The Experimental Roots of Revolutionary Vision
The history of the successful Swedish furniture retailer IKEA illustrates the role that adaptation and experimentation play in the development of an innovative strategy.
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Many specifics of IKEA’s strategy did not develop through deliberate formulation followed by implementation. Instead, IKEA’s founder, Ingvar Kamprad, started with a very general vision, and the strategy emerged both proactively and reactively.
Image courtesy of Flickr user Don McCullough.
The story of the IKEA Group, the world’s largest furniture retailer, is well known. This highly successful company, based in Älmhult, Sweden, operates 220 stores in 33 countries and has annual sales of 14.8 billion. It has emerged as a global player in one of the most fragmented industries in the world. IKEA has been studied and used as an example by prominent business authors such as Michael Porter, Gary Hamel and Philip Kotler.1
In general, IKEA’s success is attributed to the fact that the company has redefined a number of organizational practices in the furniture business.2 Its use of global product sourcing and customer self-service results in low costs. IKEA has a tendency to choose the cheapest suppliers, and customers pick up, transport and assemble most furniture purchases from IKEA themselves. A portion of IKEA’s savings from low-cost components and customer self-service is then passed on to customers in the form of low prices. In addition, well-designed furniture and an unusual shopping experience result in consumers’ perceiving that they receive superior value for money spent. Although IKEA’s products are simple, most of them benefit from high-quality Scandinavian design. IKEA’s huge stores provide plenty of amenities as well, such as coffee shops, restaurants and even child-care facilities.
Although much has been written about IKEA, one topic has remained virtually unexplored. How did IKEA’s revolutionary strategy come about? While it is important for managers to study the content of successful strategies, it may be even more important to understand the process through which they are created.3 An in-depth examination of the history of IKEA, which was founded in 1943, reveals that many specifics of the company’s strategy were not brought about through a process of deliberate formulation followed by implementation. Instead IKEA’s founder, Ingvar Kamprad, started with a very general vision. IKEA’s specific strategy then emerged as he both proactively developed a viable course of action and reactively adapted to unfolding circumstances.4
In the academic literature, this approach is known as logical incrementalism.
References
1. See M.E. Porter, “What Is Strategy?” Harvard Business Review 74 (November–December 1996): 61–78; G. Hamel, “Strategy as Revolution,” Harvard Business Review 74 (July–August 1996): 69–82; and P. Kotler, “Kotler on Marketing: How to Create, Win and Dominate Markets” (New York: Free Press, 1999).
2. R. Normann and R. Ramirez, “From Value Chain to Value Constellation: Designing Interactive Strategy,” Harvard Business Review 71 (July–August 1993): 65–77.
3. . Mintzberg and J. Waters, “Of Strategies, Deliberate and Emergent,” Strategic Management Journal 6, no. 3 (1982): 257–272.
4. Ingvar Kamprad retired as group president in 1986 but continues to work for the company as a senior adviser.
5. See J.B. Quinn, “Strategic Change: Logical Incrementalism,” Sloan Management Review 20 (Fall 1978): 7–21; and J.B. Quinn, “Strategies for Change: Logical Incrementalism” (Homewood, Illinois: Irwin, 1980).
6. H. Mintzberg, “Crafting Strategy,” Harvard Business Review 65 (July–August 1987): 66–75.
7. “Testament of a Furniture Dealer” is considered to be the IKEA bible. This booklet was first printed in 1976. Since then, it has been reprinted again and again and distributed to IKEA employees all over the world.
8. Although IKEA currently buys more products from China, which accounts for 18% of the company’s purchases, than from any other country, Poland still represents 12% of IKEA’s purchases.
9. I. Kamprad with B. Torekull, “Leading by Design: The IKEA Story” (New York: HarperBusiness, 1999), 50.
10. Ibid., 21.
11. K. Kling and I. Goteman, “IKEA CEO Anders Dahlvig on International Growth and IKEA’s Unique Corporate Culture and Brand Identity,” Academy of Management Executive 17, no. 1 (2003): 31–37.
12. Kamprad, “Leading by Design,” 35.
13. The quote from “Testament of a Furniture Dealer” is in Kamprad, “Leading by Design,” 237.
14. Kamprad, “Leading by Design,” 50.
15. Ibid., 54.