c - How does IKEA manage the relationship with selected suppliers to ensure that they perform as expected? 4 2a. - Make a comparison between the three offers described in addendum 2. Present the comparison in a table with three columns. Also include an overview of the total costs per potential service provider for the first year. Based on the comparison, which service provider should Jan de Vries select? Explain your answer. 4 2b - Jan de Vries found proposals quite difficult to compare based on the received information. What should he do differently the next time he asks for an RFQ? Explain your answer. 5 3a - Describe IKEA’s distribution network, i.e., its approach to transport and warehousing (outside of stores). 6 3b - What is the role of customers in IKEA’s logistics both within and outside of stores? What are the consequences of taking this logistics approach for IKEA and for customers? Explain your answers. 7 4b - Describe the business strategy and supply chain strategy of IKEA. In your answer, you should pay attention to: - IKEA’s mission statement and vision; - IKEA’s core values; - The (long term) strategic supply chain decisions that IKEA made. 8 5a - Use a Dupont chart to calculate the Return on Assets (ROA), based on the fictional financial information included in addendum 3 in the case description...
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...OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT GROUP PROJECT Report on the Operations Management strategy of Xuan Hoa Furniture and IKEA Prepared for Prof. Noel By - Group 7 - Lê Quang Anh Đỗ Thị Hà Anh Vũ Kim Phượng Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Linh Nguyễn Thị Thùy Linh May 22, 2014 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Operational management is line management of organizations that highly affect the company’s performance. It is a business function that organizes, coordinate and control the resources needed to produce a good, operational management is a business process to create highest level of efficiency and value add. Operations management is a dynamic field and presents exciting new issues and challenges for operations managers. This is also a very important coursework for everyone of us who want to become a successful leader in the future. For that reason, after completing a 3-week Operations Management course, we – Group 7 would like to present a report about our findings on the comparison of the operations management strategy between 2 companies on the field of furniture manufacturing and retailer: Xuan Hoa Furniture and IKEA. Our report is divided into 9 main parts, each one represents a strategic Operations Management decision. And every main part will be broken into 2 part: one from Xuan Hoa Furniture and one from IKEA. 1. General Introduction 2. Operations Strategy 3. Product Design 4. Managing Quality 5. Process Strategy 6. Location Strategy 7. Human Resources and Job...
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...Important Test questions –B200B Question (1): Differentiate between the following: 1. Marketing and selling The Answer: Marketing: Marketing means working with markets to bring about exchanges for the purpose of satisfying human needs and wants. Marketing must be understood not in the old sense of making a sale – selling – but in the new sense of satisfying customer needs. Selling Selling or promotions are part of a larger marketing mix, the concept is typically practiced with unsought goods – those that buyers do not normally think of buying, such as encyclopedias and funeral plots it starts with the factory, focuses on the company’s existing product and calls for heavy selling and promotion to obtain profit sales. Consumers will not buy enough of the organization’s products unless it undertakes a large scale effort in selling and promotion. A selling oriented organization thus focuses on short terms results; because they care only for their sales not for customer’s satisfaction and they are not searching or looking for long term relationship with customers. 2. Goods and services Answer: Goods and services Goods (tangible, stored, production precedes, consumption, low customer contact, transported, quality is evident) Service (intangible, can't be stored, production and consumption are simultaneous, high customer contact, can't transported, quality difficult to judge) 1- Tangibility: - Goods are tangible and services are intangible...
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...Export IKEA furniture products to Egypt Instructor: Bonnie Heineman Wolfe MBA 617: Import Export Management Pinarath Sinluksanathip Munkh Orgil Zorigoo Funmi Ogunwale Nasser Madini Samuel Sandeep Trang Huynh December 3, 2012 CONTENT I. Executive Summary II. Introduction III. Product background analysis IV. Egypt Overview V. Barrier to trade of Egypt VI. Market Analysis VII. Marketing Effort VIII. Logistic and Supply Chain analysis 1. Logistic Strength in Egypt: 2. Egypt Facts from Logistics Perspective 3. Creating a Supply Chain and Logistics Strategy a. Determining the Store Location and Capacity b. Transportation and Storage c. Logistic partnerships d. Logistic Enterprise and Measurement 4. Risk Management Plan for Supply Chain and Logistics IX. IKEA Distribution Process to Egypt X. General document requirement for exporting I. Executive Summary IKEA is a home furnishing company with a fully integrated supply chain, including its own industrial groups – Swedwood and Swedspan. The IKEA Group, directly or indirectly, also owns retail centers, always with an IKEA store as unique anchor tenant. The IKEA Group works in four basic areas: range strategy & product development, production, supply and retail. The parent company of the IKEA Group of Companies, INGKA Holding B.V. is owned by Stichting INGKA Foundation in the Netherlands (The case of IKEA...
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...paper analyzes the global value chains of 7-11, IKEA, Wal-Mart and PPR separately. Then some com parisons is done to analyze the respective characteristics of the global value chain model of the four from ten angles, so as to build retailer's innovation strategy on GVCs. As a result, some advices are given to Chinese retailers for their developing. their competitiveness on value chains and develop so quickly? Since coming down to the status of retailing on global value system, the researches for such questions, as above, tum out to be meaningful both in theory and practice. So, applying the dynamic theory of global value chains, this paper analyzes four global value chains driven by four multinational retailers, in order to explain the phenomena of retailing running to high-value-added-end, and provide retailers with a global perspective, Multi-Dimensional model for innovating and competing. Index Terms-retailer, global value chains, business strategy, innovation, innovation strategy I. INTRODUCTION As a presentation of the terminal industry, there's a more visible trend of retailing running to high-value-added-end from the late 90th of 20th century. In 2002, exceeding ExxonMobil, Wal-Mart became the first of World top 500 companies, which showed that the capital in Circulation Industry has been much more value-added, and retailers become much more powerful in global economic. Taking advantage of capital and brand, some multinational...
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...CONTENT Introduction – IKEA’s background……………3 IKEA’s Supply Chain Analysis……………….3-4 IKEA’s Logistics Activities……………………4-6 IKEA’s Internal Environment…………………6-7 IKEA’s External Environment…………………8 Problems and Solutions……………………….8-10 Conclusion…………………………………….11 References…………………………………….12 Introduction Since first founded in 1940s, with its mission statements to “create a better everyday life for the many people”, IKEA’s business idea has achieved great success. In this report, we would mainly focus on IKEA’s logistics function, We begin by analyzing IKEA’s supply chain, adopted strategy, the internal and external environment. Second, we investigate into IKEA’s logistics operations. At the last part, we discuss the problems of business and logistics aspect IKEA faces, and give our advices to solve them. IKEA’s Supply Chain Analysis For the IKEA’s supply chain, it includes suppliers, manufacturers, retailers and customers. Firstly, IKEA has thousand amounts of suppliers provide raw materials and components for the manufacturing acticities globally. It also has cooperation with a number of suppliers as joint owners or financiers in Poland, Slovakia, Russia and China such as Konakovo factory (Russia) providing four different items for IKEA’s Moscow store, Priozersk factory (Russia) providing five different chair models, RPOFIm (Poland) providing three different types of office chairs etc. This can ensure the continuous flow of manufacturing services...
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...IKEA MARKETING CASE 1. 1. Until now IKEA international marketing strategy has been tightly and centrally controlled by corporate headquarters. However, high local' pressures emerging due to demographic and cultural differences might force the local IKEA shops to take strategic initiatives to respond to local market needs. In this connection discuss the regional headquarters and transnational organization (presented in Chapter 12) as hierarchical 'entry mode' alternatives to the very centralised strategy emanating from IKEA's headquarters. The advantages of having regional headquarters ( feature of divisional structure) are : flexible reaction to local conditions, accountability and be more competitive. However, this implementation could face some problems: strategic focus, economies of scale, loss of efficiency and costs, and finally large commitments. If they pass from regional headquaters to a transnational organization they will obtain differents advantages related to focus on global integration: efficient resource allocation, knowledge Exchange, economies of scale, local focus. But some disadvantges would appear like corporate identity and complexity of the process. 2. IKEA has not yet explored joint venture and strategic alliances strategies. Evaluate the pros and cons regarding these two entry strategies versus the traditional IKEA entry mode of franchising. As we know, strategic alliances appear when parterships between firms where their resources and capabilities...
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...Project Management Case Studies: IKEA and Timbuk2 Table of Contents Case I: IKEA Design and Pricing 3 Case Summary: 3 Key Terms: 3 Case Questions 5 Conclusions 9 Case II: The Tao of Timbuk2 9 Case Summary: 9 Key Terms: 10 Questions: 11 Conclusions: 15 Bibliography 16 Case I: IKEA Design and Pricing Case Summary: IKEA is a Swedish retailer that dominates the home market in 32 countries and is currently expanding in the United States. The success of the company is providing low cost products that include function, modern design, environmental considerations and healthy manufacturing conditions. IKEA designs its products, manufacturing, and distribution systems with the target price in mind. IKEA’s processes and corporate mantras feel unique and cheerful. Both customers and employees count on the company to operate responsibly. IKEA makes customers feel like they are living well even though they aren’t paying for premium product. There is a great deal to learn from its operations and management. The company’s goals have been incorporated into the product design process that IKEA uses. Key Terms: • Triple bottom line – A business strategy that includes social, economic and environmental criteria. IKEA is an example of a company that judges itself by the triple bottom line. While it strives to do good business, it includes a business and operating model designed to minimize the impacts on the environment. The company markets its philosophy...
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...MANAGEMENT TERM PAPER ON IKEA’S SOURCING, DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY AND ITS GREEN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT BY: SUBMITTED TO: KANIKA MURARKA Dr. P R S SARMA 1226113122 MBA-IB IIIrd TRIMESTER INTRODUCTION IKEA Group (IKEA) is a global retailer of Scandinavian designed furniture and accessories founded in Sweden in 1943. It has operations in 44 countries across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia and is headquartered in Delft, Netherlands. It employs 13000 people and sells 9500 home furnishing products in 298 retail stores worldwide. IKEA recorded revenues of $36101.5 million during the financial year ended in August 2012, an increase of 9.8% over 2011. IKEA offers a range of furniture for living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and children’s rooms. Its emphasis on providing home furnishing products at low prices has been the main reason for the widespread customer acceptance of its products which, in turn, has facilitated its growth in various geographies. The company designs, manufactures, transports, sells and assembles its merchandise to minimize cost at each level. To help keep prices low, the group ensures that production equipment and raw materials are used efficiently. Customer involvement also contributes to low prices. IKEA relies on customers to choose, collect, transport...
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...International Businesses Strategy of IKEA –Activities of the multinational furniture retailer Seminar paper in “Strategy of International Business” University of Economics Bratislava 2008/2009 Katarzyna Gawor Sona Halasova Friedemann Polzin Table of Contents IKEA – global strategy............................................................................................................2 History................................................................................................................................2 IKEA corporate structure...................................................................................................3 The IKEA Group............................................................................................................3 Inter IKEA Systems B.V. ..............................................................................................5 IKEA Stores...................................................................................................................5 Business strategy...............................................................................................................5 Mission...........................................................................................................................5 Target group..................................................................................................................6 Organizational structure........................................................
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...IKEA: Ecommerce Expansion/ IT Capacity Management Information System Initiative LASA 1 Organizational Structure IKEA currently holds the position as the world’s largest furniture retail chain, with 332 locations, in 32 countries worldwide. IKEA is operated and owned by an array of no-for-profit corporations. The Organizational Structure is divided into two main entities: Franchising and operations. Many of IKEA’s operations, including the manufacturing and design of products, the managerial operations, and the supply-chain processes, are overseen by INGHKA Holding, which is private, for-profit Dutch Corporation. INGHKA Holding currently runs 235 of the IKEA stores, the remaining are operated and ran by franchises that are outside of INGHKA Holding. IKEA has differentiate themselves from their competitors, by satisfying the needs and wants of their consumers, with upholding a value proposition that is center on providing, high-quality products (furniture), at affordable prices. IKEA’s value proposition differentiated them from their competitors, secured competitive advantage and positioned themselves as the leader in furniture retailer, on a global level, by their value-based services, and marketing mix that emphasizes on areas such as: Location, Merchandise, Store Format, Market Communications, and Service and Selling Environment, which produced a remarkable “brand image”; “The essential role of brands is to differentiate a product or service from others in satisfying a...
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...134 Zara’s Competitive advantages • Zara’s secret, according to CEO Jose Castellano, is its reliance on communication, and the way it uses existing technology to take control of almost every aspect of design, production and distribution. • “This ‘fast fashion’ system depends on a constant exchange of information throughout every part of Zara's supply chain—from customers to store managers, from store managers to market specialists and designers, from designers to production staff, from buyers to subcontractors, from warehouse managers to distributors, and so on.” • Zara has made enormous efforts to ensure that operational procedures, performance measures, and even store and office layouts are designed to make information transfer easy. one of core activities for Zara to leverage its ‘fast fashion’ system. • It can therefore be concluded that information management is I.3 Any thoughts about the company? 135 IKÉA Purchasing Ikea Trading Ikea Prodcut Lines Sweden Distribution D/service D/center Sales Region, country, stores The four basic functions of the IKEA Group IKEA Automated Warehouse 1(240p_H.263-MP3).flv IKEA Automated Warehouse 2(360p_H.264-AAC).flv 136 IKEA Trading • 46 Purchasing Bureau, In 32 countries • 1 300 Suppliers in 53 countries • 9 500 manufactured products (a catalogue of 5000 products) • Purchasing policies: • Low cost country • Take a dominant part in the choice of technologies used by supplier...
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...Global Sourcing Development at IKEA – a Case Study Paper prepared for the 25th IMP conference Jens Hultman1, Susanne Hertz1, Rhona Johnsen2, Thomas Johnsen2 1: Jönköping International Business School, P.O Box 1026, SE-551 11 SWEDEN E-mail: jens.hultman@ihh.hj.se, susanne.hertz@ihh.hj.se Tel: +46 0(36) 10 10 00 2: Audencia Nantes School of Management, 8 Route de la Joneliere, BP 31222 – 44312 Nantes Cedex 3, France. E-mail: tjohnsen@audencia.com; rjohnsen@audencia.com Tel: + 33 (0)240 37 46 25 Abstract This study explores the dynamic process of global sourcing development through a case study of the Swedish home furnishing giant IKEA and its supply network concerning the PAX wardrobe system. The paper provides a synthesis of the existing global sourcing literature by dividing this growing body of research into three major themes: globalization processes and stages, motives/drivers, and organizational design and management. Moreover, the paper integrates the global sourcing literature with the established literature on the internationalization process of firms. Comparing the existing research on global sourcing and internationalization, we propose two research questions focused on: (1) the ways in which the IKEA global sourcing and supply chain development process resembles a linear stages process, and (2) the principal drivers of the development of global sourcing within IKEA. Relating the findings of the global sourcing process in the case of IKEA, the paper suggests that the...
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