Globalization is today part of most companies. If they want to become more influent, they have to enter new markets and open new subsidiaries. But for this, they have to study the market well that they want to enter because there can be some economical, political and cultural differences. This can fail some partnerships or ventures if some aspects are not taken into account.
To be successful, these companies have to support their brands by intensive advertising campaigns, some constantly renewed products and attractive packaging. It is the only means to impose a distinct brand image and make the customers faithful.
IKEA, the world's largest home furnishing retailer, is however still unknown in some locations and has to consider the different barriers it can have to face and see how it could handle with them to enter these markets.
We will in the first part make a presentation of the company, then we will study what the issues were due to cultural differences that IKEA had to face and in the third part, some possible recommendations and the five dimensions of Hofstede.
The IKEA Group is one of the largest home furnishing companies in the world. The company offers a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at low prices so that nearly everybody can be able to afford them. IKEAS's motto is "Affordable solutions for better living".
The acronym IKEA comes from the initials of the founder's name (Ingvar Kamprad), the farm where he grew up (Elmtaryd) and his home village (Agunnaryd).
The company was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad. It originally sold only pens, watches, jewelry, picture frames and so on. He added furniture to the range in 1947 and some personal designed ones in 1955.
The company has today 264 stores worldwide, in more than 44 countries, in Europe, North America and Asia. 21 new stores should be opened before the end of the year in 11 countries. It is also one of the only international companies to have opened stores in Israel and some Southwest Asia Nations.
[...] There has been another criticism concerning cultural issues: the former Norwegian Prime Minister had denounced the fact that IKEA was not showing women assembling furniture in their instruction booklets but only men. He thought it was some discrimination against women. IKEA explained that it would have been seen as offensive in the Muslim countries. III) Recommendations and the five dimensions of Hofstede A turnover has been necessary by the designers, the engineers and the managers of the different IKEA stores in the US. [...]
[...] Conclusion IKEA is one of the best and famous retailers of home furnishings in the world. Thanks to its corporate values and everything it does concerning child labor and environmental issues, it has become, over the past years, the leader in the market. Nevertheless, the company has known some difficulties in different countries, because of cultural barriers. Indeed, it can be very hazardous to enter a new market without having previously done a study on what the cultural differences are of the particular maket. Today, IKEA is considered [...]
[...] and established Swedwood usage 1994: IKEA initiated collaboration with “Save the Children” 1997: The children's IKEA range was launched 2000: IKEA and Unicef started a joint project to combat child labor 2002: IKEA started various environmental projects with WWF 2006: Sales started for IKEA branded food products 2007: IKEA and WWF started to work on climate issues The IKEA Group is one of the largest home furnishing companies in the world. The company offers a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at low prices so that nearly everybody can be able to afford them. [...]
[...] Team spirit and values are an important part of the work environment in IKEA. Everyone support and help each other anytime it is needed. There is a strong culture in IKEA, based on its corporate values. The aim of the company is to create a better life for all the customers and it begins by the fact that the employers are happy in the company. The employers are integrated into strong and cohesive groups within the company. IKEA has been rewarded several times in the past years. [...]
[...] are measured in centimeters, whereas in the US, they use the inch measure. Then, for the beds size, Americans have their brands with the US size: twin, king and queen. Moreover, the curtains were considered too short, the sofas were not deep enough for the liking of the Americans and the kitchens didn't accomodate the appliances. Finally, the size of the glasses were too small, that is why Americans were buying vases to use them as glasses. Another issue is the location of some stores. [...]
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